When it comes to family fortunes, there is only one York winner. Step forward… the Shepherd family.
Showing that where there’s bricks there’s brass, the owners of the Shepherd Group, the building empire which encompasses Portakabin, are now worth a cool £253 million.
That’s according to those money-obsessed types who compile the Sunday Times rich list. It will reveal the complete run down of Britain’s wealthiest people this Sunday (April 26) and has published a list of Yorkshire’s top 20 as a taster.
One of the largest privately owned building groups in the UK with a group turnover in excess of £600 million and 3,200 staff, the Shepherd Group’s history can be traced to 1890 when Frederick Shepherd, who was the founder of the company, set up a successful building business in York.
– source: Wikipedia
The Shepherd family clock in at number 16 in Yorkshire (and joint 389th richest in Britain). They’re a non-mover in the affluence charts, as the compilers estimate their wealth to have increased by a mere £1 million in the last 12 months.
Not everything in the Shepherd empire is rosy. The company’s contracting arm Shepherd Construction made losses of £8.2 million last year and job losses could be on the cards.
The rest of the rich types
Top of the Yorkshire rich list again are brothers Eddie and Malcolm Healey, whose joint fortune is £1,500m – up £200m on last year. They are responsible for the Meadowhall Centre in Sheffield and Hygena Kitchens among other big names.
In second place Lord Kirkham (worth £1,150m) has a fortune based on the outstanding success of the DFS furniture retail chain.
Yorkshire has a fourth billionaire family this year – Robert Miller, the man behind the Duty Free Shoppers chain, seen in many airports around the world, and his daughter Princess Marie-Chantal, who sits on the board of the company. They now sit on a fortune worth £1,040.
The full list is below. If you can get behind the paywall, the updated rich list will be published on the Sunday Times website here.
Yorkshire Rich List 2015
| Rank 2015 | Rank 2014 | Name | 2015 wealth | Wealth increase/ decrease | National rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Eddie and Malcolm Healey | £1,500m | £200m | 59= |
| 2 | 2 | Lord Kirkham and family | £1,150m | No change | 89= |
| 3 | 4 | Robert Miller and Princess Marie-Chantal and family | £1,040m | £55m | 101 = |
| 4 | 3 | Tony Murray and family | £1,013m | No change | 107 |
| 5 | 5 | Sir Ken Morrison and family | £733m | £167m | 153 |
| 6 | 6 | Paul Sykes | £690 m | £40m | 164 |
| 7 | 7 | Terry Bramall and family | £425m | No change | 254= |
| 8 | 9 | Jack Tordoff and family | £368m | £15m | 280 |
| 9 | 8 | Peter Wilkinson | £360 m | No change | 281 = |
| 10 | 10 | Roderick Evans and family | £350 m | No change | 287= |
| 11 | 11 | Assem Allam and family | £340 m | £20m | 302= |
| 12 | 12 | Dean and Janet Hoyle | £280 m | £4m | 357= |
| 13 | 13 | Alan Lewis | £270 m | No change | 371 = |
| 14 | 14 | David Hood | £266 m | £1m | 377 |
| 15 | 15 | John Guthrie and family | £260 m | No change | 380= |
| 16 | 16 | The Shepherd family | £253 m | £1m | 389= |
| 17 | 17 | Malcolm Walker | £215m | No change | 450= |
| 18 | 18 | Tony Bramall and family | £208m | £1m | 464 |
| 19= | 21 | Paul and Johnny Caddick and family | £200 m | £25m | 476= |
| 19= | 19 | Malcolm Walker and family | £200 m | No change | 476= |