BREXIT has been good for the UK’s 134 billionaires, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.
It claims the total wealth of Britain’s richest people has jumped from £575billion to £658bn in the space of a year, a hike of about 14 per cent.
Sri and Gopi Hinduja have kept their place at the top of the list.
Worth an estimated £16.2bn, the brothers have interests in many different industries, including trucking, lubricants, banking, property, oil and cable television.
Hinduja Global Solutions employs 500 people in a call centre operation in Selkirk.
In Scotland, the top spot goes to the Grant Family drinks firm, worth £2.3bn Overseas demand for premium spirits has helped the family-owned firm behind Glenfiddich and Balvenie whiskies, and Hendrick’s Gin, make £177.2 million profit, up 6.7 per cent from £166.1m.
Egyptian businessman Mohammed Al-Fayed is at number two in the paper’s list of Scotland's most wealthy.
Fayed, who sold Harrods in 2010 to the Qatari state’s oil and gas wealth fund for £1.5bn, owns the 65,00-acre Balnagown estate in Easter Ross, having first bought the dilapidated castle in 1972.
“Mohamed of the Glen” as the paper styles him, has long had a fascination with Scotland, believing Scots to be descended from Egyptians. He has also been a supporter of Scottish independence for many years, and on a few occasions has offered to be president of an independent Scotland.
“It’s time for you to waken up and detach yourselves from the English and their terrible politicians," Fayed said in 2009. "Whatever help is needed for Scotland to regain its independence, I will provide it ... when you Scots regain your freedom, I am ready to be your president.”
The compilers of the 29th Sunday Times Rich List say the “Brexit Boom” for the super-rich means the top 500 entries of 2017 have more wealth than all 1,000 entries had 12 months ago.
Rich List editor Alastair McCall said: “While many of us worried about the outcome of the EU referendum, many of Britain’s richest people just kept calm and carried on making billions.
“We expected to see a chilling effect in the run-up to the EU referendum, but that simply did not materialise. A buoyant stock market usually drives the wealth of Rich Listers higher, and since last June equities have soared.”
Other prominent Scots include oil magnate Sir Ian Wood, whose £1.6bn fortune puts him at number five on the list.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling is at number 14 with her £650m fortune, while Euromillion winners Colin and Chris Weir are at 50 with an estimated wealth of £150m.
New on the Scots list is Edinburgh-born Jim Mellon, worth an estimated £850m, which was mostly made through investments in Russia.
Mellon, who stays on the Isle of Man, is an ardent Brexiteer who calls Nigel Farage a friend. He has predicted the collapse of the euro in the next five years.
In 2006 he made a £55m return on a stake in Charlemagne Capital, and later earned £25m from a £10,000 investment in a uranium mine.
Another new Scot on the list is Bonamy Grimes, who along with Barry Smith and Gareth Williams was one of the founders of Slyscanner, the internet flight company that was sold to China’s biggest travel services company, Ctrip, last year for £1.4bn.
Musician Adele has made the list for the time, amassing a fortune of £125m from her music.
Sir James Dyson, the inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner, is one of the year’s biggest risers, with his estimated wealth jumping £2.8bn.
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