Rich list reveals record rise in wealth
Collective wealth of Britain's 1,000 richest people rose 30%, the biggest annual increase in list's 22-year history
Lakshmi Mittal topped the rich list for the sixth straight year. Photograph: Sebastien Pirlet/Reuters
The collective wealth of the country's 1,000 richest people rose 30% last year in the wake of the economic crisis.
Their combined wealth rose by more than £77bn to £333.5bn, the biggest annual increase in the 22-year history of the Sunday Times rich list. The number of billionaires rose by 10 to 53.
Last year's list showed how the economic crisis wiped £155bn from the wealth of the UK's richest people, with the number of billionaires down from 75 to 43.
The London-based steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal headed the list for the sixth consecutive year, seeing his fortune double from £10.8bn in 2009 to £22.45bn following the recovery in the steel industry.
The Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, remained second, adding £400m to his wealth in a year to reach £7.4bn. The richest British-born billionaire, the Duke of Westminster, saw his fortune – mainly based on property – rise by £250m to £6.75bn.
The retail tycoon Sir Philip Green and his wife increased their wealth from £3.83bn to £4.1bn, but fell from sixth place to ninth. The soaring share price of the London-based mining group Vedanta Resources added £3.5bn to the wealth of Indian-born Anil Agarwal, who moved 60 places up the list to 10th.
John Hargreaves and his family, who own the discount retailer Matalan, saw their fortune treble to £1.02bn. Dame Mary Perkins, the driving force at Specsavers Opticians, and her husband, Douglas, increased their wealth from £500m to £810m this year, now equal 73rd.
Ian Coxon, editor of the list, said: "It's obvious there's been a real turnaround in the last 12 months for the richest people in Britain. If you look at the top 200, the super-rich have seen the fastest rise in their fortunes. The stock market since last year, when we were valuing people with large companies, has gone up by more than 50%."
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