Joe Daley is the managing director of Daley Limited, which operates a small group of retail food stores in the West Midlands. Daley's was set up by Joe's father Edward and his uncle Eric several years ago; both have more or less retired from the business but each retain shareholdings of 15% and both remain directors of the company, although they rarely attend board meetings these days. Joe himself owns 34% of the shares. The remaining 36% not owned by Joe, his father or his uncle, are accounted for as follows:

Joe's sister Carol 10%

Carol's husband Nasser 7%

Eric's son Gervase 19%

Carol, Nasser and Gervase are all directors, although Carol rarely attends meetings as she is very busy with her own fashion design business, producing expensive designs in limited editions for the extremely rich. The normal business of Daley Limited is conducted by Joe, Nasser and Gervase; Joe takes overall control of the direction of the company, Nasser is principally responsible for purchasing and Gervase spends most of his time in day-to-day management of the retail outlets.