Billionaires top county rich list once again

The Healey brothers, Eddie and Malcolm, continue to top the rankings for Yorkshire with a combined wealth of £1.5bn – the same amount as recorded on the 2011 list and 42nd on the national list of the country’s wealthiest people.

Eddie, 74, is best known as the developer of the huge Meadowhall shopping centre, in Sheffield. He made £420m when he sold his stake in the development in 1999. More recently, he sold a half share in the Centro shopping centre, near Dusseldorf, last year, this time netting £593m. His brother, Malcolm, 67, built up and later sold the Hygena Kitchens business.

Retired supermarket boss Sir Ken Morrison continues to benefit from his 10 per cent stake in the Morrison’s supermarket chain held by his family and worth £760m. The family’s wealth is up £76m this year to £1,11bn, just ahead of Lord Kirkham, another retail billionaire.

Lord Kirkham’s fortune stems from his DFS furniture chain which was bought in 2010 by Advent International for £500m. His wealth is up £100m in this year’s Rich List, with his £1.1bn ranking him 67th in the UK.

The county’s top three are unchanged this year but significant gains have been made further down the list. Assem Allam, seventh in Yorkshire and at 214 nationally has seen his wealth jump by £130m in the past year. The owner of Hull City is now worth £417m.

Overall, the wealth of the top 10 in Yorkshire at £7,222m is down slightly on 2011’s £7,258m, a decline of 0.5 per cent. This compares with a gain of 4.7 per cent overall for the top 1,000 nationally this year.