Rich List 2017 135-250
171= £ 740 m £ 25 m ▲
LORD LLOYD-WEBBER
EntertainmentLloyd-Webber, 69, recently warned fellow peers not to frustrate
Brexit and “overrule the will of the people”. In February he
became the first composer to have four shows on Broadway at
one time as Sunset Boulevard, starring Glenn Close, joined Cats,
School of Rock and The Phantom of the Opera, which has been
seen by 140m people and grossed £4.1bn at the box office
worldwide. He has 30 productions running across the globe this
year, and is working with Sir Elton John (qv) on an animated film
version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,
which he wrote with Sir Tim Rice (qv) in the late 1960s. As the
creator of 13 musicals Lloyd-Webber is the world’s leading
composer, celebrating 50 years since he first collaborated with
Rice on The Likes of Us. His business empire and royalty stream
from shows is worth £500m. He has invested in art, wine and
properties in Barbados, Hampshire, Mallorca, Ireland, New York
and London. Lloyd-Webber and his wife, Madeleine, founded the
Watership Down Stud in Berkshire and own many racehorses.
The strong increase in profits and assets at the Lloyd-Webber
companies justif ies a rise to £740m this year. 2016: £715m, 162173 £ 738 m £ 178 m ▲
SIR DAVID McMURTRY
EngineeringDublin-born McMurtry, 77, left Ireland at the age of 18 and traces
his interest in engineering back to making balsa wood aeroplane
kits as a child. He rose from an apprentice machinist and fitter to
become assistant chief designer at Rolls-Royce by the early
1970s. McMurtry began the Wotton-under-Edge engineering
group Renishaw with colleague John Deer (qv) in 1973, initially
running the business from their homes. It floated 10 years later
and now has a market capitalisation of more than £1.84bn.
Renishaw is regarded by politicians as one of Britain’s flagship
businesses, with Theresa May and Philip Hammond holding a
summit last November at its headquarters to discuss the state of
the UK economy. McMurtry’s Gloucestershire residence, Swinhay
House, served as a villain’s lair in an episode of the BBC drama
Sherlock, but the entrepreneur lives elsewhere, as his wife, Terry,
considers the mansion too flashy. McMurtry’s Renishaw holding
is worth £670m and he has other assets. 2016: £560m, 209174 £ 735 m £ 85 m ▲
LORD ROTHSCHILD
FinanceRothschild’s London-based RIT Capital Partners wisely reduced
its exposure to sterling and bought gold in 2016 amid political andeconomic uncertainty. The strategy worked. The business is now
worth nearly £3bn, with its share price rising last year. He and his
family trusts have a £527 m stake. Stripping out charitable
holdings and allowing £115m for other assets including art, an
£18 m stake in oil business Genel Energy and a private wine
collection , Rothschild, 81, is worth £735m. 2016: £650m, 182=175 £ 732 m £ 448 m ▲
MAHMUD KAMANI AND FAMILY
Internet retailingThe Fast fashion retailer Boohoo is making a fortune from teens
and twentysomethings buying cut-price clothes. With sales
consistently beating expectations, s hares in the Manchester-
based online operation have more than tripled in the past year,
valuing it at £1.58bn. Kamani’s family moved from Kenya to Britain
in 1968, wh en his father started selling handbags on the street
before expanding his business into a textiles industry. Kamani,
52, co-founded Boohoo and his family made £206m in share
sales at the float. The 38.14% family stake is worth £602m, up
£41 7m on last year. There are other assets. 2016: £284m, 372176= £ 730 m £ 30 m ▲
MARK FENWICK AND FAMILY
Department stores See panel, right176= £ 730 m £ 30 m ▲
JAMES AND JOHN MARTIN AND FAMILY
Ejection seats See In numbers, left176= £ 730 m £ 20 m ▲
DAVID AND PATRICIA THOMPSON
Food and horseracingThompson, 81, and his wife, Patricia, 77, saved Cheveley Park Stud
from bankruptcy 40 years ago and Newmarket’s oldest horse
breeding farm is now thriving. Former Smithfield meat trader
Thompson made his wealth through his food group Hillsdown,
selling half his stake for £145m in 1987 and the rest for a similar
sum later. There are assets exceeding £225m in the couple’s
businesses and £100m in the family charity. 2016: £710m, 163179 £ 727 m £ 55 m ▲
LORD VESTEY AND FAMILY
MeatGloucestershire-based Vestey, 76, was paid $100m last year
after winning his 11-year legal battle with the Venezuelan
government, whose late president Hugo Chavez seized the peer’s184= £ 700 m No change ■
ANDREY ANDREEV
InternetIn 2006 Moscow-born
Andreev, 43, founded Badoo,
a dating network site that has
more than 340m users, with
400,000 new ones signing
up daily. While Tinder is
bigger in the UK, America and
Australia, Badoo’s hotspots
include South America, South
Africa, Spain and eastern
Europe. It is free to use but
charges members who want
to boost their visibility to
other people seeking a date.
In 2015 the London-based
tech entrepreneur teamed up
with Whitney Wolfe, a
co-founder of Tinder , to
launch Bumble, a platform
aimed specifically at women,
which has at least 3.5m users.When he was 18, Andreev
studied management at
Moscow University but
dropped out after 18 months
and moved to Spain, where
his parents had relocated. He
soon set up a string of
successful internet start-ups
such as the Russian dating
site Mamba, web-tracking
business SpyLog and Begun,
an advertising firm.
Badoo was valued at £1.2bn
in 2013 and has reported
revenues of $200m a year. In
2014 Andreev told a Russian
newspaper his goal was to
“take over” the US market.
He and his management
team have an 80% stake.
2016: £700m, 164=IN NUMBERSJAMES AND
JOHN MARTIN
Entry 176=, £730m
2016: £700m, 164=<1
second from triggering
ejection to deployment
of a Martin-Baker
parachute11
Queen’s awards given
to the company15
G, the typical ejection
gravitational force68
years since the fi rst
“live” ejection93
air forces using M-B
ejection seats7,540
lives saved since 194971.8m
pounds profi t last year58 • thesundaytimes.co.uk/richlist