Entrepreneurial spirit. Enduring value.The next chapter · Strategic concept

Investment
that stays close
to the work.

Independent businesses. Shared strength.
One ambition to create lasting value.

Discover Our Model
RYAN HOWSAM / FOUNDERACTIVE OWNERSHIP
Ryan Howsam at his desk
Independent ambition.
Collective strength.
HOWSAM
BUSINESS SYSTEM
Ownership with an operating edge.Explore Howsam
01 Entrepreneurial accountability
02 Shared operating capability
03 Disciplined capital

A portfolio of businesses.
A common conviction.

Great businesses need the freedom to lead and the strength to go further. Howsam brings both together.

We are an active owner and operator. We combine entrepreneurial business leadership with patient capital, operating expertise and a shared system for creating value.

Our businesses retain their identity and accountability. We invest where we can make a difference, scale what works and recycle capital as the portfolio evolves.

02 / OUR MODEL

Accountability, vertical.
Advantage, shared.

Close enough to shape performance.
Entrepreneurial enough to move.
An active operating centre that makes each business stronger.

Passive holding companyHOWSAM Active portfolio companyFully integrated group

Founder-led.
Systematically connected.

Ryan owns the portfolio. Corporate Development develops it externally. The Group MD develops and performs it internally. Business CEOs create value within the assets. Group capabilities create leverage across them.

Independent businesses retain operating accountability. The Group MD integrates the system rather than becoming the line manager of every Group executive: he brings plans together, challenges performance and requires action against agreed outcomes.

Select a Group role, business or capability to explore its mandate.
FOUNDER-LED GROUP EXECUTIVEDIRECT REPORTS
GROUP MD / PORTFOLIO INTEGRATION & VALUE CREATIONIntegrates vertical business plans and horizontal capability plans.Portfolio priorities · Performance cadence · Strategic programmes · Cross-business trade-offs
PORTFOLIO BUSINESSES / VERTICALSBUSINESS ACCOUNTABILITY

Business CEOs own P&L, customers, operations, people, proposition, product, day-to-day trading and execution.

GROUP CAPABILITIES / HORIZONTALSFUNCTIONAL AUTHORITY

Group functional leaders create leverage across the portfolio while businesses retain priorities, adoption and outcomes.

Solid lines indicate founder-led executive reporting. The integration rail shows a portfolio mandate, not a reporting line. Business mandates and Group authority depend on agreed governance and ownership rights.

PORTFOLIO INTEGRATION

Develops and performs the portfolio internally.

Daniel Blackmore translates Ryan Howsam’s shareholder ambition into portfolio strategy, value creation and organisational design. He integrates business plans and Group capability plans through the Howsam Business System, sets portfolio priorities and performance cadence, and leads strategic programmes including BLUEBIRD and SKY. He does not line-manage Group Finance, Technology or Marketing; their leaders retain specialist authority.

GROUP CAPABILITIES

Build once. Benefit together.

Centralise only where portfolio economics justify it.

01

Finance

Capital, control & economics

Group-owned responsibilitiesCapital framework, portfolio financial performance, investment cases, cash and liquidity, valuation, transaction economics, financial standards and controls. Group Finance creates one economic view of the portfolio.

Stays close to the businessEmbedded business finance supports local decisions, business partnering and P&L delivery. The Group CFO retains financial control and professional Finance authority.

02

Technology

Platforms & shared capability

Group-owned responsibilitiesTechnology strategy, common platforms where economically justified, architecture, cybersecurity, engineering leverage, infrastructure, AI enablement, data foundations and service economics. Intervest may be stewarded as a shared platform capability.

Stays close to the businessBusinesses retain priorities, adoption and commercial outcomes. The Group CTO retains architecture, security and engineering authority.

03

Marketing

Shared marketing capability

Group-owned responsibilitiesMedia buying leverage, martech, CRM platforms, agency leverage, procurement, creative production and shared specialist expertise.

Stays close to the businessBusinesses retain brand, proposition, customer strategy and commercial outcomes. Group Marketing retains its agreed functional mandate.

04

Data / AI

AI-native operating design

Our ambition is to design future operating models from the top down, using AI-native first principles. Start with customer outcomes and the economics of the business, then rethink end-to-end workflows, roles, decision rights and technology around what people and AI can achieve together. BLUEBIRD exemplifies this ambition for the future model.

Design across the portfolio. Deliver within the business.The Group MD architects the future model and orchestrates strategic programmes with business and capability leaders. Data / AI provides trusted data, reusable capabilities and evaluation standards. Business leaders own adoption, customer outcomes and day-to-day trading; human judgement and accountability are designed into the model.

Founder-led. Business accountable. Horizontally leveraged. Centrally integrated. Staysure remains a business within the portfolio, rather than becoming the parent of the others.

