Western Daily Press (Saturday)
RICHEST IN WEST LIST
WILTSHIRE tycoon Sir James Dyson has been deposed as Britain’s richest person – after his fortune ‘only’ grew by £100 million in the last year.
The annual Sunday Times Rich List is published tomorrow and advance details suggest Sir James is down to fourth in this year’s list.
But with an estimated fortune of more than £16 billion it is unlikely the inventor is losing too much sleep about seeing Ukrainian-born oil tycoon Sir Leonard Blavatnik overtake him after his fortune leapt by more than £7 billion to £23 billion.
The 33rd edition of the list will reveal there are now a record 171 billionaires in the UK – jumping by 24%.
It’s in stark contrast with the wider economic turmoil of the pandemic, which saw millions enter furlough and unemployment rise to its highest level in almost five years.
Wealth among billionaires increased by 21.7 per cent over the year, rising by £106.5 billion to £597.2 billion.
Sir David McMurtry is the South West’s biggest winner, though, regaining his billionaire status after a sharp rise in the fortunes of Renishaw, the Gloucestershire engineering business he co-founded with John Deer.
Robert Watts, compiler of the Rich List, said: “The global pandemic created lucrative opportunities for many online retailers, social networking apps and computer games tycoons.
“The fact many of the super-rich grew so much wealthier at a time when thousands of us have buried loved ones and millions of us worried for our livelihoods makes this a very unsettling boom.”
The richest people in the South West
Sir James Dyson and family
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The vacuum cleaner inventor, who employs thousands of people in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, boosted his wealth by £100 million in the last year to £16.3 billion. However, he dropped in the rankings to be named the fourth overall richest person in Britain.
In 2020, Sir James sold his penthouse in Singapore for £33 million, about £4 million less than he paid in 2019, and moved his residence back to the UK.
Dyson, however, will shortly move into its new global head office at St James Power Station in Singapore after a controversial decision in 2019 to move the operation there from Britain.
The company is still creating jobs in the UK, however, and has announced plans to create 200 research jobs at its Innovation Campus in Wiltshire.
The 74-year-old is also planning to throw £2.75 billion at robotics, artificial intelligence and a range of other new technologies over the next five years as he moves into new areas and doubles the company’s product range.
Earlier this year, Sir James was in the press over tax-based texts with PM Boris Johnson at the height of the search for ventilators.
Mr Dyson and family are one of seven billionaire entries from the South West among a record-breaking 171 billionaires in the UK recorded this year.
Peter Hargreaves
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The financial services boss saw his wealth increase to £2.41 billion – up £10 million.
Mr Hargreaves co-founded Bristolbased Hargreaves Lansdown with Stephen Lansdown in 1981. It is one of the UK’s largest financial services businesses.
Earlier this year, Mr Hargreaves reportedly announced he was selling a
£300 million stake in Hargreaves Lansdown.
Chris and Sarah Dawson
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Retail magnate Chris Dawson and his wife Sarah have seen their wealth stall for the first time in years – but they are still worth more than £2 billion.
In a year when the richest people in the country got richer, the Plymouthborn entrepreneur and his spouse fell 12 places on the 2021 Sunday Times Rich List with their fortune put at £2.05 billion.
Sir David McMurtry
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The co-founder and executive chairman of engineering giant Renishaw is in fourth place on the South West rich list.
He is now worth £1.78 billion – up £848 million in the last year alone.
Renishaw makes key components for aircraft and cars, as well as hi-tech surgical equipment.
In March, Sir David and non-executive deputy chair John Deer, who set up the Gloucestershire-based FTSE 250 business nearly 50 years ago, announced they were planning to sell their stakes in the company in order to “secure the future” of the firm in the long term.
The duo said they would sell their combined 53% holding in the Wottonunder-Edge company.
■ Steve Lansdown
The co-founder of Hargreaves Lansdown increased his wealth by £15 million in the past year to £1.365 billion.
In November 2020, the finance boss, who founded the business with Peter Hargreaves, sold £103 million of his shares in the firm.
Seven months before, he had sold a £160 million stake, according to City Wire, after disposing of approximately 10 million of his shares.
■ Ursula Bechtolsheimer-Kipp and family
There was no change for Ursula Bechtolsheimer-Kipp and family, who owe their wealth to inheritance and hotels.
She ranked sixth on the list for 2021 with overall wealth of £1 billion.
She and her family have a horsebreeding operation in Gloucestershire, and their daughter Laura Tomlinson won the dressage gold in the 2012 London Olympics.
Christina Ong and family
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In joint sixth place is the ‘Queen of Bond Street’ – Singaporean billionaire Christina Ong – who saw her bank balance increase by £122 million last year to £1 billion. The 72-year-old majority owns Mulberry, the Somerset-based luxury brand favoured by Meghan Markle.
■ John Deer
Non-executive deputy chairman of Renishaw engineering, Mr Deer, aged 83, worked with Sir David McMurtry at Rolls Royce before they decided to set up on their own in 1973.
His wealth was up £383 million last year, taking his overall worth to £823 million.
The Vestey Family
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The family, whose main business is the meat trading company Western United Investment Company, saw their wealth fall £4 million to £717 million in a year in which patriarch Lord Vestey and his wife both died.
The peer, who was a friend of Prince Charles and lived in Gloucestershire, died in February at the age of 79, three months after the death of his wife Celia.
The dynasty founded and still runs the multinational corporation Western United Investment Company, which in turn owns Vestey Foods, Albion Fine Foods & FineFrance UK,
Cottage Delight, Donald Russell and Western Pension Solutions.
■ Stephen Fitzpatrick
New to the list for 2021 is the founder of Bristol-based energy giant Ovo.
Stephen Fitzpatrick’s wealth is now £675 million, according to the Sunday Times.