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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Kris Gourlay

JK Rowling among richest in Scotland as country's wealthiest people named

The richest people in Scotland have been revealed recently, with Edinburgh author JK Rowling narrowly missing out on the top ten.

The Sunday Times have compiled the data based on individual's personal fortune and have also factored in the rise or fall of their wealth in the last year.

Topping the rich list is Anders Holch Povlsen, Scotland's largest land owner, with a staggering £6.5 billion fortune.

READ MORE: EasyJet told to pay compensation to Edinburgh passenger after he broke his legs

The special 68-page copy of The Sunday Times magazine has revealed the wealth of the 250 richest people in the whole of the UK in its 34th annual edition.

There are a record 177 billionaires in the UK this year, up six from 2021. The combined wealth of the UK billionaires is £653.122 billion, up £55.853 billion – 9.4 per cent – on the total wealth of the billionaires in last year’s Rich List.

Overall, the richest 250 in the UK this year are worth £710.723 billion, compared to £658.089 billion in 2021, an 8 per cent rise on last year.

Holch Povlsen, 48, heads the 2022 rich list with a person fortune of £6.5 billion, up £500 million on last year. He is now Scotland’s largest landowner with more than 220,000 acres.

Povlsen is owner of the Danish fashion retailer Bestseller and holds a stake of around 25% in the British online fashion retailer Asos.

Greenock brothers Sandy and James Easdale, former directors of Rangers football club, are the wealthiest newcomers to the Scottish Rich List, with a £1.363 billion fortune based upon transport and property acquisitions.

Now worth £996 million, down £4 million after a fall in the value of investments, Monaco-based Jim McColl, 70, head of Clyde Blowers, the East Kilbride engineering operation, has lost his Rich List billionaire status.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who has added £30 million to her personal fortune since 2021, has also made considerable donations to charities, including £6.7 million last year from her Volant Trust.

Bristol-born Rowling, 56, is ranked the 12th richest person in Scotland with £850 million to her name.

Robert Watts, the compiler of The Sunday Times Rich List, said: "Scotland's richest people have fared less well than those elsewhere in the UK, with half of this year's 10 Scottish billionaires seeing their fortunes fall over the past year. The combined wealth of the country’s 10 billionaires is still up, at nearly 2 per cent on 2021.

“As the economy continues to work through the damage wrought by the pandemic, surging inflation and the disruption to markets caused by the war in Ukraine are now making the business environment difficult."

The top ten richest people in Scotland, and their individual wealth, can be seen below:

Scotland

Rank

Name

Source of Wealth

2022 Wealth

Wealth increase/ decrease

1

Anders Holch Povlsen

Fashion: Bestseller and Asos

£6.5bn

Up £500m

2

Glenn Gordon and family

Spirits: William Grant & Sons

£3.395

Down £200m

3

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and John Shaw and family

Pharmaceuticals: Biocon

£2.496bn

Down £446m

4

Sir Ian Wood and family

Oil services and fishing

£1.819bn

No change

5

Mohamed Al Fayed and family

Retailing: Harrods

£1.699bn

Down £1m

6

Mahdi al-Tajir

Metals, oil, and water: Highland Spring

£1.685bn

Down £2m

7

The Thomson family

Media: D C Thomson

£1.585bn

Up £314m

8

Sandy and James Easdale

Transport and property

£1.363bn

New entry

9

Lady Philomena Clark and family

Car sales: Arnold Clark

£1.267bn

Up £126m

10

Trond Mohn and Marit Mohn Westlake and family

Industry

£1.245m

Down £14m

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