Sunday Times Rich List: Wales' top billionaires get richer

Sir Michael Moritz is chairman of the US-based venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital

Getty Images Sir Michael Moritz — Sir Michael Moritz is chairman of the US-based venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital

The fortunes of Wales' top five billionaires has grown again, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

But it has not been "a golden year" for Wales' wealthy due to "political deadlock" hitting people's fortunes, said the list compiler Robert Watts.

Six of the top 20 on Wales' rich list have lost money, despite an overall 5.8% increase in wealth.

Cardiff-born venture capitalist Sir Michael Moritz remains Wales' richest person with a £3bn fortune.

Specsavers co-founder Douglas Perkins, from Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, remains second with £1.8bn and Moneysupermarket.com co-founder Simon Nixon, of Flintshire, stayed third.

Sir Michael's wealth increased by £37m, Mr Perkins' grew by £100m and Mr Nixon's by £110m.

Celtic Manor owner Sir Terry Matthews' wealth rose by £165m and David Sullivan's by £50m.

The top five billionaires in the list, who have a connection to Wales, have a combined fortune of £8.55bn.

Douglas and Dame Mary Perkins set up Specsavers in 1984

Specsavers Optical Group Douglas and Mary Perkins — Douglas and Dame Mary Perkins set up Specsavers in 1984

Denbigh-raised tech entrepreneur Lawrence Jones - in eighth place - appears to be the "biggest winner", according to Mr Watts.

Mr Jones, who set up cloud hosting company UKFast, has had the biggest increase, more than doubling his family's wealth to £700m.

However Mr Watts added: "This has not been a golden year for many of Wales' richest people.

"The political deadlock in Westminster, stock market turbulence and the winds of change sweeping through the high street have hit the fortunes of many of the UK's wealthiest people over the past year."

The Sunday Times Rich List charts the wealth of the 1,000 richest people in the UK, based on identifiable wealth, including land, property and other assets.