Northern Ireland's richest people - How loaded are Rory McIlroy, Liam Neeson and Van Morrison?
Northern Ireland’s richest businessmen, sporting stars and actors have amassed billions of pounds in personal fortunes despite the economic downturn, writes Lindsay Fergus
41. John McGuckian £30M
Textiles, up £2.6m
Ballymena man
McGuckian's textile
firm makes bombproof
jockstraps for
the US marines among
other products. He also
owns a large share portfolio
that includes stakes
in UTV.
40. Rory McIlroy £33M
Golfer, new entry
Just 23 and world number
one, McIlroy recently
landed a record 10-year
£163m Nike sponsorship
deal.
39. Seamus McAleer £38M
Construction, down £3m
McAleer and Rushe has built
12,000 hotel rooms.
38. Paul McGowan £40M
Retail, up £5m
Having sold A-Wear last year,
McGowan's group Hilco still
retains Habitat, Denby and
Borders. The group took control of HMV earlier this year.
37. Brian and Laurence Martin £40M Plastics, up £1.75m
The roofs at Thomond Park
and Chelsea's Stamford
Bridge, riot shields, and
props for French spy movies
are a few of the products
made by this Antrim specialist
plastic sheeting firm.
36. Billy Hastings £42M
Hotels, down £3m
The owner of the Europa and
Culloden hotels among others,
Hastings has seen a dip
due to economic downturn.
35. Geoffrey Elliot £42M
Pharmecuticals, up £870,000
When Galen was taken over
the ex-finance chief is
thought to have earned €70m
(£61m). His new firm Hillmark
has invested in pharmaceuticals
and property.
34. Paul Hunt £45M
Drinks distributor, up
£870,000
Through Wine Inns and
James E McCabe, Hunt and
family are Northern Ireland’s
biggest booze importers
33. Van Morrison £50M
Music, down £870,000
Still bringing the tunes, Van
The Man's assets have fallen
slightly but he still has homes
in Dalkey, Bath and Belfast.
32. John and Darren Donnelly £50M Trucks, down £1.75m
Their Retlan Holdings is one of Europe’s biggest truck trailer-makers. It also operates the Antrim engineering
businesses SDC and MDF.
31.John and Darren Donnelly £52M Meat processing, up £9.5m Foyle Meats is one of the
largest beef processors in Ulster.
30. Brian Conlon £54M Financial services, up £8m
The ex-footballer from Newry
has boosted his stake in First
Derivatives with dividends,
rents and other income.
29. Michael Herbert £56.5M
Property, down £33m
Fast food tycoon Herbert runs
Europe's largest chain of KFC
franchises as well as having a
few Haagen-Daz stores and a
property portfolio. However,
unsurprisingly this has been
hit by the property slump.
28. Andrew Creighton and Frank Boyd £64M
Property, down £136m
Property firm William Ewart
has shed the value of many of
its UK properties over the
years due to the property
slump. But they continue to
run one of the biggest property
companies in Northern Ireland.
27. Mark Hunter £65M
Software, up £9m
In 2008 Hunter sold his software
installation company
for a personal stake of £44m
and now finances early
start-up firms. Born in
Belfast, he collects shoes
and guitars and drives a
Porsche.
26. Eddie Irvine £65M
F1 and property, up £4m
Not just a pretty face, F1
driver Eddie Irvine
made shrewd investments
with the
£39m he earned
while driving for
Jordan. As well as a
global property
portfolio of up to 50
properties he is said
to have invested in a
shipping firm and online
printing. It
emerged in February
that he had made a £3.5m
profit on the sale of one of
his Miami beach houses.
25. Liam Neeson £65M Hollywood actor, up £4m
Ballymena's favourite son
has seen his star rise with
the Taken franchise in recent
years. Now living in
New York, he can command
upwards of £7m a
film.
24. Kevin Cheevers £69M
Civil engineering, up £1.75m
Having invested the profits
from the sale of his car business
in 1996 in shopping centres,
he also has a stake in
engineering firm McLaughlin
and Harvey, responsible for
Belfast buildings such as the
Stena Terminal.
