Andrew Thirkill is actively building up new companies in Yorkshire. His secret? Relationships, he tells Julie Hayes.
Andrew Thirkill is an ideas man, a serial entrepreneur, you may say, and he doesn’t look likely to stop soon.
“I never stop thinking and I’m already seeing other opportunities. As you get older, more opportunities are put your way and you’re able to evaluate them quickly,” he says.
Thirkill’s latest venture, with Yorkshire entrepreneur David Hood, is to set up a national chain of chiropractic clinics to bring independent practitioners together under national brand Freedom Back Clinics. But he didn’t always find it easy to find partners.
His first venture was ATP Advertising, which he set up when he was 22. “I had no money so I had to work hard to keep it going. I never slept and it was stressful. Over the years it just became more successful,” he says.
He had some good contacts with estate agencies from his job in advertising, and these became his first clients. He started to build a network, which included Derek Cook, the late owner of motor trader DC Cook, who took a small equity stake in the business.
Cook was also good friends with Sir Graham Kirkham, the founder of furniture chain dfs, which meant Thirkill ended up with some big name accounts.
By 1988 ATP was turning over £15m and Thirkill agreed to sell it to the Moss Trust for £2.7m. But this headline figure was not all it appeared. Thirkill sold the business with £650,000 cash in the bank and got £125,000 cash out of it; the rest of the £2.7m was paid in shares.
“I was inexperienced and they were in severe difficulties. I realised I was looking at Armageddon and that I could lose everything.”
But the banks agreed to let Thirkill take the business private again and, 28 years later, it is still going strong under his ownership. Thirkill then set up Talking Ads, a telephone information service, which was eventually bought by Lord Stevens, chairman of PNC Telecoms.
But before the sale, Thirkill had been talking to a venture capitalist (VC) about the company. The same VC turned to him after the sale for help in turning around laser eye surgery business Ultralase. Thirkill says the sector had negative publicity because of a few cowboy practitioners, but it was a great business.
“The business was in steep decline. I wrote a report to the board – we did a lot on the marketing front, which increased enquiries and the business was sold two years later for £30m, which was probably too cheap.”
Chief executive Tony Veverka subsequently bought the business back in a £175m management buyout. At this point, Thirkill needed a new challenge. He was looking at launching an airline at Leeds Bradford Airport having worked with Freddie Laker, founder of Laker Airways, but Jet2 came along in 1998.
His next idea came when his mother wanted to give her house to Thirkill and his siblings, but sorting out inheritance tax thresholds was an extremely complicated ordeal.
Age Partnership was then born in 2003 with Tim Loys, the former finance director of Ultralase as chief executive. In 2008 the company released £150m of equity and a strategic partnership with Age Concern has helped it become number two in the sector.
“I love creating businesses from scratch,” says Thirkill. “I love getting involved with struggling businesses and turning them round. People were going to lose their jobs, but I could do something about it.”
The relationships he has crafted have been essential.
“I have been able to get really good people to work with me – better than me sometimes,” he says. “When you’re young, you’re doing it on enthusiasm; when you get older, you’re doing it on track record, and it makes it easier when people know they can work with you.”
Also in: April 2009
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Editorial
When we choose stories that we think you are going to want to read we think about what is useful, what is exciting and what will inflame the passions. And in Yorkshire, the most bizarre business story of the past ten years has to be the rise and demise of Leeds United.
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The trouble with Leeds
The film The Damned United has thrust Leeds United back into the media spotlight. David Conn looks into the controversial attempt by Ken Bates to bring the club back from its latest stint in the footballing wilderness.