Property still a winner for Scotland's richest 100

Published on Sunday 27 April 2008 20:56

SCOTLAND'S top business tycoons are bucking plummeting property, construction and financial markets to dominate the list of the country's wealthy.

The hundred richest Scots, as revealed in yesterday's Sunday Times Rich List, includes scores of property entrepreneurs, as well as financial gurus and housebuilders, belying fears that the recent stock market volatility has hit the pockets of industry leaders.

In retail, however, a number of big names have slipped down the UK list, suggesting that the recent high street gloom has had a major effect on their fortunes.

North of the Border, Keith Miller, chief executive of construction firm Miller Group, was ranked joint fourth with conference business owner Lord Laidlaw, both holding 730 million.

Miller's estimated fortune was below his 2007 figure of 810 million, after the group was valued slightly lower this year, at 800 million, by the Sunday Times.

In other sectors, a host of the usual suspects top the rankings, including Stagecoach owners Brian Souter and Ann Gloag at sixth, with a total of 720 million, as well as the Grant and Gordon family, of whisky firm William Grant, coming in third place with 878 million.

This year's list has a number of new entrants, including Lithuanian businessman and Hearts Football Club owner Vladimir Romanov, John Lynch, chairman of Ayrshire construction firm John Lynch Builders, and accountant Alan McIntosh.

Property and sports goods tycoon Sir Tom Hunter took the title of Scotland's richest man once again, boasting wealth of 1.05 billion – up slightly on last year's figure of 1.046 billion.

The housing market has taken a hit from the credit crunch, with many housebuilders reporting a slowdown in orders. Experts have expressed fears of job cuts in Scotland's linchpin financial services industry.

But David Lonsdale, the assistant director of CBI Scotland, said he expected the big players to remain buoyant over the coming year.

He said: "In the short-term it is a hairy time for business people in those sectors. However, people like those big names on the top of the list generally have big established companies and are likely to be able to take a more long-term view."

Graham Bell, a spokesman for the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said: "The housing market in Scotland has not been as affected as (that in] the rest of the country and is not likely to have a huge affect on the wealth of these individuals."

John Lynch, new to the Scottish list at number 11, boasts personal wealth of 203 million, including land holdings worth 143 million, which have soared in value over the past year to place him at number 394 on the main UK list.

The last time Mr Lynch appeared on the list was in 2003, when he had assets estimated to be worth just 35 million.

In the UK-wide list, retailer Sir Philip Green – owner of the Topshop-to-Miss Selfridge Arcadia empire and department store chain Bhs – came close to falling out of the top ten amid deepening despair on the high street.

Sir Philip is now ranked ninth with a worth of 4.33 billion – compared with 2007's seventh placing at 4.9 billion.

Sports World entrepreneur Mike Ashley – the Newcastle United owner who made 929 million in a single day last year by floating part of his empire – fell from 25th to 54th in the ranking as his estimated wealth slipped to 1.4 billion.

Scotland's richest 100 people boast a combined wealth of 18.54 billion.

WEALTH GOES UP TO 275M

THE owner of food production company Grampian Country Foods has increased his personal wealth more than five-fold over the past 12 months, despite mixed fortunes at the company, the list has revealed.

Fred Duncan, 65, has a stake in the company he founded worth around 275 million, while the remainder of his fortune comes from other assets.

The group, whose brands include Hall's sausages and Grampian chicken, reported a 40 million loss in 2006, but last year moved back into the black, posting a 5.1 million profit for the year to 30 May.

Grampian was launched by Duncan in Banff in 1980.

PUB FOUNDER IN THE MONEY

ACCOUNTANT Alan McIntosh is another new entrant to the list at equal 43rd place.

The co-founder of nationwide pub chain Punch Taverns, 40-year-old McIntosh is now a partner in London-based investment business Sun Capital Investment, which is owned by his former Punch partner, Hugh Osmond.

Ranked joint 644th in the overall UK list, McIntosh boasts wealth of 120 million – including an 84m stake in a firm called Xercise, which handles Sun's dealings with parent company Pearl.

McIntosh, who started his career at Deloitte and Touche, has also dabbled in retail, buying and floating clothing firm Blakes in the 1990s.