From farmers to suppliers, wholesalers to distributors, supermarket bosses to restaurant chain owners, The Grocer’s first-ever Rich List represents the whole gamut of food and drink wealth creation. Some are household names. Others are intensely private. All are immensely rich.

See our methodology

1

£89,650m

The Walton Family

Walmart/Asda

The name Sam Walton (pictured above) may not mean much to Asda’s regular shoppers but the late founder of the giant Walmart chain in America is the inspiration for the Leeds-based supermarket group.

Walton died in 1992 as the richest person in the world courtesy of the single-minded way he had built Walmart in 40 years of relentless growth across America. His emphasis on efficient logistics, slick marketing and customer service were copied by Asda in the early 1990s under then CEO and later chairman Archie Norman.

No surprise, then, that seven years after Sam’s death, Walmart decided the time was right to enter the UK grocery market and trumped a rival bid from Kingfisher to buy Asda and its then 229 stores for the princely sum of £6.7bn. Today, Asda has around 577 stores and over 115,000 staff. Recent data shows it is the best-performing of Britain’s big four supermarkets.

But that has not bred any complacency from CEO Andy Clarke and his management team at Asda’s Leeds HQ. With discounters growing fast, it is investing £1bn to lower prices and a further £250m on product quality and design.

Asda aims to increase the percentage of the population that can access its goods and services from 53% to 70% through new store openings and expanding its click & collect network to 1,000 locations. The aim is to increase online revenue from £1bn to £3bn by 2018.

Asda will also end up with 1,570 more staff on the shop floor by creating 5,670 new positions, most lower-level section leader roles, with more workers detailed to fulfil internet orders. The shakeup was revealed as the retailer reported like-for-like sales up 0.1% in the 15 weeks to 20 April.

Sam Walton would have approved of their relentless drive for greater efficiency. But his family now have little to do with running Walmart.

He left his ownership in Walmart to his wife Helen and their children. Helen died in 2007. His eldest son Rob succeeded him to the chairmanship in 1992 and received around £275m in dividends last year, adding to his £20bn-plus fortune.

Another son, John, was a director until his death in a 2005 plane crash. His widow Christy is the richest woman in the world with a £22bn fortune. Youngest son Jim is CEO of Walmart’s Arvest Bank, sitting on a tidy fortune of £20.8bn. Alice, Sam’s daughter, may become more visible as the next US presidential election gathers pace. A close ally of Hillary Clinton, Alice will spend some of her £20.6bn underwriting Hillary’s campaign.

One further Walton has a strong British connection: Anne Walton Kroenke is Sam’s niece and a relative pauper with a £2.9bn fortune. She is married to Stan Kroenke, the Arsenal chairman who has a £3.3bn fortune in his own right. With one more Walton niece added, the entire Walton clan is now worth £89.65bn, according to the latest Forbes World’s Billionaires rich list.

So, every time an Asda shopper goes to the checkout, their every little bit helps the Walton family wealth (with apologies to Tesco for stealing their punchline).

2

Karl Albrecht

Karl Albrecht

£15,670m

Karl Albrecht

Aldi

Aldi is growing so fast the German retailer needs to recruit 5,500 extra staff by the end of 2014 to keep up with demand. It plans to open 55 new stores and expand many of its existing 525 outlets. The chain has been winning over an increasing number of upmarket customers. Verdict has calculated that last year 12.9% of regular customers were from the A-B socioeconomic group – what most people would call “middle class.” That leapt to 18.6% this year. Aldi’s fare is also improving: it scooped the prestigious Grocer of the Year 2014 Award, won a total of eight gold and 10 silver awards at The Grocer Own-Label Awards 2014, and 11 awards at the International Spirits Challenge 2014, including gold for its Oliver Cromwell London Dry Gin. Aldi is owned by 94-year- old Karl Albrecht, Germany’s grocery king (pictured). He and his brother Theo took over their mother’s corner grocery store in Essen in 1946 and turned it into a retail behemoth known for low prices and no frills. In 1961, the brothers split ownership: Karl took the more profitable stores in southern Germany plus the rights to the brand in the UK, Australia and the US, while Theo, who died in 2010, got northern Germany and the rest of Europe. Aldi Süd shows no signs of slowing down, with plans to increase the number of mini-markets in the US by nearly 50% over the next five years, and had estimated revenue of $50.54bn in 2013, according to analysts. Forbes values Albrecht at £15.7bn.

3

£14,130m

Dieter Schwarz

Lidl

“Maidstone Mum” has been key to the rapid recent rise of Lidl, the German-owned supermarket group. Over the last few years the discounter has risen fast and now has around 600 stores in the UK – it aims to eventually open 1,500, according to UK MD Ronny Gottschlich. “We really see ourselves these days as more of a supermarket than the hard discounter of the past,” Gottschlich said recently. “Those times are over.” Lidl described its target customer as a “Maidstone mum” who was no longer ashamed to shop in the discount retailer. Lidl’s history goes back to the 1930s, when it was founded in Germany as a grocery wholesaler. Today, it is one of the largest grocery retailers in Europe. The first Lidl stores were opened in 1973 and by the 1980s Lidl was a household name throughout Germany. During the 1990s Lidl started to open stores outside Germany and entered Britain 20 years ago. It is owned by the Schwarz Group, founded by the father of Dieter Schwarz. With revenues of $91bn it is second only to Aldi in Germany. Schwarz, a deeply private person, is reckoned by Forbes to be worth £14.1bn in its latest list of billionaires.

4

£7,300m

Galen & George Weston & family

Associated British Foods

Bucks-born Galen Weston has seen his wealth grow sharply in the last year, according to the Canadian Business Rich List in late 2013, which puts him second in the Top 100 with a £5.8bn fortune. That is derived from the huge George Weston operation in Canada spanning Loblaw supermarkets, Weston Foods and the recently acquired Shoppers Drug Mart grocery operation. The Weston family also owns the Selfridges Group with its four luxury department store groups. We add his wealth to that of the British branch of the Weston clan, led by his nephew George Weston. Here the fortune is concentrated in food producer and retailer ABF, in which the star performer is discount retailer Primark. The Weston family’s stake has soared in value to c£2.6bn after discounting charitable holdings. We lop off around £1bn from the Weston family wealth for any duplication and cross-shareholdings, taking the entire clan on both sides of the Atlantic to £7.3bn.

5

£6,365m

Michel & Charlene De Carvalho

Heineken

Dutch brewer Heineken warned last October that weaker beer consumption in Europe would hit profits, and shares in the world’s third-largest brewer fell sharply. This will not have pleased Charlene de Carvalho, the daughter of former boss the late Freddy Heineken. He died in 2002 leaving his fortune to his only daughter, who lives in London and Switzerland with her husband Michel de Carvalho, a leading banker. He started out as a child actor, appearing in Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean’s Oscar-winning epic, starring Peter O’Toole. But he gave up acting at 17, a decision he reportedly regretted later on, because he passed up the chance to earn a lot of money. Still he and his wife are not short of a bob or two today, and that does not include his day-to-day job as a leading banker. The de Carvalho family stake in Heineken is now worth £5.7bn. Since 2000 the family has received around £715m in dividends. The family should now be worth around £6.4bn.

Rich List Philip Green

Sir Philip Green

6

£3,880m

Sir Philip & Lady Tina Green

Arcadia

Sir Philip Green claims a trial of a food section at his Romford BHS boosted sales across the entire store. Similar trails are underway at outlets in Staines and Warrington. Green reckons there are 140 BHS stores that could sell groceries. BHS is part of his Arcadia empire, which also owns Topshop, Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge. Its profits rose from £104m to £481m on £2.7bn sales in 2012-13. Green sold a 25% stake in Topshop and Topman to an American private equity company early last year, which valued them alone at £2bn. Arcadia banked £350m from the sale. Green, who made his name as a discount retailer in the 1980s and early 1990s, took over the ailing BHS in 2000 for £200m, and Arcadia, which he acquired for £850m in 2002. Collectively we value Arcadia at c£2.7bn on the latest figures and the private equity deal. That values the Green family stakes at around £2.6bn. We also include £400m for the lease on the Oxford Street Topshop, and add another £1.4bn for past dividends (including the £1.2bn paid to Tina in 2005) and other assets, homes, yachts and the proceeds of earlier property deals.

