Liverpool tycoon behind Home Bargains benefits from £1.2bn windfall after strong profit rise
The Liverpool tycoon behind Home Bargains paid himself £1.2 billion last year after a strong rise in profits.
Tom Morris, dubbed ‘the richest Scouser ever’ by his hometown press, has grown his TJ Morris discount empire after opening his first store almost 50 years ago.
The 70-year-old owns 98 percent of the company and so received the vast majority of a £1.22 billion payout, according to the group’s accounts.
This was a huge increase on the £36 million paid out the year before to a man whose humble beginnings meant he started out as the son of a shopkeeper.
Home Bargains, along with rivals B&M and The Range, have been able to take advantage of shoppers looking for cheaper homewares amid the cost of living crisis.
Sales rose 11.7 per cent from £3.76 billion to £4.2 billion in the year to June 2024, partly as it opened a raft of new stores. This increased profits from £336.5 million to £454.8 million.
Windfall: Tom Morris (photo) has expanded his discount empire TJ Morris after opening his first store almost 50 years ago
At just 21 years old, Morris opened his first shop, called Home and Bargain, in Old Swan in the east of Liverpool in 1976.
He changed the name in 1995 and has expanded considerably in recent years. Now the group has 617 stores and employs around 28,000 people in Britain.
There are plans to open more stores in the next six months and take the number of stores to 800 to 1,000, the accounts said.
Morris has kept himself and his family, including his wife Kristina O’Hare and five children, out of the spotlight.
He and his family were number 25 on The Sunday Times Rich list last year, which valued their fortune at £6.67 billion.
That was just behind fast fashion investor Anders Holch Povlsen, the largest investor in Asos, and Andrew Currie, the director of chemical company Ineos.
The billionaire has spent his wealth on a £36 million superyacht called Moskito and a £37 million private jet with M-ORIS written on the tail.
He rarely speaks to the press and has previously left publicity to his brother Joe, who was also involved in the company.
Joe once said, “(Tom) has a real retail sense of smell. He knows what’s going on. The key is to buy right. He has an incredible reputation for it.”
Major rival B&M will reveal how trading has done over Christmas today, along with an update from retailer Marks & Spencer.
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