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Creditsafe Complaint: Stop Criticising Successful Celebrity Business People

According to Creditsafe, complaints that celebrities are responsible for dumbing down Britain are not justified, given the financial success of several high profile ‘celebrity’ company directors. New research from Creditsafe, the business intelligence experts, reveals that Katie Price AKA Jordan is the most searched female company director in the UK. Katie is the director of Jordan Trading limited and KDC Trading limited which are worth an estimated £1.25 million. It is also an unjustified complaint, Creditsafe believes, to criticise successful business people just because they have an extremely public profile, although programmes such as Dragon’s Den and The Apprentice have undoubtedly blurred the line between business and celebrity.

Despite all her recent personal dramas, Katie Price’s companies both have strong credit scores and are regarded as being of ‘good creditworthiness.’ She tops a list of businesswomen with links to Dragons and royalty, as she is followed in the rankings by entrepreneur Hilary Devey, the newest member of the BBC’s Dragon’s Den and the future King’s mother-in-law to be Carole Middleton.

The Apprentice’s Alan Sugar leaves Duncan Bannatyne, Simon Cowell and Richard Branson trailing in his wake in the list of most searched male company directors in the last year.

David Beckham at number eight in the rankings is currently listed as a director of seven active trading companies including a number of film investment vehicles such as Ingenious Film Partners 2 LLP. Wayne Rooney, ninth in the rankings of most searched male directors, is also ‘striking’ out as a businessman and investor with investments in the film world such as the Invicta Film Partnership. Gordon Ramsey, whose business empire has suffered very public tribulations in the last year, sits in number 13 at the rankings, as companies continue to check whether he represents a good credit risk.

Top five most searched male company directors

1. Alan Sugar

2. Duncan Bannatyne

3. Simon Cowell

4. Richard Branson

5. James Caan

Top five most searched female company directors

1. Katie Price

2. Hilary Devey 

3. Elaine McPherson

4. Debora Meaden 

5. Carole Middleton

David Knowles, Business Development Director at Creditsafe, said: “The power of celebrity is increasingly pervasive in the business world and the lines are becoming increasingly blurred with Richard Branson, Alan Sugar and the Dragons of the Den becoming media stars in their own right. Sports stars such as David Beckham and Wayne Rooney are savvy businessmen, investing in tax efficient operations and actively engaging in the financial world.”  

Over 2.5 million Creditsafe director profiles have been accessed in the UK in last 12 months, as businesspeople sought to establish the credit record of potential trading partners and customers. Director profiles reveal such juicy insights as to whether an individual has been issued with CCJs, have previously been disqualified from holding a directorship or have been associated with a failing company. 

Over 12 million UK company credit reports have been accessed in last 12 months with companies operating in the construction industry researched more than any other sector, reflecting continued uncertainty in this sector of the economy.  

The top five companies researched in the UK over last year are Rok, Connaught, Tesco, City Electrical Factors Ltd and Manchester United. Rok and Connaught both entered into administration in 2010, with credit controllers and professionals regularly checking credit reports on the companies to manage their risk and consequently limit their exposure to these enterprises.

Creditsafe reveals more business credit checks are run at 11:00 am on a Tuesday than at any other time.

Business credit research in the UK last 12 months – by the numbers

• 2,501,336 director profiles accessed in the UK last 12 months

• Over 12 million UK company credit reports accessed in last 12 months

• 11:00 am on a Tuesday – time when most reports are accessed

Business credit research ACROSS Creditsafe’s European operations in the last 12 months – by the numbers

• Over 38 million credit reports have been accessed in the last 12 months

• 5.18** Creditsafe business reports are accessed every second of an average business day

Creditsafe operates the largest ‘owned’ database of proprietary company data and is the most used supplier in the European credit referencing marketplace. 

Ends

*Analysis of unique searches of the Creditsafe database in the last 12 months
**Based on a 52 week working year with 8 hours of business operation each day

Creditsafe Group
The Creditsafe Group is Europe’s most used supplier of company business intelligence with five Creditsafe Group reports downloaded every second!

Privately owned and independently minded Creditsafe is looking to change the way business information is used by providing high quality data in an easy to use format that allows everyone in an organisation can benefit from.

Launched in Norway in 1997, Creditsafe has offices in the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Ireland and the Netherlands employing over 500 people and has more than 50,000 customers.

For more information please contact:
Ewan Robertson
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
020 7282 2981

Stephen Fishleigh
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
020 7282 1059