7

£3,350m

Joe Lewis

Mitchells & Butlers

An entrepreneur who built his first fortune in the London hospitality business, Lewis is now an active foreign exchange trader and global investor through his Tavistock business, which has interests in more than 150 companies around the world. His British interests include Tottenham Hotspur, the London Premiership football club, and a £509m stake in pub operator Mitchells & Butlers. Lewis also owns many US restaurants including Abe & Louie’s and Freebirds. He has homes in Argentina, the Bahamas and Florida but spends the majority of the year working from his yacht. His vast art collection includes works by Picasso, Matisse, Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, and he has recently lent pieces to The National Gallery and The Met. In all, with Spurs in reasonable shape and the uptick in Mitchells & Butlers, Lewis is worth £3.4bn.

8

£3,150m

Lord & Lady Bamford & family

Daylesford/JCB

Almost 30 years ago, Lady Carole Bamford visited a local agricultural show and became inspired by the then-embryonic organic farming movement. She set to work converting the family’s farms in Staffordshire and Gloucestershire [the village of Daylesford] to organic, responsible farming based on traditional methods. She recognised the potential for producing and selling farm food locally; this led to the opening of the acclaimed Daylesford Organic farm shop and café in 2002. Today, there are three standalone farm shops with cafés in Gloucestershire, Pimlico Road and Notting Hill; a concession in Selfridges Food Hall; and a virtual farmshop via Ocado.com. Summer 2012 witnessed Daylesford’s first pop-up café on the roof of Selfridges. Over the past 10 years Daylesford has received over 120 awards in recognition of its excellent produce, sustainable farming methods, animal welfare commitment and innovative design ethos. But it is no moneyspinner yet. In 2012 it made a £2.9m loss on £11.8m sales (though the loss was down sharply). However the Bamford family is not short of a bob or two. Carole Bamford’s husband Lord Bamford chairs the world’s third-largest supplier of earth-moving equipment. In 2013, JCB made £313m profit on £2.7bn sales. It is easily worth £3bn and the Bamford family owns it all. We add £150m for other assets such as Daylesford and past dividends taking the Bamford family to around £3.2bn.

9

£2,050m

Tom Morris & family

Home Bargains

Liverpool-based discount retailer Home Bargains was started by Morris, opening his first store in 1976. Morris had retailing in the blood, as both his parents and grandparents were shopkeepers. TJ Morris, the parent company for Home Bargains, saw its profits rise 31% in 2012-13 to £110.8m on sales up 16% at £1.05bn. With a strong balance sheet and £349m net assets, it should easily be worth £2bn in the current climate. Other assets add £50m.

10

£1,900m

The Grant & Gordon family

William Grant & Sons

Profits at William Grant, the Banffshire whisky distiller, rose from £146.5m to £152.5m while sales hit a record £1.064bn in 2012. The company was founded by William Grant in 1886. Today the firm is still controlled by the fifth generation of his family. The company also owns 30% of Highland Distillers, a business that is majority-owned by Glasgow-based Edrington Group and has brands including The Macallan, Highland Park and Famous Grouse. With £838m net assets, the William Grant business is now worth perhaps £1.8bn in the current climate. Past dividends and other assets add £100m after tax to the scattered Gordon and Grant family.

 

11

£1,659m

John Dorrance

Campbell Soup Company

John Dorrance III, 70, owes his wealth to shares he inherited in the American food giant the Campbell Soup Company. It grew on the back of the 1897 invention of condensed soup by Dorrance’s grandfather – a nephew of the general manager of the Joseph Campbell Preserve Company. Grandson Dorrance moved to Ireland from America in 1994 and spends much of the year living modestly in the Dublin area. By 1996 Dorrance retained a stake of just 2.3% worth £189m. But around £1,000m of share sales over the years and other assets take Dorrance to £1.7bn.

12

£1,650m

Simon, Bobby & Robin Arora

B&M Retail

The Arora brothers’s fast-growing discount retailer was valued at £2.7bn in last month’s IPO. Simon, a Cambridge law graduate, started out sourcing and distributing products for major grocery multiples through Orient Sourcing Services, set up by his brother Bobby. They sold it for £30m in 2000. Five years later, joined by brother Robin, they took over struggling B&M Retail, selling a 60% stake in the Merseyside-based operation to a US private equity group in late 2012, valuing it at £965m. Hiring ex-Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy as chairman by the end of 2013, B&M was a 370-store chain. Robin sold nearly all his stake for £228m in the float, while Simon and Bobby cut theirs from 19.1% to 14% each. These share sales raised £480m. Their remaining 28% stake is worth £756m. Other assets, including UK and Far East property, take the Aroras to £1.7bn after tax.

13

Sir Anwar Pervez

Sir Anwar Pervez

£1,310m

Sir Anwar Pervez & family

Bestway

Profits at West London-based Bestway hit a record £164.3m on £1.957bn sales in 2012-13, while the separate Bestway Northern added £20m profit and £561m sales. Sir Anwar (see pic), Bestway’s founder, came to Britain at 21 from Pakistan and opened his first shop in 1962. He built a chain of 11 shops and then in 1976 he turned to cash & carry with his first Bestway depot in West London. The two Bestway companies are easily worth £2.5bn together. The Pervez family owns around half of Bestway and is worth £1.3bn. Other assets add around £30m. Pervez would be much richer if he did not give large amounts to charity every year. In 2011-12 some £2m was devoted to charitable causes, mainly in the educational and medical fields. In all the Pervez family should be worth £1.3bn. See also 21 and 34 for entries for other Bestway shareholders.

14

£1,150m

Lord Kirkham & family

Iceland

Kirkham helped to fund his friend Malcolm Walker’s (40) £1.45bn takeover of the Iceland food group in 2012. He will have been pleased by the record £202m profit Iceland achieved in 2013-14. Kirkham could underwrite his 18.1% stake as he sold his DFS furniture group in 2010 for £400m to a private equity group. Yorkshire-based Kirkham left school at 16 with no O levels. He became a furniture salesman and within seven years he had set up his own business in a converted billiard hall. He floated DFS in 1993. The float and later share sales generated £450m for the Kirkham family. In 2004 he took the business private, funded principally by loans. But subsequent refinancing, dividend payments and the 2010 sale meant that even after those loans were repaid, the Kirkham family actually netted another £400m. Art and Iceland’s success push the Kirkham family’s worth to £1.15bn.

Rich List Ken Morrison

Sir Ken Morrison

15 

£900m

Sir Kenneth Morrison & family

Wm Morrison Supermarkets

Blunt Yorkshireman Sir Ken Morrison is not one to mince his words. In a vitriolic attack on the board of the supermarket he once controlled and ran at the recent shareholder meeting at the Bradford offices, Sir Ken savaged CEO Dalton Philips’ turnaround strategy. Sir Ken said: “When I left work and started working as a hobby, I chose to raise cattle. I have something like 1,000 bullocks and, having listened to your presentation, Dalton, you’ve got a lot more bullshit than me.” Sir Ken went on: “The results were described by the chairman and chief executive as ‘disappointing.’ I personally thought they were disastrous. I warned in 2009 and 2012 that changes being implemented by directors would seriously damage the business and I’m extremely sorry to admit that my comments, while unwelcome, were absolutely right and today we have seen the consequences.” Morrisons made a £176m loss last year and plans to slash prices to compete with the discount retailers such as Aldi and Lidl. It followed by announcing a job cull of 2,600 managers from its 126,000-strong workforce to simplify management structures. The shares have been hammered by the City and the group may face a takeover bid, which Sir Ken would probably support. Known as the ‘cantankerous old King of the Tills,’ he grew the group started by his father selling butter, bacon and eggs on stalls in Bradford. The first supermarket opened in 1961 and the business floated on the stockmarket six years later. In 2004 Morrisons bought Safeway, a larger rival, for £3.35bn. The Morrison family stake is now worth just £400m. But share sales totalling £500m and other assets add at least £450m after tax.

