John David Abell (born 15 December 1942), known as David Abell, is a British businessman and sharedealer. In the late 1960s and 1970s he was an executive at

British Leyland British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partl ...

. He was owner and chairman of Suter Plc. from 1978 to 1996, and from 1997 he has been chairman of Jourdan Plc.

Career

Early in his career, Abell worked for

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

(1962–65), AEI (1965–67), and First National Finance Corporation (1972–73).

Leyland

Abell joined British Leyland in 1968. He was a senior executive at Leyland, including acting as treasurer and sitting on the board. He was chairman and chief executive of

Prestcold Prestcold was a British refrigerator manufacturer, established by the Pressed Steel Co. Ltd of Oxford in 1934. It manufactured both domestic and commercial refrigeration. Through its history, it was closely related to automotive manufacturing, pa ...

, part of Leyland, and he became managing director and chief executive of

Leyland Australia British Motor Corporation (Australia) was a motor manufacturing company formed in Australia in 1954 by the merger of the Austin Motor Company (Australia) and Nuffield (Australia). This followed the merger in 1952 of the Austin Motor Company and ...

in July 1974 to oversee the closure of the Waterloo manufacturing plant and the end of production of the

Leyland P76 The Leyland P76 is a large car that was produced by Leyland Australia, the Australian subsidiary of British Leyland. Featuring what was described at the time as the "standard Australian wheelbase of 111 inches", it was intended to provide the ...

and

Marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

cars. He returned to the UK in mid-1975 to become managing director of British Leyland's Special Products Division (renamed SP Industries), He was made managing director of BL Commercial Vehicles in 1978. He left BL in 1981, when his interests in Suter Group's purchase of Prestcold from BL became a conflict of interest.

Suter

Abell bought Suter Electrical in 1978 and was the chairman of Suter from 1981 until 1996, when it was sold to Ascot Holdings (now part of Dow). The DTI investigated his sharedealings in the late 1980s; it found no wrongdoing but noted misleading statements. During Abell's ownership of Suter, the business acquired a number of divisions of the former SP Industries (Leyland Special Products) of which he had been managing director, including Prestcold and the Lyne Printers subsidiary of the

Nuffield Press Nuffield Press was a publisher and printer formed by William Morris (later Lord Nuffield) as part of his Nuffield Organization in 1925. It was formed to primarily produce promotional literature for the motor vehicle manufacturing divisions of the ...

Jourdan

From May 1997 he has been the chairman of

Jourdan Jourdan may refer to: * Carolyn Jourdan, American author *Claude Jourdan (1803–1873), French zoologist and paleontologist * David W. Jourdan, businessman *Jean-Baptiste Jourdan (1762–1833), French army commander * Jourdan Bobbish (1994–2012), ...

, former makers of the Corby Trouser Press, when he replaced Keith Whitten. He is close to managing director Bob Morris, who he has worked with for decades. Abell withdrew Jourdan from the

Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in operation since 1980. It allows ...

in 2009. His family owned about 30% of Jourdan in the 2000s, and his family gained overall control of the company in October 2011.

Share dealing

He briefly owned shares in

Coffee Republic Coffee Republic is a British coffee bar and deli franchise chain founded in 1995. History Coffee Republic was founded in 1995 by brother and sister team Bobby and Sahar Hashemi, opening its first site in London's South Molton Street. In 19 ...

during 2002. He is a director of St. Helen's Private Equity Plc.

Personal life

He is the son of Leonard and Irene. He is married to Juliana, his third wife, and has four sons and a daughter from previous marriages.Debrett's People Of Today 2012, ABDE, p2
/ref> He gain a BA in economics from

Leeds University , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

and has Diploma in Business Administration from the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. He is a fan and non-executive director of the

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

rugby club, and he was a director of

Leicester City football club Leicester City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Leicester in the East Midlands of England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home ...

in 2002. His is also a race horse owner, including

Collier Hill Collier Hill (foaled 26 March 1998) is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. He was bred by the prominent American sportsman George W. Strawbridge, Jr. who was involved in both steeplechase and flat racing and who raced in Europe and the United State ...

References

External links

Jourdan Plc. Board of DirectorsDirectorships
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abell, David Living people 1942 births English industrialists English rugby union chairmen and investors Alumni of the University of Leeds Alumni of the London School of Economics British Leyland people