Povlsen sees £1bn rise in wealth in latest rich list – Daily Business

Anders Holch Povlsen, the Danish businessman regarded as the richest man in Scotland, has seen his wealth jump by almost £1 billion over the past year.

The retailer, landowner and owner of the Jenners building in Edinburgh retains top spot in the latest rich list, seeing his personal fortune over 2024 leap by £974 million to £7.704bn.

Mr Povlsen is chief executive of the international retail clothing chain Bestseller and the largest shareholder in ASOS. He heads the “Scottish” list ahead of the Gordon family who own whisky distiller William Grant & Sons.

Sir Ian Wood and family are third, despite the plunge in value of the Wood Group over the past six months following a series of setbacks.

Despite being born in Torquay, media and television personality Georgia Toffolo, who is married to BrewDog entrepreneur James Watt, ranks top in Scotland for the richest under 40 category with a wealth of £425m.

A continued absentee is Doug Barrowman, husband of Lady Michelle Mone, who is said to have assets under management and administration worth almost £3bn. He is from Glasgow and the couple live in the Isle of Man.

The latest listing in The Sunday Times reveals the largest fall in the billionaire count in the guide’s 37-year history, from a peak of 177 in 2022 to 156 this year. The number of billionaires has dropped for three successive years – but this year’s decline is the sharpest yet.

This year’s list of 350 individuals and families together hold combined wealth of £772.8 billion — 3% down on last year. Sir Elton John, Lord Lloyd-Webber, Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Euan Blair, Sir Lewis Hamilton and Sir Christopher Nolan all appear in the annual survey. The combined wealth in the 37th annual edition is £772.8bn — a sum larger than the annual GDP of Switzerland.

The minimum entry level flatlines at £350 million — another indicator of a subdued year.

Robert Watts, compiler of the List, said: “The Sunday Times Rich List is changing. Our billionaire count is down and the combined wealth of those who feature in our research is falling. We are also finding fewer of the world’s super rich are coming to live in the UK.

“This year we were also struck by the strength of criticism for Rachel Reeves’s Treasury. We expected the abolition of non-dom status would anger affluent people from overseas.

“But homegrown young tech entrepreneurs and those running centuries-old family firms are also warning of serious consequences to a range of tax changes unveiled in last October’s budget.

“Our research continues to find a wide variety of self-made entrepreneurs building fortunes not just from artificial intelligence, video games and new technologies but also mundane, everyday items such as makeup, radiators and jogging bottoms.

“We know many of our readers find these people and their stories inspiring — especially the many who had tough starts or setbacks to their lives and careers.”

THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2025 – THE 10 WEALTHIEST IN SCOTLAND

THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2025 – THE 20 WEALTHIEST UK BILLIONAIRES

For the full 350 richest people in the UK go online at www.thetimes.com/sunday-times-rich-list