16

£850m

Earl of Iveagh & Guinness family

Guinness

Iveagh’s Elveden estate on the border with Norfolk and Suffolk recently became a LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) farm. It was 120 years ago that the Iveagh family used some profits from Guinness to buy the estate. In 1886 the family started what is now the oldest family office in Britain to protect its wealth. In 2008, before the financial crisis, it had £400m of funds under management. Iveagh is the direct descendant of Arthur Guinness who invented the famous black stout in 1759. Born in Dublin, he moved to England in 1991 and the family mansion was later sold for c£20m. Iveagh inherited the title and around £62m in Guinness shares in 1992. He is not listed on the share register of Diageo, the drinks giant that owns Guinness, but we assume the wider family stake in Diageo may be worth £200m. The family has £40m of net assets in two companies, Elveden Farms and the Burhill Estates Company. In Canada, the family’s British Pacific Properties still owns 2,400 acres, valued at c£30m in 1992. Now the remaining stake should be worth perhaps £400m with another £100m for past sales. Other assets should put the Guinness family at £850m.

17

Richard Caring

Richard Caring

£800m

Richard Caring

Caprice Holdings

Caring sold his stake in London’s fashionable Camden Stables market in March, collecting £100m. He is also set to sell the prestigious Wentworth golf club for c£160m. Last June he was part of a consortium that sold a Grosvenor Square building for over £250m. A fashion tycoon originally, Caring owns International Clothing Designs (Holdings), a London-based operation, which made just £89,000 profit in 2012-13. But restaurants are where Caring is making his mark today. The recent £100m sale of the Côte Brasserie chain followed the £83m profit Caring (pictured) made from the 2007 sales of the Bierodrome and Strada restaurant chains and more recently from the trendy Soho House. His upmarket restaurants and clubs in London are doing well: Caprice Holdings, which has The Ivy and Le Caprice in its stable, made a profit of £4.2m on £44.6m sales in 2012. His £90m purchase of Annabel’s nightclub in 2007 was shrewd, too. Annabel’s and its related operations made a combined £4.5m profit in 2012. Caring is expected to invest his sale proceeds in restaurants. We raise Caring to £800m allowing for debt.

18

£720m

Lord Vestey & family

Vestey Group

Founded on the 19th-century meat trade, Vestey is most commonly associated with Dewhurst the (former) high street butchers. The main family business today, Western United Investment Company, turned in a £100,000 loss on £535.7m sales in 2012. The Vesteys had to put up with public outcry in 1980 over their tax arrangements, when it was revealed in The Sunday Times that they had (quite legitimately) paid almost no tax in the previous 60 years. In the 1980s the family diversified into property at the height of the boom and made heavy losses in the recession that followed. By 1995 Union International, then one of the main Vestey companies, was put into receivership. It hardly left them destitute. The Vesteys bought many of their subsidiary operations from the receivers. We clip the family back to £720m with the latest loss at Western United.

19

£565m

Lord Sainsbury & family

J Sainsbury

Shares in Sainsbury’s have been hit by worries about the price war, and its potential impact on profits. The chain is now valued at £6.5bn. Baron Sainsbury of Turville (above) took back control of his shares in 2007, having spent eight years as science minister in Tony Blair’s government. Sainsbury has put £1bn into his Gatsby Charitable Foundation to give away to charitable causes. Other family members have also given away around £300m through their foundations or via bequests. Sainsbury spent 35 years in the business, founded by his great grandparents in 1869. The wider Sainsbury family has around 8.9% of the group. We assume about 5% is not charitable and that would be worth around £325m. Other assets, share sales and huge dividends totalling £520m from 1999-2009 take the family to perhaps £565m after tax and charitable donations.

20

£530m

Chris Mahoney

Glencore Xstrata

Mahoney’s stake in Glencore Xstrata, the Swiss commodities giant, is worth £495m. A member of a British rowing crew that won silver in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, He runs the agricultural products division and profited handsomely from the 2011 stockmarket float of Glencore, which completed a takeover of the Xstrata mining giant last year. The combined group is now worth £40bn. Past dividends and other assets take Mahoney to £530m.

 

21

£525m

Zameer Choudrey & family

Bestway

An accountant, Choudrey has been CEO of Bestway for 10 years. In 2012-13 profits hit a record £164.3m on £1.957bn sales while the separate Bestway Northern added £20m profit and £561m sales. Together worth £2.5bn Choudrey – a nephew of Sir Anwar Pervez, Bestway’s founder – has a £505m stake. We add £20m for other assets.

22=

£500m

Sir David Samworth & family

Samworth Brothers

Pie and pasty maker Samworth Brothers made £43m profit on £767m sales in 2012. The family-owned operation dates back to 1896. With nearly £197m net assets, the business is easily worth £450m. Past dividends etc take the family, led by former chairman Sir David Samworth, to £500m. Samworth is the major sponsor of three academies in the East Midlands, and his family charitable trust is active in education both in the UK and Africa.

22=

£500m

The Warburton family

Warburtons

Bolton-based Warburtons was founded in 1876 when two brothers, Thomas and George Warburton launched a small grocery store. In 2012, the family-owned baker saw its profits rise from £16.3m to £26.4m on £524m sales. It also has £470m net assets. Hefty dividends should help take the Warburton family, which owns the now national bakery operation, to £500m after tax and spending.

24

£480m

David Thompson & family

Thompson Investments (London)

A former Smithfield meat trader, Thompson started the Hillsdown food group in 1975. He sold half his stake in 1987 for £145m and the rest later for a similar amount. Today the family has investments in areas such as food, retailing and horse breeding (Cheveley Park Stud, a 1,000-acre thoroughbred horse farm near Newmarket Thompson and his wife Patricia bought in 1975 has since been built into a formidable operation). We can see £180m net assets (up £6m) in four main companies in 2012-13. With land prices rising, we value the Thompson family at £480m.

Michael Bibby Rich List

Sir Michael Bibby

25 

£400m

Sir Michael Bibby & family

Bibby Line/Costcutter

Bibby Line Group, the old-established Liverpool shipping line, now 204 years old, is planning to reinvest some of its record annual profits in an attempt to become Britain’s largest convenience retailer. Having taken over full control of Costcutter in November 2011 and with a new distribution deal with Palmer & Harvey now in place, it plans to more than double the number of its Costcutter outlets from 2,500 to 6,000. Costcutter’s sales rose 20% to £806.7m in the year to 31 December 2013 and it reported like-for-like sales growth of 1%. Bibby has also diversified over the years into areas such as financial services, distribution, plus offshore oil and gas. Sir Michael Bibby is the sixth generation of the Bibby family to head the business after becoming managing director in 2000. Pre-tax profits soared from £36.2m to £66.3m on £1.6bn revenues in 2013, boosted by strong demand for its fleet of diving support and remotely operated vessels in its offshore business. That values the business at around £450m. The Bibby family’s 89% stake is now worth £400m.

26

£355m

Vivian Imerman

Vasari

Imerman’s recent acquisitions have included £70m on drinks businesses in South Africa and Ethiopia through his London-based Vasari business but he is best known for his ownership of canned food group Del Monte (he sold his stake in 1999 for £380m) and Whyte & Mackay, the Scottish whisky group, which he took control of with his then brother-in-law Robert Tchenguiz in 2004. It was sold for £595m in 2006 making Imerman around £396m. He is reported to be looking to buy it back. We would value Imerman at £375m after taking into account various investments and divestments, but clip that by £20m after an expensive divorce.

