Rich List finds wealth in Scotland has held up better than rest of UK

Wealth in Scotland has held up at a better rate than the rest of the UK over the last year and amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List.

Fashion billionaire and land owner Anders Povlsen came out on top of the rankings as a new entry with his £4.73 billion fortune.

The number of total rich-listers born, based or whose wealth is largely tied up in Scotland has remained the same this year at 82, but their combined worth is up by 13% to £39.504bn from £34.957bn.

Even with Mr Povlsen’s cash removed, the Scottish rich list is just 0.5% down on 2019.

Overall, the wealth of the richest 1,000 across the UK is down 3.7%.

Robert Watts, compiler of the list, said: “The super-rich are of course better placed to endure the financial impact of coronavirus than any of us.

“But the pandemic is already hitting Scotland’s leading entrepreneurs and business leaders in the pocket, with more than half of those on our Scottish Rich List seeing their wealth fall in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List.

“This has profound implications for us all. While some of Britain’s super-rich have not behaved admirably during this crisis, our economic recovery will need many of these people to create jobs and growth if we are to escape a prolonged recession.”

Among the 82 names on the Scottish Rich List, 40 have seen their wealth increase in the past year and just 25 have seen it reduced.

Glenn Gordon and family, who are behind the Moray-based distiller William Grant & Sons, have seen the biggest increase, up 10.5%.

Trond Mohn and Marit Mohn Westlake saw the biggest drop in wealth at £277 million. The siblings established a company called Meteva to manage their investments and philanthropy, but their holdings in offshore drilling outfit Transocean and shipping group DOF have lost a lot of value.