03 / THE HOWSAM BUSINESS SYSTEM

Make the important
things happen.

HBS / FIVE DISCIPLINES

The Howsam Business System is the common management system through which Ryan’s ambition becomes portfolio priorities, business and capability leaders commit to shared outcomes, and the whole portfolio learns and acts.

The Group MD integrates and orchestrates the system. Group functional leaders retain domain authority. Business leaders retain operating accountability. Finance validates economic value, Corporate Development executes transactions, and unresolved strategic conflicts escalate to Ryan where appropriate.

01 / CHOOSE WHAT MATTERS

Where will we make
the biggest difference?

Translate shareholder ambition into a focused portfolio value creation plan. Make clear choices about customer growth, operating improvement and where to invest.

From principle to practice

  • A clear ownership thesis and value creation priorities for each business or investment, including the case for continued ownership or a strategic exit.
  • Business and capability leaders agree the most important outcomes collectively.
  • Build, buy, partner, retain or exit decisions tested against long-term value, resources and strategic fit. Review the ownership case as the business and opportunity evolve.
THE OUTPUT

One portfolio plan, with explicit choices about what deserves capital and attention.

ONE CONNECTED VIEW

From portfolio ambition
to measurable progress.

The Group MD integrates portfolio commitments, challenges performance and requires action against agreed outcomes. Business leaders own day-to-day trading; functional leaders retain their domain authority and the Group MD intervenes when material commitments are missed.

PORTFOLIO

Ambition & value creation goals

The outcomes we choose to pursue together.

BUSINESSES & SHARED CAPABILITIES

Connected objectives & key results

Named owners, shared outcomes and clear contributions.

PROGRAMMES & TEAMS

Sequenced work. Measured outcomes.

Delivery plans linked to dependencies and available capacity.

PROPOSED SOFTWARE PLATFORM

One place to see
the whole portfolio.

A shared view designed to connect investment decisions to delivery and results.

Investment
Capital and people committed
Expected value
Benefit, baseline, target and timing
Delivered value
Actual results, forecast and evidence
Accountability
Linked OKRs and named owners
Dependencies
What each commitment relies on
Capacity
Shared resources and delivery sequence
STRATEGIC PROGRAMMES · EXAMPLES
  • SKY
  • BLUEBIRD
PROPOSED VALUE CREATION FUNCTION

The discipline behind
the decisions.

Led by the Group MD, this function would maintain the portfolio value creation view, coordinate strategic programmes and integrate commitments across businesses and Group capabilities. It does not replace the authority of functional or business leaders.

Make the value clear

Bring investment cases, OKRs and benefits into one view, working with Finance to test expected and delivered value.

Connect the work

Map dependencies, test capacity and prepare collective choices about priorities and sequencing.

Keep decisions moving

Run the portfolio performance cadence, surface missed commitments and support Group MD interventions and accountable leaders’ recovery plans. Coordinate exit readiness with Corporate Development and Finance; Corporate Development leads transaction execution.

A rhythm that keeps
the whole portfolio moving.

Agree the priorities together.
Review the evidence. Adjust the plan.

  1. 01Choose

    Agree the outcomes
    that matter most.

  2. 02Commit

    Set OKRs, investment
    and accountable owners.

  3. 03Sequence

    Resolve dependencies.
    Match work to capacity.

  4. 04Deliver

    Run the business.
    Advance the priorities.

  5. 05Review

    Track value. Retain, scale,
    change or exit. Repeat.

Proposed cadence Annual strategy & capital choicesQuarterly OKRs & value reviewsMonthly portfolio performance & delivery reviewsEscalate material blockers as they arise

COMMON BY DESIGN

One standard of discipline.

Connected OKRs. Investment and benefit definitions. Named owners. Leadership standards. Dependency and capacity reviews. Security and control. Evidence for decisions.

LOCAL BY JUDGEMENT

Accountability stays close.

Businesses own P&L, brands, customers, products and execution. Capabilities own their service commitments and contribution to shared outcomes. Apply the system proportionately to scale and investment rights.

BEFORE WE COMMIT Is the value clear? Is someone accountable? Do we understand the dependencies? Do we have the capacity—and what will we stop or defer?

04 / OUR PORTFOLIO

Distinct businesses.
Connected ambition.

Businesses, platforms and strategic interests with different roles in the portfolio. Each with its own opportunity to create value.

INSURANCE01

Staysure Group

A family of specialist insurance brands, combining customer understanding, distribution and technology.

Operating businessExplore business
Role in the proposed model

Business leadership owns P&L, customers and execution. Selected capabilities can become Group services with explicit mandates and economics.

TRAVEL & EXPERIENCES02

Holibob

Technology connecting travel brands, destinations and operators with bookable experiences.