27

£350m

Fakhruddin 
Suterwalla & family

TRS Cash & Carry

Suterwalla and his four brothers pioneered ethnic branded foods in Britain. The TRS cash & carry business was started by their father Taherally Suterwalla over 45 years ago in the East End of London. The family came from Bombay originally and Suterwalla arrived in 1951 when he was 13. In the early days, TRS was involved in delivered wholesaling. Later, with five sons joining him, TRS moved to Southall, where he began to specialise in ethnic foods. He also opened a 21,000 sq ft C&C operation on the site. A year later saw the launch of a second branch, in Walthamstow, east London. But his sons have really expanded the London operation. The draw for customers is TRS’s strong own-label offer. The TRS brand drives some 80% of sales and includes Indian pulses, spices and rice as well as the Shan range of curry mixes, exotic fruits from China and Thailand and a new range from Poland. A wholesale warehouse alongside the C&C receives five or six containers a day from across the world and cleans and packs the product before pushing about a third of output into TRS’s C&C depots. A further 30% or so goes to other UK operations, including Tesco, while 40% is exported. The main company, TRS Group (UK), made £7.9m profit on £109.8m sales in 2012 when its net assets hit £93m. Four other companies were put into voluntary liquidation yet in official declarations of solvency showed a combined £300m surplus.

28

£325m

Marlon Abela

Marc (Greenhouse)

Abela was delighted his London restaurant The Greenhouse went from one Michelin star to two last September. His other top quality establishments are Umum in London and A Voce in New York. Abela also spent £7m revamping Mortons. Lebanese-born Abela has deep pockets as his late father ran the Abela Group, which specialises in airline catering. His father died in 1998 and three years later Part of his father’s Abela Corporation empire was sold for £360m in 2001. The rest of the Abela Corporation was split between Abela, his brother and his uncle. His main company Marc Ltd showed a £5.6m loss in 2012 and with hefty losses since its start, we clip Abela back to £325m. He also has plans for a range of premium food brands and has moved into New York patisseries.

29

£320m

Adam, Samuel & Jonathan Kaye & family

Prezzo/Tasty

The Kaye family made at least £82m from the sale of five restaurant chains including Deep Pan Pizza and Ask. Today the family, led by brothers Adam and Sam, with cousin Jonathan, have stakes worth £249m in two quoted restaurant groups, Prezzo and Tasty, where the shares have soared in the last year. We can see £44m net assets in other Kaye companies. In all the Kayes are worth £320m after-tax.

30

£290m

Tim Martin

JD Wetherspoon

Watford-based JD Wetherspoon recently opened its 900th pub and made its first foray outside Britain by buying a Dublin pub. Shares are riding high, valuing the group at £1bn. Martin opened his first pub in 1979. After a difficult start, the former lawyer never looked back and his stake is now worth £272m. Past share sales and dividends should take him to £290m.

 

31=

£280m

Robert Earl

Earl of Sandwich

Earl paid £9m for 23% of Everton the Merseyside football club in 2006. Through his newly created Earl Enterprises operation, his Italian restaurant venture Buca di Peppo, bought for £30m in 2009, is expanding across America and into the UK. It should now be worth £190m. Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Vegas is also flourishing. Together with the Earl family property portfolio and other family interests, his total worth is now £280m.

31=

£280m

Manfred Gorvy & family

Gerber

South African-born accountant Gorvy runs London-based Hanover Acceptances, which he founded in 1974. It is now a highly successful property, food and financial services group, with businesses including Gerber Foods Holdings, one of Europe’s largest fruit-juice makers, while its African Realty Trust is southern Africa’s biggest citrus-fruit grower. Hanover Acceptances made £4.4m profit on £705.8m sales and showed over £271m net assets in 2012. It is owned by the Gorvy family while past dividends etc. should take the family to £280m.

33

£277m

Eric Herd & family

Farmfoods

Herd has turned the Scottish meat business inherited from his father into the UK’s second-biggest frozen food retailer, with around 300 stores. In 2013 profits fell from £27m to £15.1m. though sales rose to a record £689m. Competitive conditions in the grocery retail market caused the profits fall. But with a solid balance sheet and £67m net assets mean the company is worth £250m. We add £25m for other family assets.

34=

£250m

Abdul Bhatti & family

Bestway

Profits at the West London-based Bestway C&C to property group hit a record £164.3m on £1.957bn sales in 2012-13, while the separate Bestway Northern added £20m profit and £561m sales. Bhatti, a long-time director of Bestway, was a retailer before joining Bestway’s first depot in Acton. He moved to its Southall depot, where he established a thriving business, before joining head office in 1996. The stake held by Bhatti and his family is valued at £238m. We add £12m for other assets.

34=

£250m

Michael Cannon

Fuddruckers

A former poultry farmer, Cannon bought a half share in Bristol’s Naval Volunteer pub in 1975. He went on to buy, revive and sell four pub chains, making around £170m profit. Cannon invested some of his pub proceeds in 1998 on buying the US Fuddruckers hamburger chain. He spent £23m on refurbishment and has grown it worldwide to 260 outlets. Fuddruckers should be worth £120m while Cannon also has smaller companies with £16m net assets. Cannon, a keen shot, is spending £15m on the 17.000 acre Wemmergill Moor sporting estate so we only raise him to £250m.

34=

£250m

Adalat & Arshad Chaudhary

Bestway

The Chaudhary father and son team, Adalat and Arshad, are directors of Bestway. Adalat Chaudhary was a schoolfriend of Bestway founder Sir Anwar Pervez (14), who later started working for Bestway in its early days. Arsha joined his father in the business in 1984. The Chaudary family stake is £238m. Profits hit a record £164.3m on £1.957bn sales in 2012-13, while the separate Bestway Northern added £20m profit and £561m sales. The two groups are worth a combined £2.5bn, which values the Chaudhary family stake at £238m. We add £12m for other assets.

34=

£250m

Younus Sheikh & family

Bestway

Sheikh, a science graduate with a diploma in leather manufacturing, is managing director of Bestway, the giant food wholesaler and property operation. He was a founding director of the wholesaler in 1968 and a key figure in setting up its cash & carry business in 1976. Profits hit a record £164.3m on £1.957bn sales in 2012-13, while the separate Bestway Northern added £20m profit and £561m sales. The two are together worth £2.5bn. The Sheikh family stake is worth £238m. We add £12m for other assets.

Jamie Oliver Rich List

Jamie Oliver

38 

£240m

Jamie & Juliette Oliver

Jamie’s Italian/Jamie Oliver Holdings

A rare setback hit Oliver recently when three of his four Union Jack restaurants closed in January. But the rest of the chef’s operations are in fine fettle. His 15th book, Save With Jamie, topped the Christmas bestseller lists. Jamie Oliver Holdings, his main operation covering his TV and book work, saw its profits hit a record £9.7m on £35.3m sales in 2012. It is owned by Oliver and his wife Juliette, a director and former model. The TV shows, seen in over 40 countries, are now made by his own production company Fresh One Productions, which made £2.6m profit on £17.8m sales in 2012. The whole business is easily worth £125m. The separate Jamie’s Italian restaurant chain saw its profits also hit a record £7.7m on £93.8m sales in 2012. With restaurant values soaring for solid chains with a good brand name, it should be worth £150m easily, valuing the Oliver stake at £105m. Past salaries and dividends, a £7m London home and Essex estate take the world’s richest chef and his wife, also doing well through her Jools Enterprises (net assets nearly quadrupling in 2012 to £59,000), to £240m.

39

£236m

Nigel Wray

Dominos Pizza

A former share tipster, Wray’s £6m investment in Dominos Pizza shares since 1997 resulted in share sales totalling £144m by August. Together with stakes in 16 other quoted companies worth around £56m (up £6m), the sport memorabilia-mad Wray has earned the label of ‘Britain’s Warren Buffet.’ Wray also chairs Saracens, the premiership rugby club, into which he has sunk £30m. Wray has over 47% of property group Prestbury Investment Holdings, with £60.8m net assets in 2012.

40=

£215m

Moni Varma

Veetee Rice

Varma founded Veetee Rice back in 1985 shortly after arriving in Britain from Malawi. Operating from a £6m state-of-the-art plant in Kent, it is now the largest supplier of rice to the UK retail market and, using technology invented by Varma to produce pre-cooked rice, now exports to 30 countries. A £200m stock market flotation is thought to have been put on the back burner, but a rival was recently sold at a similar price and other assets take Varma to £215m.

