Lady Ballyedmond and her family remain the most wealthy people in Northern Ireland, with an estimated worth of close to £1bn, while on form champion golfer Rory McIlroy is the one and only under 40 to make the latest annual rich lists.
The family of the late Eddie Haughey, the founder of Newry-headquartered Norbrook Laboratories, increased its wealth by £8m to £922m, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.
In total, six families and individuals from the north with a combined wealth of £4bn made the main rich list for 2024, with Mr McIlroy the only one named in the 40 under 40 list.
His wealth is estimated at £260m, placing him 19th in that category, which has a cut off point of £100m.
Derek Keys (right) and his brother Jonnie pictured after a merger with a US heavy machinery auctioneers
One new entrant to the main list is Derek Keys, whose Dromore, Co Tyrone-based Euro Auctions is widely touted as the largest independent company of its type in the world.
He also has extensive property interests that allowed his parent company, Gardrum Holdings, to post pre-tax profits of £45.3m on revenue of £168.9m for the year ending December 2023. His total wealth is estimated at £400m.
According to the Sunday Times, the list “is based on identifiable wealth, including land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies”.
Sir Elton John among the high profile figures on rich list (Matt Crossick/PA)
The main list includes 350 named individuals and their families, all with an estimated fortunes of over £350m. Their combined wealth, according to the Sunday Times, was £772.8bn, with high profile figures such as Sir Elton John, Lord Lloyd-Webber, Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards,, Sir Lewis Hamilton and Sir Christopher Nolan all appearing in the annual survey.
Second on the list from the north is Newry-born Martin Naughton, the founder of electrical goods giant GlenDimplex. His estimated wealth was £825m, down £25m from the previous year.
Robert and William Barrret, principals of the Belfast-based W&R Barnett, which has storage, grain-dealing and packaging arms, are valued at £647m.
The family wealth of the owner of Cookstown-headquartered energy company LCC, Michael Loughran, is estimated at £530m, down £74m on 2023.
Eoin McCann and family is also named, increasing their wealth by £50m to £462m. He remains controlling shareholder of the Magherafelt-based FP McCann concrete, construction and quarrying company, though he is barred from acting as a director over his involvement in a price-fixing cartel.
The Norbrook business in Newry employs more than 1,300 staff
In March 2021. Mr McCann was barred for 12 years while a second executive, Francis McCann, was banned for 11 after the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) the company had for seven years worked with other firms to fix or co-ordinate their prices, shared the GB market by allocating customers and regularly exchanged competitively sensitive information.
Robert Watts, compiler of the Sunday Times Rich List, said the billionaire count has dropped this year, while less of the world’s super rich are coming to live in the UK.
“Our research continues to find a wide variety of self-made entrepreneurs building fortunes not just from artificial intelligence, video games and new technologies but also mundane, everyday items such as makeup, radiators and jogging bottoms.
“We know many of our readers find these people and their stories inspiring — especially the many who had tough starts or setbacks to their lives and careers.”