23. raymond Hutchison and family £72M
Crisps, down £23.5m
The Manderlay group own the
17th century Tayto Castle in
Armagh as well as a £2.6m
Augusta Chopper. The group
has seen falling profits due to
rising material costs and a
weak local economy.
22. Lord Rana £72M
Hotels, down £4m
Based in Northern Ireland
since 1981, Lord Rana's hotel
business has fallen in net
worth recently due to a weak
domestic economy.
21. Harvey McGrath £74M
Finance, down £30m Known for art collecting and
philanthropy, Belfast-born
McGrath made his money by
managing hedge funds and
later chaired Prudential Insurance. He lives in London's
Holland Park and chairs the
London enterprise board.
20. Murphy family £74M
Rubbish, down
£1.75m
The Clearway
Group has become
one of the
biggest waste
management
firms on both
sides of the
border, having
been set
up in the
1960s by the late Portadown
man John
Murphy. The firm
is now run by his
family.
19. Peter Fitzgerald £76.5M
Biotech, up £2.5m
Antrim firm Randox came
from humble beginnings, having
started in a chicken coop
behind Peter Fitzgerald's
house 30 years ago. Today 8%
of the world's clinical chemical
products are
18. Barney Eastwood £77M Bookmaking, down £13m
Barry McGuigan's manager
Barney Eastwood was Northern
Ireland's best-known
bookie when he sold his company
to Ladbrokes in 2008.
He and his family are now investors
in the Somerston
Hotel Group.
17. Paul Smith and Sarah King
£84M
Television, up £17m
Having made his
fortune when he
came up with the
concept of Who
Wants To Be A
Millionaire,
Belfast producer
Smith was quidsin
when he sold off
part of the rights
to the show to
Celador in 2006.
He put up the
£10m budget for
Slum Dog Millionaire. The
film grossed over £244m
worldwide.
110. BARNEY
16. Jim and Jack Dobson £92M
Meat, up £1.75m
Dunbia is one of the
largest lamb
processors in Europe
and it all
started 40 years
ago when the
brothers bought
a butchers with
the aim of expanding
into meat processing.
15. Harold Montgomery £99M
Trucks, new entry
Ballyvessey Holdings saw
profits nearly double in 2011.
The Newtownabbey-based
truck-maker is one of the
largest of its kind in Europe.
14. Martin and Geoffrey Agnew £100M
Retail, up £13m
With Spar, Vivo and VG franchises,
the Agnews almost
have the convenience market
sewn up in Northern Ireland.
Between them they control
13. The Eakin family
£108M
Healthcare, up £7m
It may not be the most glamorous
way to make millions
but the Belfast pharmacist's
company TG Eakin has become
a world leader in specialist
wound care.
12. Edward Longergan
£109M
Property, up £9m
Office blocks, shopping centres
and industrial units from
Belfast to Cambridge via Glasgow
make up the portfolio of
Deramore, headed by the
Belfast property developer.
11. Maureen Wheeler £109M
Travel books, down
£11m
Taking her travels and
sharing with the world
has made The Lonely Planet
guides a household name
for Maureen
Wheeler.
Having
been
bought
out by BBC Worldwide, Maureen
and husband Tony set up
Planet Wheeler, a philanthropic
organisation supporting
60 projects worldwide.
10. Chris Watson and family
£113M
Cycling — new entry
George and Janice Watson set
up Chain Reactions in Antrim
25 years ago. Going online in
1999 saw huge growth for the
cycle firm, which paid £3m in
dividend last year.
9. Bill McCabe £117M
Technology, up £3m
Belfast economics graduate and
pioneer of e-learning, McCabe
now lives in what has been described
as ‘Dublin's finest privately
owned residence' in the
south of the city. His investments
range from the German
property market to waste companies
and a millionaires’ club.
8. Chris Rea £131M
Engineering, up
£44m
The Yorkshirebased
specialist
engineering firm
was valued at
£105m when private
equity firm 3i
bought a 40%
share in 2007.
Since then profits
have trebled for Belfast-born
Rea who owns the rest of it.
7. Kevin and Michael Lagan £132M
Cement, up £4m
Last year the
brothers fell out
and their building
and cement
firm has been
split between
them. Thanks to
the family row
Kevin runs Lagan
Group and Michael
Lagan Construction.