40=

Malcolm Walker

Malcolm Walker

£215m

Malcolm Walker & family

Iceland

Walker co-founded Iceland in 1970. It floated in 1984 valued at £44m. Walker left under a cloud in 2001 but returned to turn it round three years later. In 2012, Walker and his consortium completed a £1.45bn MBO. Iceland made a record £202m profit on £2.67n sales in 2013/14, when it opened 43 new stores net in the UK, creating 1,500 jobs and bringing the total number of stores to 833. Walker’s stake is worth £108m. Other assets add £107m.

 

42

£213m

Robin Faccenda & family

Hillesden Investments

Chicken processor Hillesden Investments saw its profits soar to a record £29.5m on £536m sales in 2012-13. Hillesden, which trades as Faccenda, also has £66.5m net assets and is worth £200m. We add the £13m net assets for the separate Faccenda Farms, taking Faccenda and his family to £213m.

43

£210m

Rashid & Aziz Tayub & family

Crown Crest

The Leicester-based Crown Crest property and distribution operation was started in 1977 by the Tayub family in a corner shop after they left Malawi. Three separate Tayub companies including Crown Crest (Leicester) made a total of £18.3m profit on £350m sales in 2012-13. With £137m net assets, they are worth £180m.

44=

£200m

Robert Barnett & family

W&R Barnett

Barnett is chairman of and a leading shareholder in W&R Barnett, a Belfast-based grain dealing operation. Founded in 1924, W&R Barnett made £22.28m profit on £499.7m sales in 2012-13. With over £181.3m net assets, it is worth £220m. Barnett and his family (with trusts) have a £200m stake.

44=

£200m

Aaron & Tania Hillman & family

Angus Dundee Distillers

Whisky distiller Angus Dundee powered ahead in 2012-13, producing a record £19.9m profit on £59m sales from its Tomintoul and Glencadam distilleries. With £85m net assets and very low borrowings, it is easily worth £200m. The Hillman family, led by Aaron and Tania, own the business.

44=

£200m

Luke Johnson

Patisserie Valerie

An ex-City analyst, Johnson has been a serial investor since 1983, when he and Hugh Osmond bought PizzaExpress for £8m. He invests through his Risk Capital venture. Deals along the way have made him over £80m. His best was the £100m sale of the Integrated Dental Holdings operation in 2006, representing a 10-fold return. Despite the odd setback, Johnson’s profitable investments include Patisserie Holdings, which recently floated on the stock market and is now worth £210m. The bakery operates under five brands in England and Scotland: Patisserie Valerie, Druckers Vienna Patisserie, Philpotts, Baker & Spice, and Flour Power City Bakery. It has 138 stores, with 99% of its sites open for more than 12 months profitable on a store contribution basis. Johnson retains a £90m stake. Other Johnson stakes and past gains take him to £200m.

44=

Anthony Preston

Anthony Preston

£200m

Anthony Preston & family

Pets at Home

Pets at Home floated in March valued at £1.2bn. Founder Preston (pictured) opened his first store in 1991. He sold a 62% stake to a private equity group in 2004, banking £60m and reinvesting in the business with a 12% stake. In 2010, another private equity group took it over in a £955m deal – Preston should have picked up a second windfall of £85m. He retained a small stake. His total proceeds and remaining stake should take him to perhaps £200m. Cheshire-based Preston is now investing in his son’s fashion label and a nursery chain.

48

£197m

Robin Barr & family

AG Barr

The Cumbernauld-based drinks business was stymied in its attempts to merge with Britvic as a takeover enquiry bought the rival soft drinks maker time to regroup. Barr is 25% owned by the Barr family and trusts. With recent strong results, the shares have surged, valuing the Barr family stake at £187m. Past dividends etc. should add £10m.

49

£185m

Iqbal Ahmed & family

Seamark

Ahmed’s Seamark Group made £10.5m profit on £107.3m sales in 2013. The Manchester food processor specialises in shrimps, with a growing sideline in chicken from a new £12m factory. Ahmed and his family, originally from Bangladesh, have invested heavily in their birthplace with a £10m facility in Chittagong and a new bank. A restaurant has also opened on the Manchester site. The Ahmed family is worth around £185m.

50

£180m

Vipul Thakrar & family

Tilda Rice

Thakrar was expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972. Arriving in Britain, the family brought basmati rice to the UK’s Asian community. From this emerged Essex-based operation Tilda Rice, now the UK’s biggest rice brand. Operating from a modern plant and private jetty in Essex, Tilda Rice was sold in its entirety in early 2014 for £220m to US food group Hain Celestial. The Thakrar family owned it all and received the proceeds in a mix of cash, Hain shares and loan notes. After-tax the family should be worth £180m.

 

51

£176m

Joe Walker & Family

Walkers Shortbread

Surging exports in 2012 helped Walkers Shortbread, the biscuit and oatcake maker, to a record £14.6m profit on £123.6m sales. The Speyside-based company has been making shortbread since 1898. With nearly £65m net assets and a solid balance sheet, the family-owned business is easily worth £140m. We add £36m for past salaries and dividends to Walker and his family.

Rich List Charles Wilson

Charles Wilson

52 

£170m

Charles Wilson

Booker

Wilson, 48, started his career at Procter & Gamble in 1986, before moving into consultancy with OC&C Strategy Consultants and Abberton Associates. His first stint at Booker was as No2 to Stuart Rose. But it was at Arcadia Group, which he joined in 2001, where he made his name and his initial fortune – making £10m from turning round the retailer. He then teamed up with Stuart Rose again at Marks & Spencer in 2004, but in 2005 was appointed chief executive of the by now troubled wholesaler Booker. Another turnaround was masterminded and Wilson took the cash & carry giant back to the stockmarket in 2007 via a reverse takeover of online wholesaler Blueheath. The acquisition of Makro followed in May 2012. Booker reported a 25% increase in pre-tax profits to £118.7m on sales up 17.3% to £4.7bn in the year to 28 March 2014. Like-for-like sales rose 2.1% (excluding Makro). The City values Booker at £2.39bn. Wilson is the company’s third-biggest shareholder, behind Makro’s former owner Metro Cash & Carry International and Prudential, with a 6.28% stake valued at £148m. Other assets take him to £170m after tax.

53=

£160m

Peter Dean & family

Noble Foods

Noble Foods, Britain’s biggest egg supplier, saw profits rise 30% to £14.8m in 2012, and paid out nearly £18m in dividends. The Hertfordshire business was put up for sale last year with a £400m tag, but there were no takers. Dean, who has a 50% stake, should be worth £160m with past dividends.

53=

£160m

Michael Kent

Noble Foods

Along with business partner Peter Dean (see above) Kent owns a 50% stake in Britain’s biggest egg supplier, best known for its Happy Egg Company brand. The latest results from 2012 showed profits rose 30% to £14.8m when it shelled out nearly £18m in dividends. The Hertfordshire-based business was put up for sale last year with a £400m price tag, but there were no takers, and Noble is now hoping to crack the US market, having recently taken its high-welfare egg expertise to California.

53=

£160m

Danny Sawrij

Leo Group

Farmer Danny Sawrij runs and owns the Leo Group, a Halifax-based waste recycling and animal processing company, supplying its byproducts used in meals, oils and petfood ingredients throughout the world. Established in the 1970s Leo Group plays a major role in the food and agriculture supply chain. Its profits hit £10.6m on £71.3m sales in 2012-13. Leo has £65m net assets but interests outside the UK take that to £75m.

53=

£160m

Guy & John Shropshire

G’s Group

The Shropshires, Guy and John, own G’s Group Holdings, a Cambridgeshire-based salad producer and four other separate farming operations. In all they made £15.6m profit on nearly £486m sales in 2012-13 when they showed £96.3m net assets. They should easily be worth £160m.