Operating businessExplore business
Role in the proposed model

Entrepreneurial business leadership retains product and customer accountability, drawing on Group expertise where it accelerates profitable growth.

SPORT & EXPERIENCES03

Legends Tour

Professional golf, playing experiences and partnerships connecting the game with its audiences.

Strategic interestExplore business
Role in the proposed model

A distinct sports and experiences interest. Value creation and collaboration would reflect the relevant partnership arrangements and governance rights.

TECHNOLOGY & SHARED SERVICES04

Intervest

Engineering, technology and shared services supporting insurance and travel businesses.

Platform capabilityExplore business
Role in the proposed model

A candidate for a retained portfolio platform, with a clear service proposition, transparent economics and measurable outcomes for the businesses it supports.

A portfolio designed
to evolve.

BuildBuyPartnerRetainStrategic exit

We build and scale enduring businesses, retaining ownership where we can keep creating value. We maintain readiness for full or partial strategic exits when the right next owner and timing offer the strongest path to value, then reinvest realised capital in the next opportunity.

Illustrative portfolio interests and proposed strategic roles. Categories do not establish legal ownership, control or reporting relationships. Business descriptions are linked to the respective company websites.

05 / LEADERSHIP

Different mandates.
One direction.

A founder-led Group Executive combines portfolio integration, direct functional authority and accountable business leadership.

01
OWNERSHIP

Ryan Howsam

Founder / Principal

Owns the portfolio: its ambition, ownership strategy and capital direction. Appoints the senior Group Executive and remains the ultimate escalation point.

Decision rights

Retains reserved shareholder matters, major capital and ownership decisions, senior executive appointments and other matters reserved to the Founder and relevant boards.

02
PORTFOLIO INTEGRATION

Daniel Blackmore

Group Managing Director
Portfolio Strategy, Performance & Organisational Development

Develops and performs the portfolio internally: translates shareholder ambition into strategy and value creation, shapes organisational architecture and leads the Howsam Business System. Integrates vertical business plans and horizontal capability plans, and leads strategic programmes including BLUEBIRD and SKY.

Mandate & decision rights

Sets portfolio performance cadence, requires integrated plans, returns inadequate strategic or programme submissions, requires compliance with approved enterprise design and requires time-bound recovery plans where material commitments are missed. Resolves sequencing and cross-business trade-offs within delegated authority.

Recommends capital allocation and where to invest, stop, defer, retain or exit. Maintains portfolio transaction readiness with Finance and Corporate Development. The Group MD does not replace specialist functional authority: the Group CFO, Group CTO and Group Chief Marketing Officer retain their respective mandates; business CEOs retain P&L and operating accountability.

03
FINANCE

Group Chief Financial Officer

Capital, Control & Portfolio Economics

Owns the Group capital framework, portfolio financial performance, investment cases, cash and liquidity, valuation, transaction economics, financial standards and controls.

Decision rights

Retains financial control and professional Finance authority, providing one economic view of the portfolio. Embedded finance remains close to business decisions and P&L delivery.

04
TECHNOLOGY

Group Chief Technology Officer

Technology Platforms & Shared Capability

Owns Group technology strategy, platforms where economically justified, architecture, cybersecurity, engineering leverage, infrastructure, AI enablement, data foundations and technology service economics.

Decision rights

Retains technology architecture, security and engineering authority. Businesses retain priorities, adoption and commercial outcomes. Intervest may be stewarded as a shared platform capability.

05
MARKETING

Group Chief Marketing Officer

Shared Marketing Capability

Leads shared media buying leverage, martech, CRM platforms, agency leverage, procurement, creative production capability and specialist expertise.

Decision rights

Retains the agreed functional marketing mandate. Businesses retain brand, proposition, customer strategy and commercial outcomes.

06
CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT

Charlie Blake-Thomas

CEO, Howsam Ltd
Corporate Development

Develops the portfolio externally through relationships, M&A, partnerships, deal origination and transaction execution.

Decision rights

Develops and executes transactions through agreed approval gates. Works with the Group MD on strategic fit, readiness and value creation, while retaining responsibility for transaction execution.

07
BUSINESS EXECUTION

Business CEOs

Accountable entrepreneurial leaders

Create value within the assets. Own P&L, customers, operations, people, proposition, product, day-to-day trading and execution, including the outcomes of the Group capabilities they consume.

Decision rights

Make business decisions within approved plans, capital limits and governance. Commit to shared outcomes through the Howsam Business System while retaining business operating accountability.

AUTHORITY FOLLOWS THE MANDATE

Ryan owns the portfolio. Corporate Development develops it externally. The Group MD develops and performs it internally. Business CEOs create value within the assets. Group capabilities create leverage across the assets. The Howsam Business System brings those mandates together without replacing them.