Business Insider’s annual Rich List identified £45.6 billion of wealth shared between our region’s 50 most affluent individuals and families - up almost 9% on the previous year.
Whilst you will find familiar names in these rankings - such as Mohsin and Zuber Issa, the petrol retailing brothers who took control of Asda, or Fred and Peter Done, another pair of famous billionaire brothers, best known for their BetFred gambling empire - often it’s the new entries and lesser-known entrepreneurs and business leaders who are the most intriguing.
One debutant on the full list is the McMahon family who, ten years ago, bought Heinz’s 11-acre babymilk factory in Kendal for just £1, and now have a fast-growing infant nutrition venture.
Our region has also become home to a number of companies profiting from the boom in vaping. E-cigarettes have proven to be a divisive topic to many - and a sizable business opportunity for Phil Boyle and Mubarak Patel who oth appear in this year’s rankings.
Gone are the days when Rich Lists are dominated by finance, industry or property. Fortunes are now being made in more diverse and surprising ways. There’s some inspiration for ambitious entrepreneurs, whatever type of business they’re growing.
Although the entire list features 50 names, we have outlined just the 25 richest people in the North West for you below...
How the list was created
This list features entrepreneurs or business leaders who are either working in a company they either started themselves or inherited. Business Insider also include those still living in the area who have recently sold their main businesses but retain interests in other ventures.
Business Insider valued stakes in quoted companies in July 2025. Private companies were valued according to the ratios in their sectors or more generally where a sector rating was not evident, at around ten times their latest profit figures, which in many cases is more conservative than stock market ratings.
They deducted appropriate sums from dividends and company sales to reflect tax unless they were certain someone is not domiciled in the UK for tax.
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13. Lord Grantchester and the Moores family (2025: £1.205bn, 2024: £1.205bn)
Retail: Department stores and football pools One of the last remaining hereditary peers in the House of Lords, Lord Grantchester is the grandson of the late Sir John Moores, founder of Liverpool’s football pools. The family later moved into retailing and mail order services through their Littlewoods empire. Lord Grantchester himself worked in the business for many years. Some stores were sold in 1998 and the pools side of the empire was offloaded two years later. Proceeds from those deals and past dividends were worth at least £445m. A larger windfall followed in 2002, when the remaining department stores and mail-order operation were sold for £750m. Lord Grantchester has property in Cheshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Westminster, Harrogate and Texas. He retains a stake in Everton FC. | UK Parliament's website
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14. The Sheppard family (2025: £975m, 2024: £975m)
Industry: Scrap metal Winifred Sheppard left Blitz-battered London after a bomb destroyed the factory where she worked and her job was relocated to Greater Manchester. Not long after World War Two she and her husband set up a business in Rochdale that now employs more than 3,000 people and puts 10 million tonnes of scrap metal back into the supply chain each year. Chris Sheppard, 51, runs the company today. With no new accounts in time for this year’s Rich List, we still value EMR at the £925m on its balance sheet. A run of past dividends and other family wealth adds £50m. | Google Maps
15. Matthew Riley 92025: £957m, 2024: £825m)
Business services: Telecoms and IT Earlier this year Riley’s telecoms and IT business Daisy Group merged with the business behind 02 and Virgin. The tie-up created a £3bn giant designed to take-on heavyweight such as BT and Vodafone. Daisy owns 30% of the combined group. Riley in turn owns 75% of Daisy - putting a value of £675m on his stake in the new business, expected to be called VMO2-Daisy. Riley’s separate investment company, Robinson Capital, now has £281.9m on its balance sheet. Once mentored by Sir Philip Green, Nelson-based Riley has also appeared as a judge on The Apprentice. | archive Photo: Wayne Myers
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16. Tim Knowles (2025: £735m, 2024: £734m)
Property: Real estate development Knowles has built a commercial property empire stretching from Glasgow to Southampton - quite an achievement for someone who left school unable to read or write. Starting out by cleaning cars, he created a franchise and after selling this venture for £2m in his early 20s he cannily kept hold of the business’s properties. He has equity worth £704m across six separate companies. Publicly-filed accounts only show a part of his wealth. Homes in Dubai, St Tropez, the Isle of Man and elsewhere add another £30m. He also has a £600,000 wine collection. | submit