57

£150m

Jose Cutrale & family

Burlington

Cutrale and his family own and run Burlington, a London-based partnership, which is a leading supplier of concentrated orange juice. In 2012 its profits fell to £34.9m on £840m sales. With over £115.4m net assets, it is a £150m operation.

58

£148m

Tony & Barbara Laithwaite

Direct Wines

Reading-based Direct Wines, the world’s largest mail order wine merchant, was started up in 1968 under a Windsor railway arch. Its profits rose to £7.6m on £343m sales in 2012-2013. With £49m net assets, we raise its value to £140m. It is owned by Laithwaite, his wife and family trusts. Other assets add £8m.

59=

£145m

Nicholas Oughtred & family

William Jackson & Son

Selling Jacksons Stores in 2004 was “like losing a limb,” according to the Oughtred family. But the blow was mitigated by the £78m paid by Sainsbury’s for the Hull-based c-store chain. The 114 stores were part of William & Jackson & Sons, one of the North’s biggest companies, with interests ranging from car sales to food. Nicholas Oughtred, the current chairman, is a direct descendant of William Jackson, a farmer’s son who started the business in 1851 at a small grocer on Scale Lane in Hull. Today, it has a bakery making sandwiches and bread for the fast food industry; Kwoks, producer of Chinese food; Tryton Foods, whose Aunt Bessie’s is Britain’s biggest Yorkshire pudding maker; and Abel & Cole, the veg box delivery operator. In 2012-2013 William Jackson made £12.6m profit on £228.5m sales while showing nearly £93m net assets. Oughtred, as chairman, and his family have a £135m stake in the £150m operation. Other assets add £10m.

59=

£145m

Kirit & Meena Pathak

Patak Spices

It was in 1956 that Kirit Pathak’s late father Laxmishanker arrived in Britain from his native Kenya, after being forced to leave by the Mau Mau threat. He had his wife and six children to support and just £5 in his pocket. His search for work led the family to work 18 hours a day at the kitchen table reviving their sweet and spice business from Kenya, serving their friends from Africa. The expulsion of the Ugandan Asians in the early 1970s to refugee camps in Britain provided a new market. Now known as Patak Spices, (the h was dropped to make pronunciation easier for British customers) it has become one of the fastest-growing companies in Britain. Laxmishanker Pathak died in 1997, but under Kirit and his wife Meena the company forged ahead. They sold up in 2007 to ABF for a reported £200m. Pathak remains chairman. He is also an investor in an Indian spices business with a £15m stake. After tax the family assets should be worth £145m.

 

61

£140m

Julian Metcalfe

Pret a Manger/Itsu

Metcalfe co-founded the Pret a Manger sandwich chain in 1986 and made at least £50m from two deals, first with McDonald’s and later in 2008 when a private equity group took a 51% stake. He and co-founder Sinclair Beecham (76) kept a 15% stake. A recent sale by another investor raised Pret’s value to £450m. His £60m Itsu sushi bar chain and other assets including a popcorn company take him to £140m.

62

£136m

Jonathan & Lesley Wild

Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate

Staff loyalty and friendliness has helped make Bettys & Taylors a Yorkshire institution. The Harrogate-based maker of Yorkshire Tea and purveyor of fine cakes and confectionery through its tea shops made a record £10m profit on £133.1m sales in 2012. With nearly £90m net assets, it is worth £130m. Other assets add £6m to Jonathan and Lesley Wild, who run and with their family own the business.

63

£132m

William Lloyd & family

Lloyd’s (Animal) Feeds

Animal feed to poultry and car sales group LAF Holdings produced a record £16m profit on £292.4m sales in 2012-13. The Lloyd family-owned operation, based near the Welsh border, was started in the 1930s and – with nearly £111m net assets – is worth £130m. We add £2m assets to Lloyd and his family.

64= 

£130m

Ranjit Singh & family

2 Sisters

Ranjit Boparan Singh is responsible for one of grocery’s most extraordinary rags-to-riches stories. Having started work in a butcher’s shop aged 11 and leaving school at 16, he set up his West Midlands-based 2 Sisters operation in 1993. Today, it has 24,000 staff at 50 factories. 2 Sisters’ initial focus on poultry meant Boparan became known as “the Chicken King” in the trade, but his empire now stretches far more widely and includes ready meals, pizzas, frozen vegetables, biscuits and – following a high-profile swoop on Vion’s UK operations in early 2013 – a substantial presence in red meat.But weighed down by debt and the impact of the horsemeat scandal on the food sector (even though 2 Sisters itself was not implicated), 2 Sisters is having to shed 1,800 jobs after making a £33.5m loss on £2.9bn sales in 2012-13. Until the outlook becomes clearer, we do not count 2 Sisters in a Boparan family valuation. But past dividends and the £119.2m net assets of their Amber Real Estate Investments property operation in 2012 take Boparan and family to £130m.

Rich List Boparan

Ranjit Singh

64=

£130m

Pradip & Manish Dhamecha

Dhamecha Holdings

Wembley-based Dhamecha Holdings prides itself on being London’s C&C business, with seven depots all inside the M25. It was started in 1976 and made £11.2m profit on £585.5m sales in 2012-13. With £66.3m net assets, the business is worth £100m. The Dhamecha family, represented here by cousins Pradip and Manish, owns the business. Other assets and past dividends take the Dhamechas to £130m.

64=

£130m

David McMullen & family

McMullen & Sons

McMullen & Sons, the Hertford brewer, saw its profits nearly double to £10.3m on £63.7m sales in 2012. Its net assets rose to nearly £104m. In 2004 it bought some of its shares back for £43.5m allowing family members who wanted cash to bail out. We value the company on the net assets. But past dividends and other assets take the wider family represented by former chairman David McMullen to £130m.

67=

£125m

John Apthorp & family

Majestic Wine Warehouses

Apthorp made around £70m from the sale of the Bejam frozen food operation in 1989, and went on to build Majestic Wine as a “super retirement job.” The Apthorp family and trusts still have a £44m stake after a recent sales slump hit the share price. Share sales came in at £38m in 2003 and 2005. The Apthorp family should still be worth £125m after tax and hefty charitable work.

67=

£125m

Sir Richard George & family

Weetabix

Cereal maker Weetabix is now Chinese owned but George family involvement, which had dated back 70 years, ended in 2003 when it was sold to a US private equity firm for £642m. As chairman, Sir Richard, now retired, made £128m from the sale. The family also controls Pure Magic Industries, a property to milling and farming group, worth £31m net assets in 2012-13. After-tax the George family is worth £125m.

67=

£125m

Hugh Irvine & family

A McLelland & Son

McLelland, a Glasgow-based cheesemaker best known for its Seriously Strong Cheddar and accompanying risqué adverts, used to be owned entirely by Irvine and his family. In 2004 it was sold to the French cheesemaker Lactalis for £150m-£170m. We now value the family at £125m after tax.

70

£123m

Audrey Baxter & family

WA Baxter & Sons

WA Baxter, the 145-year-old Fochabers food operation, has been run since 2000 by Audrey Baxter, daughter of Gordon Baxter, who with his wife Ena spent five decades transforming a small family concern into one of Scotland’s best-known brands. Despite a profits fall to £1.8m caused by the cost of integrating Fray Bentos, which it bought in 2011, the Baxters should be worth £115m as it has over £77m net assets. We add £8m for other assets to the Baxter family.

 

71

£120m

John Rudd & family

Berry Bros & Rudd

Berry Bros & Rudd, Britain’s oldest wine merchant, has been owned by the family since 1698. The London-based business turned in a £7.3m loss in 2012-13, but it should be worth its £112m net assets. Other assets take the wider family, led by former chairman John Rudd, to £120m.

72=

£115m

Tarsem Dhaliwal

Iceland

In 1985, armed with an HND in Business Studies, Tarsem Dhaliwal joined Iceland Food Group. By 1990 he was chief accountant and later financial controller. In 1995 he was appointed FD. He has a £77m stake in the Clwyd-based group, which turned in a record £202m profit on £2.7bn turnover in 2013-14. Other assets take him to £115m.

