I have done this site especially for Jan Fletcher in order to visit crazybillionaire.org Jan Fletcher OBE is a British businesswoman. Jan Fletcher originally trained as an accountant, but in 1974 took over a family owned garage franchise, which she expanded from one garage to a chain. She also expanded into other businesses, adding the Headingley fish and chip shop Bryan's in 1983, and health company Bee Health in 1995. Her business involvements have included the MSF Motor Group, of which she has been chairperson and a major shareholder, and Jan Fletcher Properties Ltd, a major investment and international development group specialising in regenerating industrial sites to mixed and office use. She has also been non-executive chairman of Marketing Leeds. In 1994 Jan was named the Veuve Clicquot British Business Woman of the Year and in 1995 was voted Yorkshire Woman of the Year. In 1997 she was awarded an OBE for services to industry. Fletcher has regularly appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List. ---------------------- Jan Fletcher - timesonline.co.uk BHM Health Group, Fletcher’s vitamin and dietary supplement company, went into administration in August. It was sold shortly afterwards, saving 41 jobs at the Bridlington plant. Three months previously, Fletcher, 54, had announced she was stepping down as chairman of Marketing Leeds, which promotes the city, because she wanted to focus on her own businesses. After taking over a haulage operation for £2,000 in 1974, she soon found she could make more money from buying and selling lorries, and moved into the motor trade. Finding sites for her dealerships sparked an interest in property. Fletcher has spent 22 years assembling the site for City One, a huge office-led scheme in Leeds. With property developments and other assets, she is worth £40m. ---------------------- 309th: Meet the highest ranking self-made woman in Britain's property rich list - Jan Fletcher By David Randall - independent.co.uk Sunday, 28 October 2007 Who owns Britain? Not women, it would seem. The Property Rich List, published yesterday, has only two women in the top 100, both of whom inherited large fortunes. At 137th is Judith Wilson, who made a £180m fortune with husband Fergus, and, finally, comes Jan Fletcher, the top self-made woman working without spouse or family money. Her wealth of £70m puts her 308 places below the Duke of Westminster, at number one with £7bn. Related articles * Wersha Bharadwa: If girls get a raw deal, of course they want to be Wags The list, compiled for Estates Gazette, shows that in the entire top 500 only nine women are there in their own right. Thirteen others, who have built fortunes with their husbands or inherited the basis of them through family connections, are included. Judith Wilson's story is remarkable. Fifteen years ago she gave up teaching in London to begin buying houses. Her husband joined her and they now own 707 of them, at one time buying a house a day. Yorkshire-based Jan Fletcher started in property by buying and selling car dealership sites. Her wide interests now include property throughout Europe. But these two are not typical of their sex. Women as a whole constitute less than 5 per cent of the 500 biggest property dealers in the UK and Ireland. These, says the survey, have a combined net fortune of £117bn – an average of more than £230m each, about 15 per cent higher than last year's £200m average. Yet the traditional way of accumulating land wealth, through inheritance is being challenged, says the magazine. There are only seven titled people in the top 100, and in their place are people like self-made billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben, second in the list with an estimated fortune of £3.5bn, built up from retirement homes and racecourses. Third is the Irish entrepreneur Sean Quinn, whose investments in hotels, pubs and wind farms have created a fortune of £3bn. The fastest risers are brothers Ian and Richard Livingstone, who are up from 12th to seventh this year, with £1.8bn. The Queen is excluded from the list because "she does not have full control of the Crown Estate", but Prince Charles is 45th, with £608m. This wealth puts him one place (and £8m) above Sunday Sport owner and porn magnate David Sullivan, but seven places below Paul Raymond, who made his name with top-shelf magazines but now owns, among other sites, 60 of the 87 acres at the heart of Soho in London. If anyone is tempted to try their luck, the magazine offers some guidance. The star signs of the top 500 showed that property magnates were most likely to have been born under Taurus, Capricorn or Gemini. Research by Joanna Kilvington Jan Fletcher Started in property trading car dealer sites. Work includes commercial and residential developments in Europe. Total worth: £70m ---------------------- Jan Fletcher: I'll always support city By Nigel Scott - yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk SHE may have stepped down from the chairman's seat at Marketing Leeds – but Yorkshire's top businesswoman says she will not walk away from supporting the city. Jan Fletcher says she remains "too passionate" about Leeds to let her varied business interests divert her from offering her talents to the city's cause. The former Veuve Cliquot British Businesswoman of the Year last week announced her decision to step down from the board of the city's destination marketing organisation after more than four years. Jan, who won an OBE in 1997 for her services to industry, cited the need to concentrate on her business interests. But in an exclusive interview she told the YEP: "I'm not leaving it. There's no way. I am too passionate and involved in the city to leave it behind. "I'm fiercely proud of Yorkshire and Leeds. I'll still be there giving it my utmost support and continuing to shout for Leeds all over the world and the region." Looking back on her tenure, she says: "We have achieved an awful lot in a short space of time, albeit the public can't always see the hard work that is going on behind the scenes. "We have built up our brand – Leeds. Live It. Love It. – which is very visible now. "A lot of the businesses and professionals are using it across the city, as are the universities. "Everyone across the city seems to have bought into the branding. It is something we should all be proud of." She says any suggestion her departure is due to a potential conflict of interests – a possible Sweet Street site for the Leeds arena is on the doorstep of her City One development project – is untrue. She said: "If you are in business, you occasionally have conflicts of interest. As long as you deal with them honestly and with integrity, and you declare your interest, then that's fair. I haven't stepped down because of that at all." "Honesty and integrity is vitally important and it's something that is number one on my list." Of the arena plan itself, she says: "It is desperately needed and it will be vitally important – not only for the local community and for Yorkshire, but also to bring international people and events into the city. "It needs to be a proper entertainment complex offering lots of different things, not just a tin shed that only is there for an odd pop concert or sporting event." ----------------------------- Jan Fletcher: How businesses can survive the recession Published Date: 24 March 2009 - yorkshirepost.co.uk The current downturn is causing hardship for many businesses. Entrepreneur Jan Fletcher offers advice on coping with