6. Ted kelly £133M
Insurance, new entry
The Armagh man heads Liberty
Mutual, the insurer that took
over Quinn Insurance two
years ago. He’s one of
the highest paid
bosses in the US.
5. Danny Hill £165M
Property, up £9m
Having made his fortune by investing shrewdly in Australian
Gold Coast real estate, the 70-
year-old Belfast man moved
with wife Charlotte and their
two children to Monaco in 2003.
4. Tim Martin £183M
Pubs, up £35m
Belfast-born Martin saw the
profits of Wetherspoons pub
chain rebound with the London
Olympics last year. The 6ft 5in
tycoon retains a £165m stake in the chain he founded in 1979.
3. Sam Morrison
£203M
Property, down
£12m
The property
slump in Northern
Ireland has resulted
in Morrison's
company Corbo,
which develops retail
parks, losing
more than £4m last
year. But Corbo has
plans to create a
£218m retail centre
in Omagh. Morrison
started out by selling
leather jackets from his car.
2. Roma Downey £222M
TV production, up £13m
The Londonderry actress
was star of TV series
Touched By An Angel
for almost 10 years.
Then she married
TV producer Mark
Burnett. He made
his millions by inventing
reality TV
shows such as The
Apprentice, The
Voice and Are You
Smarter Than A Ten
Year Old. Their
next venture is an
epic TV series on
the Bible.
1. Eddie Haughey £366M
Animal health, down £35m
Alongside Norbrook, Northern
Ireland's top industrialist owns
an estate in Rostrevor, a castle
in Cumbria, homes in Belgravia
Square, London, and
Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, and
is known as Lord Ballyedmond.
A total of 41 movers and shakers have made it on to a list of Ireland’s wealthiest people with an accumulated pot of more than £3.8bn.
However, that figure is nothing when you compare it to the mammoth fortune of the richest man in Ireland, the India-based industrialist Pallonji Mistry and his family who are worth a staggering £7bn — almost double Northern Ireland’s 41 multi-millionaires’ combined total.
According to this year’s Sunday Independent Rich List, which features the wealthiest 300 people in the Republic and Northern Ireland, just three people from here make it into the top 50.
They are entrepreneur Eddie Haughey with £366m, Londonderry-born actress Roma Downey with £222m and property boss Sam Morrison with £203m.
Although still out in pole position in Northern Ireland sitting at position 26, and well clear of his closest rival Roma Downey at position 43, Mr Haughey has seen his wealth spiral down by £35m, costing him two places in this year’s Rich List.
Overall the past year has been a good one for Northern Ireland’s super rich with 23 of them seeing their fortunes rise despite the challenging economic global climate that has seen so many businesses go to the wall and so many of their executives file for bankruptcy.
The biggest winner was Chris Rea — not the popular singer — who climbed 23 places to 71 in the Rich List but has also seen his wealth soar by £44m to £131m.
The Queen’s University Belfast graduate is best known as the founder of manufacturing firm AESSEAL.
However, 14 of our multi-millionaires saw their fortunes decline, in particular Andrew Creighton and Frank Boyd who saw their wealth fall to £64m, a loss of £136m.
The property magnates were hit hard by the property slump that has claimed so many of their rivals in recent years.
However, they do continue to run one of the biggest property companies in Northern Ireland.
Other losers in the property downturn were Sam Morrison who lost £12m and Michael Herbert who saw £33m wiped off his assets.
While four new names from here made it into the Rich List, another four well-known personalities disappeared out of the coveted top 300 slots.
The new faces are insurance boss Ted Kelly, Chris Watson and his family who own the Chain Reaction bicycle firm which has enjoyed a spectacular rise to global success, truck maker Harold Montgomery and of course the world number one golfer, Rory McIlroy.
Those who have been knocked out are developer Shamus Jennings who was 119 last year with £67m, newspaper owner Lord Kilclooney who was 267th with £23m, football manager Martin O’Neill from Kilrea who was 280th with £21m and golfer Darren Clarke who claimed the last slot, 300, with £18m.
The golfer revealed recently that he lost a lot of money through his purchase of a private jet, which he described as “a money pit”.
However, he said he wasn’t too concerned about money and was happy as long as he was playing golf well.
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