72=

£115m

Judy Halewood & family

Halewood International

Liverpool-based Halewood International saw its profits fall sharply to £6.6m on £275.7m sales in 2012-13. The drinks business, with £67m net assets, was founded in 1978 by the late John Halewood, nicknamed “Mr Lambrini” after the iconic sparkling wine he launched. His partner Judy immediately took over as chairwoman on his death in 2011. The business should be worth £80m. Other assets take the wider family to £115m.

72=

£115m

James Hook & family

P D Hook (Hatcheries)

James Hook runs Oxfordshire-based chicken hatcheries PD Hook, which can hatch more than five million a week. It provides day-old chicks and chickens, including the Oakham and Willow brands supplied to retailers such as Tesco and M&S. In 2012 it made a record £13.9m profit on £160.3m sales. With nearly £55m net assets, it is easily worth £110m. Hook and his family own it all. Other assets add £5m.

72=

Tim Steiner Ocado CEO

Tim Steiner

£115m

Tim Steiner

Ocado

Set up in 2000 by a trio of former Goldman Sachs bankers including CEO Tim Steiner (below), Ocado was valued in a 2010 IPO at £937m. After a difficult start, the share price soared to over 600p following a landmark deal with Morrisons in 2013. It has since drifted back but is still worth £2.27bn. Steiner’s stake is currently £108m. Share option profits etc. take him to £115m.

76

£110m

Sinclair Beecham

Pret a Manger

Sinclair Beecham met Julian Metcalfe (61) at university and in 1986 set up sandwich chain Pret a Manger with a £17,500 loan. Its formula for upmarket sandwiches, wraps and salads proved a great success – particularly in London, but it also has branches in the US and Hong Kong – and a float was considered in 2002. Instead McDonald’s took a 33% stake. Metcalfe and Beecham still owned more than half of Pret until February 2008, when after nine months of negotiations it was sold for £345m to Bridgepoint, the private equity operation. Metcalfe and Beecham were reckoned to have made around £50m each from the sale in cash and reinvested in the business around 20% of the purchase price. Beecham also made around £20m profit from the £65m sale of his Hoxton Hotel. Share sales along the way and his remaining Pret stake take Beecham to £110m.

77

£105m

Andrew Marr & family

Andrew Marr International

Joseph Marr followed his father and bought his own boat in 1870, laying the foundation of the Marr fishing fleet. Today Andrew Marr International Group has interests in fish trading, fishing vessel management, temperature-controlled storage and seafood processing. Headquartered in Hull, group profits soared to nearly £30m on £520.7m sales in 2012-13. The company is majority-owned by chairman Andrew Marr and his family. With £74m net assets, the company is easily worth £200m. That values the Marr family stake at around £105m.

78=

£104m

Brenda Salters & family

SHS

Food and drinks distributor SHS was co-founded by the late Geoff Salters. He died in 2010, but his widow Brenda is on the board of the Co Antrim-based operation. Its 2012 profits fell to £18.3m on £391m sales. With £108.2m net assets, SHS is worth £184m, valuing the Salters family stake at £92m. Past salaries and dividends add £12m.

78=

£104m

Joe Sloan & family

SHS

Co-founded by Sloan in 1972 with the late Geoff Salters (see above) profits at drinks to food group SHS fell in 2012 to £18.3 on £391.3m sales. The Co Antrim operation has £108.3m net assets, meaning the group is easily worth £184m. Sloan and his family have a 50% stake. Other assets add £12m.

 

81=

£100m

Woon Wing Yip & family

W Wing Yip & Brothers

Wing Yip (below) arrived in Hull in 1959 with just £10. Today, after waiting tables at and then owning a restaurant chain, he runs a large cash-and-carry operation, W Wing Yip & Brothers, supplying Chinese restaurants. It made £4.6m profit on £96.8m sales in 2013, with net assets of £38.7m. The separate W Wing Yip & Brothers Property & Investments showed £25.1m net assets. Together worth £90m, other assets add £10m.

Rich List Terry Leahy

Sir Terry Leahy

81= 

£100m

Sir Terry Leahy

Tesco

Last month Leahy led the successful £2.7bn flotation of the B&M discount retailer he now chairs. Much of his wealth, though, comes from his years as CEO of Tesco. He had around 8.5 million shares before he retired. Even with Tesco’s share price falls they’re worth £25m. He also amassed an £18.4m pension pot after 14 years at the helm, and even when he left picked up £8.5m in deferred performance-related payouts. We reckon that in all, aside from his pension, his years at Tesco gave him a £45m fortune. But we assume he has sold some shares beyond the £3m-worth in 2010 to fund an array of promising ventures, which are making him even richer. Among the ventures he has backed are Blackcircles.com, an internet tyre operation, where he has 25% of a £200m operation looking to float later this year. He has a £10m stake in the Hut Group, another online retailer, and 9% of Metapack, an online delivery technology business valued at £200m in 2011. And then, of course, there’s B&M – an ironic move given the travails that discounters are causing to Tesco. Leahy will feel right at home at a retailer that hails from his home town of Liverpool, but he will also have made a healthy return in another sense: though he does not have a direct stake in B&M, his involvement as an investor with the American private equity group Clayton Dubilier & Rice, which bought a 60% stake in B&M for £1bn back in 2012, will have added to his wealth. It sold £690m of shares in the IPO and retains a near £850m stake. With other investments, and allowing for reinvestment of Tesco salaries, Leahy should now be worth £100m and rising.

81=

£100m

Malcolm & Duncan Mackinnon & family

Drambuie

The Mackinnon family is represented on the Drambuie board by non-exec directors Malcolm and Duncan Mackinnon. The family and trusts own the business, which made £3m profit on £22m sales in 2012-13. Up for sale, the operation is valued at £100m.

80=

£100m

Sandy Bulloch & family

Loch Lomond Distillers

Loch Lomond Distillers was sold in March to a private equity company in a deal worth over £100m. This provided a windfall for Bulloch and his family. Bulloch ran a village grocery in Argyllshire before starting the Glen Catrine Bonded Warehouse and later in 1985 Loch Lomond Distillers.

84=

£98m

Alan & Ronnie Bartlett

A Bartlett & Sons

Bartlett brothers Alan and Ronnie amicably split their vegetable-growing business interests in 2009. Albert Bartlett & Sons was founded in 1948 when Albert Bartlett invested £30 in a water boiler and cast iron bath to boil beetroot in Coatbridge. The brothers were the third generation of the family to run the business. Ronnie now runs Airdrie-based Bartlett International Holdings, which made £9.6m profit on £165.1m sales in 2012-13. Alan runs new Cambridge firm Alan Bartlett & Sons (Chatteris) with £22.6m net assets in 2012-13. We value the businesses at £90m, adding £8m for other assets.

84=

£98m

John Campbell & Family

Glenrath Farms

John Campbell took over running his family’s Argyll farm at the age of 16. He left in 1961 and bought Glenrath Farms, near Peebles, now Scotland’s biggest independent egg producer. Profits hit £8m in 2012-13, valuing the family-owned operation at £80m. The family’s 15,000 acres of farm land add £18m.

86=

£95m

Doreen Lofthouse & family

Lofthouse of Fleetwood

Fisherman’s Friend, the super-strong lozenges, were concocted by a Fleetwood chemist, James Lofthouse, in 1865 as an aid to local fisherman. In 2013, profits at Fisherman’s Friend parent company Lofthouse of Fleetwood recovered to hit £1.9m on £43.4m sales on the back of strong exports to Asia. The company also has £72.6m net assets. Owned by the Lofthouse family led by Doreen, it was valued at £175m in the boom. Cautiously we settle for £80m today. Past dividends etc add £15m.

86=

Colin Graves

Colin Graves

£95m

Colin Graves & family

Costcutter

The York-based Costcutter c-store chain was started by Graves in 1986. In 2007, a 51% stake was sold to Liverpool-based Bibby Group in a £100m deal. The rest was bought by Bibby in 2011. Graves quit as Costcutter chairman in 2012, but is still active as chairman of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Sale proceeds and other assets should take the Graves family to £95m after-tax.

