The billionaire founder and chief executive of Victorian Plumbing has been handed millions of shares in his own company by his mother.
Mark Radcliffe has received more than 5.3 million shares in the Skelmersdale-headquartered business for free from his mum, Carole.
As a result, the CEO holds more than 158.4 million shares in Victorian Plumbing, representing a stake of around 48.5 per cent.
As of March 14, the extra shares were worth just over £4.2m.
At the same time, Radcliffe’s brother Neil also received the equal number of shares from their mother, increasing his stake from 9.27 per cent to 10.91 per cent.
A filing with the London Stock Exchange confirmed that Carole Radcliffe now no longer holds any shares in Victorian Plumbing, having previously had a stake of 3.28 per cent.
Victorian Plumbing’s shares are currently trading at 79p each, giving it a market capitalisation of £259.1m.
As a result, Radcliffe’s stake in the company is currently worth just over £125.1m.
The CEO is by far the largest shareholder in Victorian Plumbing, with his brother in second place.
Other major shareholders include Paradise Investment Management (five per cent), Kayne Anderson Rudnick (four per cent), and Tenzing Global Investors (3.4 per cent).
Radcliffe started Victorian Plumbing from his parents’ shed in 2000.
He was the UK’s first eBay millionaire at 30 after founding First2save, a mobile phone accessories business.
The company completed the largest ever IPO on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM in June 2021.
In February 2024, the business said that customers switching to own-brand products because of the cost-of-living crisis impacted its sales during the first part of its financial year.
The firm said the move has led to a reduction in the average order value year-over-year during the first 21 weeks of its year.
However, the business added that its order volume has increased over the same period, “more than offsetting the reduction”.
Victorian Plumbing added that as a result, it has achieved a revenue growth of 1 per cent during the period.
Over the last 12 months, the company’s shares hit a high of 98.4p in December 2023 but have been on a gradual decline since.
However, that high came after the shares had been trading at 72p each in November last year.