Entrepreneur in the oil and gas industry

Born: October 22, 1947;

Died: June 27, 2017

CHARLES Buchan Ritchie, who has died aged 69, was a giant figure in the oil and gas industry of the North-east of Scotland. His company, Score UK, which provides valve repair and supply services to the industry, made him one of Scotland’s richest men; the firm is also known for its work mentoring youngsters and there are currently more than 300 apprentices across the group on various training schemes.

Mr Ritchie's achievements were all the more remarkable given that he left school at 15 with no qualifications, but the boy from a Fraserburgh fishing village clearly had an agile mind and an astute commercial brain. In 2008, he published a book, It's a Newton, about the newton, the standard unit of force, by which time he had built a global empire and was already on the Rich List.

More than anything in business he championed youngsters, investing in them through apprenticeships and providing opportunities like he had had himself, and they formed the lifeblood of his worldwide success.

Brought up in St Combs, a 19th century fisher community on the Aberdeenshire coast, he attended the local primary and Fraserburgh Academy before embarking on an apprenticeship. While serving his time he gained an Ordinary National Certificate in mechanical engineering at Banff and Buchan College and a Higher National Certificate in the same subject from Robert Gordon Institute of Technology in Aberdeen.

Having completed his apprenticeship he then went on to do a BSc in mechanical engineering at Strathclyde University and within another five years was a director of a local engineering firm back in his native North-east. But he hankered after the freedom of running his own enterprise. The burgeoning oil business was providing huge opportunities for entrepreneurs in the Aberdeen area at the time and in 1982 he struck out on his own, setting up Score UK to provide valve repair and supply services for the UK oil and gas industry.

Based in Peterhead’s Dales Industrial Estate, he ran it almost single-handedly at the very start but expanded it steadily through acquisitions and larger premises. Then he began looking for overseas opportunities, moving into servicing the Norwegian and Danish oil and gas sectors before opening companies in the Middle East, North and South America, Canada, Australia and Asia.

Today the Score Group is active in more than 35 countries worldwide, employs more than 1,700 staff, and has evolved to provide total management of valves to clients in the energy, utilities, marine and manufacturing sectors. It has also diversified into other areas, including the provision of industrial gas turbine services.

Throughout it all, Ritchie remained a paternalistic figure at the helm and the business remains based in the North-east, providing jobs for 800 in Peterhead and mentoring youngsters. Ritchie – who once named among his role models Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Napoleon and Mao Tse Tung – regularly lectured to the trainees and his commitment to developing young people and their careers saw Score Group named Large Employer of the Year by Skills Development Scotland.

When it came to writing his book he described newtons as the currency of engineers, explaining: “If, like me, you've been confused with formulas all your working life and been searching for the unified theory, you'll find a practical answer inside this book. This book contains no formulas and unifies everything around the concept of force - a newton.”

A big-hearted man, unafraid to voice his opinions – he was a staunch unionist and campaigned for the No vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum – he was also passionate about his community and hugely generous.

Frustrated by how he perceived the SNP treated the North-east and its lack of investment in the area, he was driven to create and fund a local medical centre. Score Group plc formed the Crimond Charitable Trust, of which he was principal trustee, to design, build and operate the Crimond Medical and Community Hub which opened earlier this year.

Mr Ritchie also launched Score’s initiative to buy the Admiralty Gateway, the site of Peterhead’s old Victorian prison where he developed a Score training centre.

His son Conrad described him as a titan of North-east business who worked tirelessly in the community, often privately and without public knowledge. Despite being one of Scotland’s richest men – in 2015 he was 23rd on the country’s Rich List, reportedly with a personal fortune of £75million – he had no desire to be seen as affluent and in many ways led a simple life. Yet he was compelled to help others, often anonymously, and supported many organisations and charities, all done under the radar.

He had been nominated for a knighthood but the proposal had not been fully proceeded with before he died following a short illness.

Fittingly, given his own lack of achievement at school, one of his organisation’s most recent initiatives was the signing of a formal partnership between Score and Peterhead Academy. The collaboration will see the business he built from nothing help boost pupil achievement and prepare youngsters for the world of work.

He is survived by his wife Beryl, sons Alan, Conrad and Nelson and seven grandchildren.

ALISON SHAW