Rich List 2017 251-500
McMurtry (qv) from the latter’s home. Based in Chepstow, where
he indulges his passion for racehorses through his Oakgrove Stud
operation, Deer has a £309m stake in the Wotton-under-Edge
business , an £80m rise on last year. 2016: £262m, 401=345= £ 345 m £ 10 m ▲
DAME MARGARET AND HELEN BARBOUR AND FAMILY
FashionBarbour has been selling wax jackets to the well-heeled since- The South Shields company has expanded its range to
includ e knitwear, T-shirts and luggage. Profits in 2016 came in at
£28m on sales of nearly £205m and with £91 m net assets it is
worth £310m. Barbour, 77, gave up teaching to take over the reins
in the early 1970s when her husband died. Her daughter Helen,
50, is vice-chair woman. Finding online dating after her divorce in
her mid-forties to be “predatory ”, she set up Right Company to
enable single people over 35 to meet through events such as
clay-pigeon shooting. The family finances a fund to help women
in the northeast develop their full potential. 2016: £335m, 326=
Women entrepreneurs, page 52
345= £ 345 m £ 240 m ▲
MATT MOULDING
Internet retailingLancashire-born Moulding, a former accountant, had no
experience of internet retailing in 2004 when he co-founded the
Hut Group, an online health and beauty business. A 20% stake
was sold to an American private equity firm in 2015, valuing the
Cheshire -based operation at £500m. Moulding, 45, has a 23%
holding in the company now worth £345m. 2016: £105m, 936=345= £ 345 m £ 20 m ▲
KATHY AND BERNARD MURPHY AND FAMILY
Construction and property 2016: £325m, 333=348 £ 342 m £ 85 m ▲
GREG COFFEY
Hedge fundThe 46-year-old Australian hedge fund star known as “the
Wizard of Oz” retired in 2012 and is spending £55m developing
his 12,000-acre estate on the Scottish island of Jura. He also
owns two large mansions in Sydney. Coffey worked for Bank
Austria before joining London’s GLG hedge fund, earning up to
£75m a year, and forfeited a £260m golden handcuffs deal in
2008 to move to Mayfair-based Moore Capital. He now spends
much of his time in London or on Jura. 2016: £257m, 409336= £ 350 m No change ■
PATRICK McKENNA
Finance and mediaMcKenna, 60, from Brentwood, ran Lord Lloyd-Webber’s (qv)
Really Useful Group before starting Soho-based Ingenious Media
in 1998. It invested in the movie Avatar, making £123m. He sold a
management business in 2016 for £4 3m. 2016: £350m, 313=336= £ 350 m £ 20 m▼
SIR PETER OGDEN
ComputersDonington Park motor racing circuit is owned by MotorSport
Vision, in which Ogden, 69, has a 25% share. A generous donor to
charity, he co-founded Hatfield’s Computacenter group with Sir
Philip Hulme (qv) and has a £225m stake. 2016: £370m, 301=336= £ 350 m £ 50 m ▲
LORD PALUMBO
EntertainmentLast year Palumbo, 53, offloaded his Ministry of Sound record
label, which had sold more than 70m albums. He made at least
£104m from the deal but retained control of his music publishing
business and London nightclub. He owns a £3.5m beachfront
retreat on New Zealand’s Waiheke Island. 2016: £300m, 350=336= £ 350 m £ 10 m▼
FAKHRUDDIN SUTERWALLA AND FAMILY
Food 2016: £360m, 310=342= £ 347 m £ 63 m▼
JOHNNIE BODEN AND FAMILY
Fashion and mail order See panel, page 92342= £ 347 m £ 74 m ▲
GRAHAM TUCKWELL
Finance 2016: £273m, 387344 £ 346 m £ 84 m ▲
JOHN DEER
EngineeringSwansea-born Deer, 79, worked as a Rolls-Royce engineer and
co-founded the listed engineering giant Renishaw with Sir David336= £ 350 m New entry ★
JASON BANNISTER
FurnitureBannister was past 30 , married with two
children and without any ambition to start
a business when he launched Oak
Furnitureland, the company that now has
him sitting very comfortably. “I thought that
ship had sailed,” he said. But in 2004 he
used cash he had raised to extend his house
to buy £10,000 worth of Mexican pine
furniture, which he then traded on eBay. It
went for four times what he paid for it ,
spurring him on to source more hardwood
furniture from abroad and sell it online.
A year later Burnley-born Bannister, 45,
quit his day job and when the website for
Oak Furnitureland — slogan: “There’s no
veneer in ’ere” — launched on Boxing Day in
2006, sales “doubled overnight ”. Bannister,
now divorced and living in Gloucestershire
with his partner, has grown the company,
including the SofaStore brand, into a chain
of 76 showrooms. We value his 85% stake at
£340m. Past dividends take him to £350m.THE QUEEN
Entry 329=, £360m“One good
idea a year
can pay
for the
next 10”
SIMON COWELLPETER NICOLLS/THE TIMES; GETTY
The Sunday Times Magazine • 91