Lord Robert Edmiston

Robert Edmiston 2024Lord Robert Edmiston

Founder, IM Group Ltd.

Portugal

About the Presenter

Born in India in 1946, Lord Robert Edmiston, the son of a war time fighter pilot, came to the UK at the age of three and subsequently spent, from the age of ten, five years in Kenya before returning to the UK in 1962.  He started his career as a Bank Clerk. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Today he owns a number of companies in the property, motor and finance sectors with a combined turnover of approximately £650 million.

He is a father of a grown-up family of one son and two daughters all of whom are married, has ten grandchildren and two great grandchildren. He is married to Tracie, who also holds his firm Christian beliefs, and together they founded a charitable trust called Christian Vision that operates in a variety of countries, primarily through media, the internet and ‘in country’ projects with the purpose of spreading the Christian message. In the UK, Lord and Lady Edmiston have sponsored three schools called Grace Academy with around 2,000 students aged between 11 and 18 years.  They continue to be Trustees on Grace Foundation.

The main businesses, which form part of the original I.M. Group, involve the importation and distribution of Japanese cars and parts in the UK. Other activities include importing various car marques into Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the Baltics. I.M. Group also has a Beijing office which, in addition to developing Group interests, operates as a consultancy to industry generally, acts as a trading house and as a procurement office on behalf of third party clients.

In the early 90’s, expansion saw him buying into a publicly quoted property company called BHH which he subsequently turned private and is now known as I.M. Properties PLC.

I.M. Group is also the majority shareholder in a Finance Company called The Funding Corporation.

Lord Edmiston has a keen interest in politics and in both business and social issues.  Until 2010 he was the Chairman of the Midlands Industrial Council, a group of leading industrialists and businessmen who maintain a close dialogue with senior politicians of the day. On 18th January 2011 he was introduced into the House of Lords where he spent the next four and a half years.

Lord Edmiston retired from the House of Lords in July 2015 to allow him more time to focus on his charitable activities through Christian Vision. At the end of 2015 he also relinquished most of his day to day business responsibilities to his son, Andrew. He semi-retired to Portugal in April 2016 but remains a non-executive director of I.M. Group Limited and continues his charity work through Christian Vision and Grace Foundation.