88=

£90m

John Bigwood & family

Oscar Mayer

Profits at the Oscar Mayer food processing operation came in at £7.6m on £208.8m sales in 2012-13. The Erith-based business – with £34.4m net assets – is owned and run by John Bigwood and his family, which took out the Oscar Mayer UK franchise and hot dog brand before branching into chilled ready meals, supplying supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Waitrose (the latter under the Ferndale brand). In 2003 Bigwood sold the separate Hygrade Foods, which started life as a butcher’s shop in South London, but now supplies a range of meat products to supermarkets. The buyer was Danepak, the Danish food producer. We assume a sale price of at least £40m and value Oscar Mayer at around £70m on its performance. With past dividends etc, the Bigwood family should be worth £90m after tax and allowing for any reinvesting of sale proceeds.

88=

£90m

Alexander Buchan & family

Lunar Fishing

Peterhead-based Lunar Fishing saw sales rise to a record £72.1m in 2012, though profits fell from £16.3m to £10.9m. Pelagic fishing operations have benefited from the growing UK demand for oily fish, and advances in freezer technology have boosted exports to areas like Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe, where fish is a popular source of protein. The £100m business, supplying herring and mackerel, has £82.5m net assets. Buchan and his family have a £90m stake.

88=

£90m

Philip Magor & family

George Williamson & Co

James Williamson and Richard Magor set up tea company Williamson & Magor in Calcutta in 1869. The Magor family and trusts still have a major shareholding in the family business, George Williamson & Co, based in Newbury. Magor chairs the business, which made £14.6m profit on £40.3m sales in 2012-13. With £26.3m net assets it should be worth £85m. Other assets add £5m.

88=

£90m

James Neville & family

Volac

Royston-based Volac makes and supplies high-performance nutrition products for global markets, with five plants around the world. Parent company Woodford Holdings saw a sharp rise in profits in 2012-13 to a record £23.3m on record sales of £143.2m. The Neville family has a 60% stake. With £57.5m net assets it should be worth £150m. The business is run by Neville and his family. Its 60% stake is worth £90m.

88=

£90m

David Randall & family

Kanes Foods

The late John Randall shrewdly bought out Kanes Foods from the quoted Hazlewood Foods in 1990 for £3m. His business – supplying salad and veg products to supermarkets – is in fine fettle. Its parent made £7.3m profit on £105.4m sales in 2012-13. With nearly £68.3m net assets, it is a £85m operation. Other assets add £5m to the Randall family, now led by one of his sons, David.

88=

£90m

Robert Wiseman & family

Robert Wiseman & Sons

Müller, the German yoghurt group, snapped up Robert Wiseman Dairies in 2012 for £276m. The East Kilbride-based operation, which dates back to 1947, and floated on the stock exchange in 1994, produces around 30% of the fresh milk in Britain. The Wisemans , led by chairman Robert, had a £96m stake. Past share sales etc. take the family to £90m allowing for tax.

 

94

£87m

Ian & Andrew Hall

James Hall and Company

Preston-based James Hall was founded in 1863. The fourth generation of the Halls – brothers Ian and Andrew – now run the Spar wholesaler and retailer, which was worth £86m in net assets in 2012-13, when it made £9.8m profit on £499m sales. Other assets add £1m.

Rich List Edwin Booth

Edwin Booth

95=

£85m

Edwin Booth & family

E.H. Booth & Co

The great-great-grandson of its eponymous founder, Edwin Booth joined the business as a teenager. And the 59-year-old shows no signs of letting go of the reins. A buying tie-up with Waitrose in 2008 led to rumours that a sale was imminent. Not a bit of it. Abandoning the agreement in 2010, it remains staunchly independent, operating from 29 locations throughout the North West of England and encroaching into Yorkshire. Aside from its ownership (other members working at Booths include Edwin’s brother, property director Graham Booth, and his son Henry Booth who joined in 2012 as a graduate trainee), what sets Booths apart is dedication to providing a variety of fresh, high-quality produce, and hormone-free meat and dairy products from local farms. It also has an old-fashioned service ethic, offering to take customers’ shopping to their car, under an umbrella if need be. The customers love it. In 2012-13, EH Booth made £3.7m profit on £279mm sales. With £59.1m net assets, we value the company and Booth family at £85m.

95=

£85m

Johannus Colam & family

Interfish

Colam is the managing director of Interfish, a Plymouth fish processor. Following the acquisition of the Alaire Fishing Company, Interfish’s profits hit £12.3m on £41m sales in 2012-13. With nearly £55m net assets, it should be worth £85m. It is owned by the Colam family and trusts.

95=

David Gray

David Gray

£85m

David Gray

Argent Group Europe

A former exec of Hillsdown Holdings, David Gray (below) led an MBO of seven subsidiaries in 1997. The £53.6m deal created Argent Group, which supplies meat, fruit, poultry and animal byproducts. Parent Fletcher Bay Group made £10.8m profit on £497.3m sales in 2012. Gray owns the £85m operation.

95=

£85m

Peter Kindersley & family

Sheepdrove/Neal’s Yard

Kindersley founded the Dorling Kindersley publishing group in 1974, collecting c£105m for his family stake when it was sold in 2000. He then invested in organic farming at his Sheepdrove Farm. In 2005 he spent £10m acquiring fast-growing natural health retailer Neal’s Yard Remedies. It made £649,000 profit on £25.8m sales in 2012-13. After tax we value the Kindersley family at £85m.

95=

£85m

The Macdonald family

Glenmorangie

Glenmorangie, the Scots whisky distiller, was founded in 1893. Three generations of Macdonald family ties to the boardroom ended in 1995 when David Macdonald stood down as chairman. In 2004, the Macdonald family sold its controlling 52% stake in the business, netting around £100m. After tax, we value the family at £85m.

95=

£85m

Peter Salussolia & family

Glendola Leisure

Salussolia runs Glendola Leisure, best known for its Rainforest Café chain. The £25m company made £2.4m profit on £28.5m sales in 2012-13. His family also owns Hotel Management International, worth nearly £57.5m in net assets. Other assets take the Salussolias to £85m.

 

Methodology

The Grocer Rich List 2014 was compiled by Philip Beresford, using the same tried and trusted valuation formula and methodology as he has used for the Sunday Times Rich List for the last 26 years.

Candidates were selected on the basis of their exposure to the UK food and drink sector past or present. Family shareholders were aggregated. Those included on the back of stakes in quoted companies were based on valuations at the end of May 2014 and updated subsequently only following a major change in the share price. In the case of private company valuations, where there was an easy comparison to make between a comparable private and quoted company (such as cash and carry giants Bestway with Booker) we valued the private company on a par with quoted ones, albeit allowing a certain discount for goodwill.

The price earning ratios of the quoted grocery sector vary from 10.5 for food retailers, 12.5 for food producers to 21.2 for beverages. Where appropriate we value the private companies on the appropriate p/e multiplied by the latest profit figure. But many private companies are the best in their sector and would command a huge premium if sold.

Some, like WA Baxter in Scotland have received an avalanche of takeover approaches in the past, which push up their values way beyond normal p/e-based parameters. We have reflected this in some valuations.

We also take account of net assets, levels of borrowings and general financial health. We have added to our valuation, any details we have of past dividends or salaries, allowing an appropriate tax charge. We have also taken into account any non-grocery stakes and details of valuations here. Thus Sir Terry Leahy, the ex-Tesco boss, has a £50m stake in an internet-based lyre retailer.

Where we have seen reports of valuations here or in the grocery operations in the quality financial press, we have run with those valuations. Of course, there are likely to be names missing particularly those running unlimited companies who do not have to file accounts, or those who have not made our £85m bottom line valuation for inclusion. They may feel their assets are worth that sum or more and we will be happy to argue the case for the 2015 Grocer Rich List. All enquiries should be directed to philipberesford@aol.com