Sunday Times Rich List reveals East Yorkshire fortunes
BILLIONAIRES BROUGHT UP IN HULL
EAST Yorkshire’s wealthiest family have added £250m to their coffers in a single year, according to the annual Sunday Times Rich List.
Malcolm Healey, the Hull-born billionaire behind Wren Kitchens, and his family now have an accumulated fortune of £1.6bn, according to the list. It means they are fourth in the ranks of the wealthiest people in the north and north-east.
That wealth is dwarfed, however, by that of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who was brought up in Hull and spent his formative years here. Sir Jim, the founder of chemical giant Ineos, has a listed wealth of £29.688bn – an increase of £23.613bn over last year – that also makes him second richest person in the UK overall.
The new edition of The Sunday Times Rich List was published online yesterday; the print edition of the 68-page special is out tomorrow.
Malcolm Healey and his late brother, Eddie, the man behind Meadowhall, came from humble Hull beginnings. With barely a school qualification between them, they nevertheless managed to influence the shopping experience for many across the globe.
The Healeys became a permanent fixture on The Sunday Times Rich List, yet still managed to shun the limelight. Eddie Healey, who took his Meadowhall blueprint to Germany and opened the Centro shopping complex, died in August 2021 at the age of 83.
Malcolm, 76, previously sold
Hygena Kitchens for £200m and its US equivalent Mills Pride for £800m. In April, the Healey family sold online electrical retailer ebuyer to two British investors for an undisclosed sum. The news came as Wren announced a move into fitted bedrooms.
Multi-billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is currently bidding to take over Manchester United, was born in Lancashire in 1952, but spent his much of his childhood and teenage years in Hull and East Yorkshire. The Beverley Grammar School boy enjoyed playing football.
It was not until he reached the age of 45 that he founded Ineos, a company that manufactures raw materials for products ranging from bottle caps and toothpaste to computers and cars. When energy prices rocketed and Europe shivered at the start of the Ukraine conflict, the chemical giant grew exponentially.
Marking its 35th year, The Sunday Times Rich List is described as the definitive guide to wealth in the UK. It charts the fortunes of the 350 richest people, based on identifiable wealth, including land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies, but excludes bank accounts.
Overall, the richest 350 in the UK this year are worth £796.459bn. There are 171 billionaires recorded this year, down six from 2022.
Robert Watts, compiler of The Sunday Times Rich List, said: “This year’s Sunday Times Rich List shows a golden period for the super rich is over. For the first time in 14 years we’ve seen the number of UK billionaires fall.”