COMPANYWATCH

A s the economic storm clouds gather and the credit crunch bites, it’s worth sparing a thought for the rich. A good place to start is the Sunday Times rich list which reveals the UK’s top multimillionaires who are now collectively worth more than £412.8 billion. This is up nearly £53 billion on last year and up from a mere £99 billion back in 1997. This represents a 317 per cent increase in wealth for the country’s richest people. Top of the transport super- rich is Sir Richard Branson who presides at number 20 worth £2.7 billion. Although he has slipped down the list through the falling share price of Virgin Media, he has made pots of lolly in transport by squeezing those looking for flexible rail travel. From January 2 a passenger buying a standard class open return ticket between London and Manchester has to cough up £230, up from £219, more than double the rate of inflation. This is the only ticket available on the day of travel during a three-hour period in the morning and another three hours in the afternoon. In the past four years Virgin Trains has raised the London to Manchester fare by more than 30 per cent. Transport privateers and Stagecoach owners Brian Souter and his sister Ann Gloag also benefited from this scam as a 49 per cent shareholder of the Virgin Rail Group. The pair comes in at 113 on the rich list with a personal fortune of £717 million. Brian and Ann handed themselves £100 million in 2006 after receiving £300 million in public subsidy to run some of their franchises. RMT pointed out at the time that it once again proved that rail privatisation was a “crude device to convert taxpayers’ and farepayers’ money into fat cat profits”. On the shipping side, Stena Group owner Stefan Olsson comes in at number 148 on the list after Swedish business magazine Veckans Affarer valued him at £534 million. Sir Martin Laing and family currently preside at 472 on the rich list with just £175 million. Laing retired in 2004 as head of John Laing plc, the infrastructure and railway company which owned the Chiltern Railways franchise. Fund management company Henderson Group acquired Chiltern Railways in 2006 when one of its subsidiaries bought John Laing, for £950 million. In turn, Henderson sold Chiltern Railways in March to German state railways Deutsche Bahn for around £180 million. Got all that? RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: may 2008 :: RMTnews 7 Open six days a week - Mon to Fri - 8am until 6pm, Sat - 9.30am to 4pm e-mail: info@rmt.org.uk Legal helpline: 0800 587 7516 - Seven days a week or call the helpline on freephone 0800 376 3706 Visit www.rmt.org.uk to join online JOIN RMT BRITAIN’S SPECIALIST TRANSPORT UNION Problems at work? Call the helpline (Now with two operators and the facilities to translate into 170 languages) Companywatch Name Position in List Worth Companies include Richard Branson 20 £2.7 billion Virgin Rail Group Brian Souter =113 £720 million South West Trains, 49% share in Virgin Rail Group, Stagecoach Devon, Hampshire, East Midlands, Yorkshire Stefan Olsson 148 £534 million Stena Group Martin Laing 472 £175 million Chiltern Railways