He was previously hailed as the most successful businessman from Stockport ever. It’s rare to have the privilege of owning their local football team and not even two.However, Stockport-born property businessman Mark Stott has managed to achieve, and as the chief executive of the Cheshire company Vita Group is now considered by many to be the Town’s best-performing business person.The club he plays for, Stockport County FC, made headlines in recent times after it was able to returning back to the Football League after an 11-year absence.
The club has certainly got ambitious goals, and were purchased 2 years ago, by the late Mr Stott and his other principal interests lie in his property businesses Vita Group and Select Property Group. They work together the two companies are a world-class retailer, developer and operator of the top properties investment companies.
What’s his history?
According to the Stockport County FC website when Stott took over the club the club, Mr. Stott stated that after growing as a child on the Parklands Estate, he took his first job selling ads to The Stockport Express Advertiser. Mr Stott who was a student at Poynton High School, explained: “I did that for some time before going to work for Smith Knight Fay [also in Stockport selling automobiles. “I’ve worked for myself most of my life and along that journey I’ve been lucky enough to pick up some great contacts, some great friends and colleagues.”
In an interview with MEN from 2010 with PS3,000 in savings Stott Stott joined with company Partner Lincoln Phillips, and they began selling cars off the driveway of Mr Stott. After six months of working together, the pair relocated the business to a garage located in Wilmslow. In 1995, and just 23, he made the decision to end the company and go on his own, purchasing and selling cars like Porsches and Ferraris as well as once taking David Beckham’s Bentley off his shoulders. One year later after that, Mr Stott made the decision to invest some of the profits he’d earned and start the bar in Wilmslow. Eskimo began as a hit however, it turned out to be an “disaster”, and he lost around PS350,000.
In the year 2000, Mr. Stott along with his business partner and friend, Giles Beswick, who was a part of his team in the bar, turned their attentions on the auto business. Soon, they paid off the outstanding debts. With only a few dollars money, the two created a small software company that is now the IT department at Select. After a few years, he’s today widely regarded as the most successful entrepreneur in town with two companies that he has built – Select Property Group and Vita Group.
Vita Group and Select Property Group
Mr. Stott is the founder and CEO of the Cheshire-based Vita Group and Select Property Group. Select was founded in 2004 and is a leading UK property investment company and a retailer, developer, and operator of investment property brands. It claims to be among the first to recognize its “vast investment potential” of Dubai’s property market. It is headquartered in Horseshoe Farm in Alderley Edge The group was formed as a single company more than fifteen years ago. The company soon began to expand rapidly and has since grown to include a number of subsidiaries.
The year 2012 saw Select Select was partnered by one of other companies in the group, Vita, to “transform” the UK student housing market through the creation of Vita Student, and has since sold hundreds of homes to investors from all over the globe. In the year 2019, a corporate-wide restructuring was introduced to clarify the difference of Vita and Select the two sister companies. The ‘Vita Group’ was established to manage the operational and sales departments of the massive company and Select is responsible for investor sales, working out of office locations in Dubai, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
In the first year of his tenure the chief has offered help to the community at large. The achievements of the last twelve months include raising more than PS200,000 to fund school meals for pupils in December, prior to the government’s change of heart, and aiding those in the Stockport NHS trust by supplying the trust with ventilators this year. On the field it has also seen significant success in the last year. In the last month, the team reached the finals of the FA Cup, narrowly losing out to Premier League side West Ham because of a late header.
Additional business interest
In July 2021, Mr. Stott bought Pro Football Academy for an undisclosed amount. Pro Football Academy is registered in Grove One Business Centre in Wilmslow. He also is the owner of Stockport Town, a semi-professional team that competes within the North West Counties League. In august the Vita Group agreed to sell four student residences to an Singapore development as well as an investment, capital and management property company, in the form of a PS165m deal.
Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd agreed on a deal to buy the development from Cheshire-based group.The portfolio is spread across four locations in Portland Crescent in Leeds, Station Street in Nottingham, Zed Alley in Bristol, and Portland House in Exeter and includes 917 beds.
