Triumph Motorcycles owner tops Guernsey rich list

Triumph Motorcycles owner John Bloor is the wealthiest person in Guernsey according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

The latest edition of the list, which ranks the 350 richest people in Britain has for the first time, checked the residency status of each person included.

The change means Derbyshire-based businessman Bloor's £3.1bn fortune puts him top of the local list as his companies have his country of residence stated as Guernsey.

The list said the richest people in the Channel Islands were Jersey-based Gordon Glenn, chairman of William Grant & Sons - the company behind Glenfiddich, Grant's and Drambuie, and his family with their £4.745bn fortune.

Robert Watts who compiles the list said Bloor was a "fascinating" man who "took a punt" on buying Triumph Motorcycles when they were in trouble in the 1980s.

He said Bloor started his career as a plasterer and developed a successful house building business in Derbyshire before buying Triumph Motorcycles.

He said: "In his mid-80s, he took a punt and bought the old factory of Triumph Motorcycles.

"He bought that business out of the administration.

"That has become a big part of his big engine of wealth. His wealth has increased by nine million from last year's list."

The Sunday Times said it chose to do residence checks on every person featured on the list after reports that many of the UK's wealthiest people were moving offshore.

"There is change, we are finding more people coming from the UK to live in the Channel Islands without a doubt," said Watts.

"A lot of people we know on the Rich List are moving away and the Channel Islands is a big part of that.

"We can see 2% of all the wealth on the Sunday Times Rich List is held by British people who are now based in the Channel Islands."

Watts said Guernsey's tax regime of a flat 20% personal income tax rate on worldwide income was "part of the picture" for people moving to the Channel Islands.

"The UK mainland looks less competitive for these people than it did. If you come to the Channel Islands, you've got a lower income tax rate," he said.

"You've not got capital gains tax to worry about.

"You've not got inheritance tax to worry about.

"So that is a big draw for many of our wealthiest people."

Second place on the list for Guernsey were Douglas and Dame Mary Perkins of Specsavers whose wealth dropped from £1.539bn to £1.409bn.

Third was financier and Bristol City FC shareholder Steve Lansdown whose wealth remained at £1.25bn.

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