A JERSEY resident whisky billionaire and his family have continued their steady rise up the rankings of Britain’s richest people.
Glenn Gordon, chair of international drinks business William Grant and Sons, has moved inside the top 30 of the annual Sunday Times Rich List, published this weekend, and is the wealthiest Channel Islander, according to the newspaper.
The Gordon family’s estimated wealth of £6.39 billion is higher than the GDP of Barbados, having grown by £779m over the past 12 months, according to the annual survey.
While rich list compiler Robert Watts noted a steady fall in the number of British billionaires from 177 in 2022 to 156 this year, Mr Gordon and his family have only grown richer during this period.
The family’s estimated wealth was £3.4 billion in 2022, leaving them 52nd in the rankings, but rose up the ladder to 44th place in 2023 and again to 36th last year. Now they are ranked 29th in Britain and also hold the accolade as the wealthiest Scots.
Mr Gordon (67) is the great great-grandson of William Grant, which has a global portfolio of brands such as Tullamore Dew, Drambuie, Hendrick’s gin, Milagro tequila and Reyka vodka, has served as chairman since 2012. He maintains a low profile and has not given interviews for many years.
Chris and Sarah Dawson, owners of homeware store The Range were assessed as having added £100m to their wealth in the past 12 months to reach a figure of £2.6bn, 64th in Britain, while also in the top 100 nationally was Simon Nixon, the founder of price-comparison website moneysupermarket.com – the 57-year-old is believed to own a property in St Brelade and was listed at £1.95bn.
Guernsey claims two places in the Channel Islands top 10: Specsavers founders Douglas and Mary Perkins ranked fourth with £1.54bn and fund manager Steve Lansdown (£1.25bn) a place behind.
But the remainder of the top ten is a Jersey affair, including hedge fund specialists Martin Hughes (£775m) and Ross Turner (£600m), former property developer Paul Sykes (£775m), and the Clarke family, owners of commercial property business Le Masurier (£510m).
The other person in the CI top 10 is Steve Parkin, a former miner’s son who moved to Jersey recently and has an estimated wealth of £515m. Mr Parkin began his working life as a delivery driver and went on to found the courier business Clipper Logistics, netting an estimated £139m from the 2022 sale of the business to US logistics giant GXO Logistics for £943m.
Mr Watts said Mr Parkin’s move to Jersey was part of a noticeable trend which had seen significant numbers of super-rich individuals and their families leave the UK and move abroad.
“There are some big names in the list who cultivate a high public profile, but also others who are very very quiet about whom very little is known,” he 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, while we are also finding fewer of the world’s super rich are coming to live in the UK.”
The full rich list will be published in the Sunday Times this weekend and can be found at thetimes.com/sunday-times-rich-list
