SCOTLAND'S 10 billionaires saw their combined wealth grow over the last year, the Sunday Times Rich List 2022 has revealed.
The richest person in Scotland is fashion tycoon Anders Holch Povlsen, who owns popular brand ASOS. He is worth around £6.5 billion and saw an increase of £500 million since last year, the newspaper said.
Meanwhile, owners of media firm DC Thomson, the Thomson family, have seen their fortune grow by £314m since 2021.
Also featuring on this year’s Scottish list are new entrants The Easedale Brothers, who are worth around £1.3bn. The pair were formerly directors of Rangers and have built their wealth through transport and property acquisitions.
Half of the 10 saw their fortunes fall in the last year despite the headline figure.
Glenn Gordon and family, who own spirits company William Grant and Sons, saw their wealth dip by around £200m since 2021.
Pharmaceutical giants Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and John Shaw and family also saw their fortune fall by an estimated £400m.
The annual list reveals the wealth of the 250 richest people in Britain and published its 34th edition online on Friday.
There are now 10 billionaires in Scotland, with head of Clyde Blowers, Jim McColl coming in 11th place having recently lost his billionaire status.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling follows, with her wealth estimated to be around £870m.
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% 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.”
Meanwhile, across the UK, most people are facing the biggest drop in living standards on record as the cost-of-living crisis hits hard.
With inflation surging to 9%, the highest record since the Thatcher era, hundreds of thousands of people face being forced into destitution.
Consumer confidence is now weaker than at its lowest point during the global banking crisis or the Covid shutdown as cost of living pressures escalate, a long-running survey revealed on Fridat.
GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index fell two points to minus 40 in May, its lowest score since records began in 1974.
Pessimism is starkest in relation to the general economy, with consumer confidence falling to minus 63 looking back over the past year and minus 56 for the 12 months.