recession. OVER the years I have looked at dozens of companies in search of acquisitions. Many of those companies would not have survived much longer in their current format, let alone in a downturn – and most certainly not in this current recession. Sadly, the current number of business failures is therefore not surprising to me. However, what has taken me by surprise and what is unique about this recession is the impact that the current dislocation of the financial markets is having on the availability of credit to even profitable, well managed and prudently operated businesses. In these circumstances there is no simple solution to the unprecedented challenges facing businesses today. Companies with low levels of financial gearing and high levels of retained profits will be better placed to ride out the recession; similarly, companies that operate in a particular niche market, or a specialist sector, will also inevitably perform better than others. However, for each one of these types of businesses there are very many more that are struggling to work their way through the present difficulties. Irrespective of individual circumstances the fact is that all businesses are now operating in uncharted territory and in a rapidly changing financial environment. Few people can claim to have predicted the nature and severity of the current economic downturn and even fewer people can claim to have the panacea to successfully survive it – there isn't one. However, there are some basic proven business principles which, if not already part of your current strategy, should be – no matter what the size or nature of your business. It is imperative that you have a detailed business plan that is revised regularly and that includes a wide range of sensitivities linked to a robust cash flow forecast. Your forecast funding requirement should undergo a detailed stress test and it is vital that you commence discussions with your bank significantly in advance of your funding requirement becoming necessary. For the first time in my business life I am currently hearing successful business people saying that they are having to consider contingency plans in case their bank is not prepared to renew, let alone increase, their existing facilities. Inevitably, your bank will want to see concrete evidence of the steps you are taking to maximise revenue streams, accelerate cash recovery and to significantly reduce costs. These are all things that most companies would like to believe that they already do as a matter of routine, but in today's climate funders are far more demanding. They require the comfort of knowing that directors are in far closer control of their businesses; that they have a greater emphasis on cash management; that shareholders take an increased share in the risk and they are also seeking significantly higher margins on their lending. While this approach is extremely difficult for many businesses to come to terms with, this changed environment is here to stay, at least for the immediate future. Successfully managing your relationship with your funders will require you to have a much better understanding of how they currently view their risk and reward. The rules have changed and businesses need to understand what these new rules are. In such unprecedented times it is important not to underestimate, or take lightly, the importance of obtaining adequate and appropriate professional advice. I was very young when I experienced my first recession and in a knee-jerk reaction to cutting costs I made the mistake of significantly cutting back on certain costs, including professional fees, which turned out to be false economy. While your professional advisers will, by definition, also be experiencing these unique circumstances for the first time they will, inevitably, through their wide client base and routine day to day contact with funders, have access to information that can provide invaluable support and guidance, in particular with the increasingly complex relationship between banks and their customers. Similarly, in my first recession there was little, if any, public sector support, such as Business Link, to turn to for help and advice. In fact there was almost a stigma attached to asking for any form of advice. I am pleased to say that there is now a significant commitment on the part of central and local government and through the regional development agencies to provide free practical help and support to small and medium companies. At the best of times it can be a stressful and lonely job running your own business. Don't delay in seeking help, even if you feel you don't currently require it. When you are under stress, particularly the sort that is caused by events that you feel are outside of your personal control, it is also important to be aware of the need to manage that stress by keeping as mentally and as physically fit as possible. It is well known that fatigue is a major contributor to poor decision making. One US President felt so strongly about this that he refused to make any important decisions at the end of the day, preferring to sleep on it and consider it afresh the next morning. This is a sentiment I entirely agree with. Cutting costs will often result in you having to take the hardest decision, making people redundant. Once you have decided this is unavoidable you have to undertake the process professionally and as sympathetically as possible. However, you have to act quickly and decisively, however painful. The longer you put off acting, the worse the risks to the overall business and to your other employees. Again, there is now significant help available through Business Link to deal with this challenging process. Although this recession is very different from anything I have previously experienced I still think the basics are the same. Have a clear vision and strategy. Plan for the worst... and work tirelessly to achieve the best. Understand the new rules of your banking relationships. Act quickly and decisively. Maximise revenue and aggressively minimise costs. Keep your employees informed. Keep close to your customers and key suppliers. Don't hesitate to seek all available professional help. Finally, never give up! # Jan Fletcher OBE is a Business Ambassador, invited by Rosie Winterton Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber, to promote the region. The award-winning entrepreneur has built a portfolio of business interests from international property development and investment to natural health products and restaurants.
BTW forgot the most recent bits. http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news...uptcy-hearing-over-leeds-arena-case-1-6395690 Two the money was all daddy’s. She sold the garage and built Bridgewater Place on the land.
Her father owned Fletcher Motors and left the lot to her. Apart from build Bridgewater place on the site of the original garage she has done nothing but try to rip off the council tax payers of Leeds. The only shock was LCC not rolling over and paying her and her bogus claim off. She was hoping to force LCC to build the Arena on her land in Holbeck instead of on lands the council already owned.
I don't know but her old man owned the Peugot dealership that sat on the site of Bridgewater Place. The name of the garage was Fletchers.
She is still in business but it doesn't say anything about owing LCC £2m perhaps it has been swept under the table I asked my pal about 2 jags he said that he was in partnership with his son and that they owned many houses
