Rich List 2017 251-500
325= £ 365 m New entry ★
ELEONOR SKEINI
IndustrySkeini is a London-bas ed Swede whose family owned Jacobi
Carbons, which makes “activated carbon” from coconut shells for
use in the water, food and pharmaceutical industries. It has 20
manufacturing facilities worldwide and was sold to Japan’s Osaka
Gas Chemicals in 2014 for $400m. Swedish business magazine
Veckans Affarer valued the family at £365m in December.327 £ 363 m £ 73 m ▲
HELENE AND MARIANNE ODFJELL AND FAMILY
Oil services 2016: £290m, 364=328 £ 362 m £ 118 m ▲
RICHARD KOCH
InvestmentNow making venture capital investments and writing books on
business strategy from his Gibraltar home, Koch, 66, is no longer
listed as a shareholder in Betfair, which became a £7.4bn bettingDunkerton made his debut on film this
year in the exalted company of British-
born Hollywood actor Idris Elba. The pair
appeared together in Cut from a Different
Cloth, a documentary recording the
collaboration between Dunkerton’s
fashion label Superdry and Elba, star of
the television series Luther and the film
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
The brand, worn by the likes of David
Beckham (qv), traces its roots to when
Dunkerton was 19 and had just failed his
exams. After travelling he returned to
Cheltenham, where he saw a gap in the
fashion market. To raise capital he
worked in a factory and as a fruit picker,
later borrowing £2,000 from his family to
rent a store that had been earmarked fordemolition. He made £16,000 in his first
year and never looked back.
SuperGroup, the clothing business he
set up with 45-year-old James Holder,
floated in 2010 valued at £395m. After a
rollercoaster ride on the stock market its
shares have surged recently, valuing the
operation at £1.28bn.
Dunkerton, 52, has a stake worth
£336m, up £28m, having sold a £53m
holding in February last year to fund a
divorce settlement. Holder quit his role as
the operation’s brand and design director
to form a consultancy that will work on
SuperGroup’s sportswear and premium
ranges. He left the company’s board but
retains a stake valued at £133m.
2016: £338m, 324 / £150m, 685=324 /738= £ 366 m / £152m £ 28 m / £2m ▲
JULIAN DUNKERTON AND JAMES HOLDER
Fashiongiant after its merger with Paddy Power in 2015. He backed the
online betting exchange with £1.5m in 2000 and should have
received £80m in sale proceeds. Koch also made millions from
Filofax, the 1980s City accessory of choice. 2016: £244m, 435329= £ 360 m £ 152 m ▲
ANDREW BRODE
Business services 2016: £208m, 501329= £ 360 m £ 20 m ▲
SIMON COWELL
EntertainmentSony feels that Lambeth-born Cowell, 57, has the X factor. The
music giant paid one of the pop world’s best-known music
impresarios £86m for a controlling stake in his entertainment
company Syco, which owns the rights to Britain’s Got Talent and
The X Factor, as well as recording artists including One Direction.
Details of the 2015 Sony deal only recently emerged. Cowell
received £52.4m when the arrangement was signed and is set to
pocket a further £33.4m by 2021. 2016: £340m, 319=329= £ 360 m No change ■
GERT-RUDOLF AND CORINNE FLICK
Industry 2016: £360m, 310=329= £ 360 m £ 20 m▼
MIKE GOOLEY
TravelAfter serving with the SAS for 10 years in Malaya, Oman, Borneo
and Yemen, Gooley hung up his beige beret in 1968. Two years
later the Sheffield-born entrepreneur founded the travel agency
Trailfinders. Based in London, it employs more than 1,000 staff
and with £242.7m net assets is worth £350m. Dividends and
other interests take Gooley, 80, to £360m. 2016: £380m, 295=329= £ 360 m £ 20 m ▲
THE QUEEN
Head of stateThe Queen’s day-to-day income comes from the sovereign grant
system, under which she received £42.8m last year. We do not
count the Crown Estate assets as the monarch’s as she does not
have control over them. Her investment portfolio, mainly British
company holdings, is l ikely to have surged with the post-Brexit
bump in share values, and with rising land and estate prices we
add £10m to last year’s figure for personal property such as
Sandringham, Balmoral and smaller residences. Adding the royal
stamp collection, jewels, horses and the Queen Mother’s legacy
raises the 91-year-old to £360m. 2016: £340m, 319=334 £ 359 m £ 20 m ▲
SIR MICHAEL AND DERMOT SMURFIT AND FAMILY
Packaging and property 2016: £339m, 323335 £ 356 m £ 92 m ▲
RICHARD HARPIN
Insurance and repair servicesHarpin, 52, founded the emergency repair and insurance
operation HomeServe in the mid-1990s. Today the Walsall-based
business he created as a joint venture with South Staffs Water
supplies electricians, pest exterminators, glaziers and other
tradespeople. Harpin’s stake has risen £82m to more than
£234m, while dividends add to his wealth. 2016: £264m, 399=336= £ 350 m No change ■
SIR MARTYN ARBIB AND FAMILY
FinanceLondoner Arbib, 77, launched the fund management group
Perpetual in 1974. Based in Henley-on-Thames, it was valued at
£1.05bn when he sold the operation in 2000. Arbib took £113m in
cash and shares worth £300m in the deal. 2016: £350m, 313=RICHARD KOCH
Entry 328, £362mAll sewn up: Idris Elba, top
left, with Superdry’s James
Holder, centre, and Julian
Dunkerton90 • thesundaytimes.co.uk/richlist