The North West's working rich has seen its wealth fall slightly this year to a still hefty £38.27bn, down from £38.4bn last year. But despite this fall in the collective wealth of what we term the 100 top working rich in our area, the signs are encouraging for their future prosperity
The North West's working rich has seen its wealth fall slightly this year to a still hefty £38.27bn, down from £38.4bn last year. But despite this fall in the collective wealth of what we term the 100 top working rich in our area, the signs are encouraging for their future prosperity - which is of course vital for the financial health of all us mere mortals in the North West - from the Scottish borders in the north to Cheshire in the south, taking the Pennines as our natural eastern boundary.As with last year's list, we have adjusted our annual rich list and ditched the aristocrats, the footballers and the pop stars of past lists to concentrate on the real wealth creators - not just creating their own wealth, but the jobs and profits on which the whole community can thrive.
It has been a difficult year of course. The war in Iraq, stock market gyrations, intense pressure on industry, pensions crises - the list of problems could go on. But the North West's rich have hung in there. Indeed we have been able to keep our £325m bottom line this year, despite the fall in overall wealth. And in Trevor Hemmings we have a new number one. Hemmings, the former brickie-turned entrepreneur, has a £3700m fortune, which could grow sharply if he plays his cards right in the forthcoming revolution for the whole gaming industry. He is the man who could just revive the Blackpool economy with his plans to turn it into the Las Vegas of the North.
But the inherent strength of the North Western economy is its diversity and its common sense. The richest made their fortunes from selling things to the masses. Clothes, bread, houses, sportswear, holidays and taking their betting slips. Look no further than our table showing the business interests of the Top 100. Property and construction dominate with 24 of the 100, but there are nine different sectors in total. Industry, which is still having a tough time nationally, is well-represented here with niche manufacturers still producing good profits. In all there are 17 industrialists in the Top 100. The high-tech sector embracing computers, telecom and the internet has 11 multimillionaires in the list.
The relative sanity of the North Western entrepreneurs during the crazy dot.com period and the prudence of its entrepreneurs and millionaire business owners - meant that the casualties were far fewer than we anticipated. True there have been some heavy losses.
The biggest loser this year though is our number two, the Matalan boss, John Hargreaves, who may still be sitting pretty with £3650m of personal wealth. But that is £3700m down on what it was two years ago and is the reason why Trevor Hemmings has overtaken him. Another hefty loser would have been David Crossland, the former boss of MyTravel, but he has now retired and does not qualify. We are zealous about honing in on the working as opposed to the retired rich.
Encouragingly, we have been able to find strong profits and assets in many of the private companies owned by individuals and families. The Rayner family at Lakeland, who we highlighted last year, continue an impressive run. In 2002, Lakeland Group made £39.3m profit on £395.6m sales. But the most impressive surge in profits comes from Michael Newton's Anglo Design Holdings. Newton has been in this list in the past but disappeared only to re-emerge triumphantly. Anglo Design, with its emphasis on marrying CCTV to the internet, is now one of Britain's fastest-growing companies. In 2001-02, its profits shot up from £33.4m to £316.8m while sales were similarly stratospheric in growing from £39.5m to £349.4m.
The North West Rich 100 is compiled and researched by Philip Beresford
Also in: September 2003
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