Grove Industries vows to carry on despite chairman’s death
ENGINEERING turnaround specialist GIL Investments has vowed to carry on its work following the sudden death of its chairman, leading industrialist David Grove.
Mr Grove, one of the most respected figures in the West Midlands business community, died at his Warwickshire home on Saturday.
In a statement on the GIL website, the directors – who include Mr Grove’s son Jonathon – said: “David was an inspiration to all of us and he will be sorely missed. In accordance with his wishes GIL will continue to work with its existing portfolio businesses and seek new investment opportunities.”
The statement supports a comment from one of GIL’s advisors, Edward Carter, who was a close friend to Mr Grove.
He said: “Before his untimely death, David emphasised that he had created a structure whereby Grove Industries would continue ‘were I to walk under the proverbial number 9 bus tomorrow’.”
GIL includes businesses such as Key Technologies and Erlson, which was the subject of a controversial court case involving former owner Hampson Industries.
In a tribute to Mr Grove, Mr Carter outlined his friend’s contribution to the business community.
“David Grove was an inspirational business leader, entrepreneur and mentor. As principal of Grove Industries and chief executive and chairman of Hill & Smith Holdings Plc, he led the transformation of a number of manufacturing businesses and, in the process, created, secured and enhanced employment in the West Midlands, the wider UK economy and beyond.
“David was the incumbent High Sheriff of the West Midlands, a former President of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and was awarded the OBE in 2009 in recognition for his services to business.
“He was also a trustee of Midlands Excellence, a charity formed to improve the productivity of UK business, and was heavily involved in Help for Heroes, the Birmingham Institute for the Deaf and Marie Curie Cancer Care, in particular its current Big Build Appeal,” he said
Born in Blakenhall, Wolverhampton, Mr Grove attended Wolverhampton Grammar School, with which he has retained very close links. He read Industrial Economics at Nottingham University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Whinney & Murray (now Ernst & Young) before joining manufacturing group Johnson & Firth Brown Plc.
During the 1980s he rose to the position of chief executive at civil engineering group Mabey Holdings and was involved in the construction of the Severn Bridge. In 1991 he sought out his own industrial group to buy and develop. Ultimately Close Brothers supported his buyout of Anglo Engineering Ltd, a Midlands-based ‘metal-bashing’ group and he was joined by Les Litwinowicz to form Grove Industries.
Two decades later, Mr Grove and his associates have built a portfolio of diverse, independent businesses with annual sales of over £300m, which employ over 1,500 people.
The group has interests in sectors as diverse as automotive component manufacture, chemical formulation, printing, and magazine publishing.
Alongside his role as principal of Grove Industries, in 1998 Mr Grove was appointed as chief executive (later chairman) at the Solihull-based transport infrastructure provider Hill & Smith.
Under his leadership the business was transformed from a struggling group with a share price of 30p into a confident international company with a share price that touched £4. The acquisition of Ash & Lacy Plc (sales £115m) by Hill & Smith (sales £50m) was integral to this turnaround and won David many plaudits amongst his peers.
Mr Carter said Mr Grove was a “plain speaker who focussed above all on nurturing the management of a business and encouraging sustainable growth over the long-term, eschewing the short term exit strategy commonly favoured by private equity firms”.
“David reached the highest levels of achievement in business but he never lost the ability to communicate with colleagues and friends from all social backgrounds. Above all, he was able to inspire incredible levels of loyalty by treating people with compassion and respect,” he said.
“He often used his wit and sense of humour to highlight important themes such as excessive public spending and the unnecessary bureaucracy that he believed restricted business growth. David also championed a need to create incentives by simplifying the tax system.
“David was a keen sports fan. He travelled to the West Indies, Australia and South Africa to watch the England cricket team as part of the Barmy Army and, closer to home, enjoyed trips to Twickenham and to the Hawthorns to watch his beloved West Bromwich Albion. He also enjoyed many an hour on the golf courses of Portugal as a break from his hectic business schedule.”
Mr Grove’s Offices and Awards:
2011: High Sheriff of the West Midlands
2009: OBE for Services to Business
2009: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Institute of Chartered Accountants
2006: Runner up in the Financial Times Entrepreneur of the Year Award
2003: President of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce & Industry
1996-2002: Member of the CBI Regional Council
