For a third year Dr Richie Nanda, Executive Chairman of The Shield Group, the UK security contractor, features in The Sunday Times Rich List 2014. He has seen a rise in personal wealth, from £187m in 2013 to £195m in 2014, placing him at number 490 in this year’s list.
Dr Nanda leads two businesses – Topsgrup in India besides The Shield Group. In the last financial year, both showed a growth in EBIDTA of 25 per cent, and in the current financial year, its annual turnover is expected to be £160m.
TOPSGRUP was the first Indian company to acquire a British security company. Shield new contract wins include the visitor services and security contract with the Imperial War Museum Group.
He has also brought in grass-root changes at The Shield Group, including the company’s regional headquarters in Manchester and an ARC (Alarm Response Centre) in Preston.
A self-made entrepreneur, he took over the reins of Topsgrup at the age of 22, an ailing company with revenues of just £30,000 a year and eight customers, and built it in a group with revenues of £160m (year 2015), 93,000 employees, 130 offices worldwide and about 8500 customers.
He said: ‘I am overcome with pride at being included in the Sunday Times Rich List for a third consecutive year. I consider the Rich List to be a testament of the hard work, dedication and courage of those visionary and enterprising individuals, who have made sacrifices and taken gut instinct risks to achieve success for their businesses, partners and countries alike. I would like to state that my inclusion in The Sunday Times Rich List is very much a team effort. I owe this recognition to my vast family of 93,000 employees, 8,500 customers and hundreds of business partners, whose commitment to our vision, their unstinted loyalty and hard work has made TOPSGRUP and The Shield Group leaders in the global security industry.
‘The growth in the industry also confirmed the importance of security as a service, especially within the business sector. There has been an increased demand from customers for more cost-effective, high-quality security services, especially in the face of more advanced and varied security risks arising in the world and in the UK. As a result, The Shield Group has introduced its Total Security Solutions (TSS) delivery system model, which offers risk-based, bespoke and holistic security solutions to a variety of clientele.’
Philip Beresford, who annually combines The Sunday Times Rich List says of Dr Nanda’s inclusion: ‘The Sunday Times Rich List is an annually compiled index of the UK’s wealthiest individuals, setting out their considerable achievements, across an array of sectors, from enterprise, entrepreneurship, entertainment, sport and public life. The ‘Rich List’, since its inception over 20 years ago, has become an integral part of the UK’s business and social foundation. It is regarded by many people, both in the UK and internationally, as an invaluable source of information.
‘I heartily congratulate all those individuals who have made it into the 2014 Sunday Times Rich List. We have a number of esteemed millionaires in this year’s Rich List, including Dr Richie Nanda, the Executive Chairman of The Shield Group and Topsgrup. Dr Nanda is featured in 490th position in the Rich List, and is one of the few leading entrepreneurs from the security sector to be featured this year. Dr Nanda is widely acknowledged to have rejuvenated the security industry in India and with the acquisition of The Shield Group in Britain in 2012, he has once again shown exemplary leadership, business vision, dynamism and an innovative approach to take The Shield Group to the position of being the largest, independent Total Security Solutions provider in the UK.’
About The Sunday Times Rich List
A collection of the 1,000 wealthiest people and families in the UK, Richie Nanda joins the ranks of the super-rich steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, industrialist Alisher Usmanov and Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, as one of the wealthiest UK citizens born overseas but who mainly work and/or live in Britain.
