TWO directors of a plumbing business saw their fortunes valued at £75 million yesterday after the business they founded in 1993 was spun off from its parent.

Richard Harpin and his partner Jeremy Middleton founded Home Service, a plumbing insurance business, with South Staffordshire Water in 1993. Yesterday, the renamed business, HomeServe, was valued at £370 million. The founders now own 20 per cent of the demerged business, which will start trading on the London Stock Exchange next month.

Mr Harpin, who claims not to be able to fix his own plumbing, is a former marketing executive at Procter & Gamble, where he met Mr Middleton.HomeServe now has nearly two million insurance policyholders.

Mr Harpin was paid £219,000 last year in salary, bonuses and benefits. He and Mr Middleton have already cashed in large parts of their stake; in 1993 the two owned 48 per cent of the business, and South Staffordshire bought up some of their shares since.

Brian Whitty, chairman of South Staffordshire, said: “Richard Harpin came to us 11 years ago and said: ‘I have an idea’ . . . HomeServe is fundamentally about a quality network of tradesmen.”