| A failure to take over the Six Continents hotels to pubs group last year caused Osmond's quoted venture capital company Capital Management and Investment to tumble from a £545,000 profit to a £7.2m loss in the first half of 2003. But Osmond, 42, is not one to be deterred by a boardroom defeat. The medic-turned-financier has been dealing in businesses ever since he and Luke Johnson (qv) took over PizzaExpress in 1993. After making his first £20m in the restaurant trade, he moved into pubs. With three deals worth about £3 billion, he became one of Britain's biggest pub landlords. Share sales from Punch Taverns, now floated, and a stake in the Spirit Group - which recently bought the Scottish & Newcastle pub estate for £2.5 billion - added £100m to his coffers. He also has a 24% stake worth £60m in Wellington Investments, the holding company for his third pub group. In March he bought Camden Palace for £4m and announced plans to revive the London nightspot's fortunes. We can see another £5m of net assets in Well Barn Farming and Maxgate Properties. But with the Capital Management losses, we clip him back slightly this year.
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174
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2003: £182m
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