Industry Rich List rankings revealed

28 April 2009

Business

The Sunday Times' Rich List 2009 proved that this year you can still lose millions and move up the rankings - the top 1,000 lost an average of one third of their overall wealth.

In print, David Instance who sold Kent Printing firm Inprint Systems, nudged into the top 1000 at 924 with £60m.

But Instance was the only one of four print figures outside the top 1,000 in 2008 to have made the leap this year. The others were Lord Gavron, Andrew Pindar and Terry Brady.

Felix Dennis, saviour of Butler and Tanner, and publisher of The Week among other titles in the Dennis Publishing portfolio moved up from 101 to 88, but his valuation went in the opposite direction, from £750m to £500m.

Another patron of print, Sir John Madejski, saw both value and position fall from £400m and 214 in 2008 to £250m and 222 this year.

Tony Williams of Williams Lea ranked 863 with £65m, compared with 924 and £85m in 2008.

Packaging was the wealthiest of the printing sectors, with Hans Rausing, inventor of the Tetra Pak, led the field of print and related industry entries in the list.

Rausing is believed to be worth £4bn and placed fifth in the list. Last year, his estimated £5.4bn only got him to sixth.

Linpac, the packaging business owned by Michael Cornish and family, helped push them up the list from 131 to 74 this year. They are estimated to be worth £597m, compared with £637m in 2008.

Meanwhile, Sir Michael Smurfit moved up to 203 with £294m, compared with £398m last year.

Local newspapers made their presence felt. DC Thomson, the Dundee publisher of The Sunday Post and The Dandy was worth £540m this year, taking 83rd position. Last year, the £670m estimate only made 131st place.

Local newspaper magnates Lord Iliffe and Sir Ray Tindle remained in the top half of the table, at 251 and 382 respectively and with an estimated wealth of £220m and £145m.

National newspapers fared rather worse. Richard Desmond's Express titles did little to improve his balance sheet – his wealth halved to £950m, sending him tumbling from 35 to 44 on the list.

The DMGT's Viscount Rothermere maintained his Rich List position at 138, but his Rich List "worth" dropped from £600m to £380m.

PrintWeek publisher Lord Heseltine ranked at 362 with £150m compared to 325 and £250m in 2008.