"It's a tribute to hard-working staff and a successful business' says Peterborough's Yours Clothing boss at Sunday Times Rich List inclusion

The founder of Peterborough-based fashion retailer Yours Clothing has featured in this year’s prestigious Sunday Times Rich List for the second year running.

Andrew Killingsworth, who created the city-based clothing empire 20 years ago, has been ranked in 343rd position out of 350 – a drop of 21 from 322nd in last year’s Rich List.

According to figures from the Sunday Times, Mr Killingsworth is worth £356 million – that’s a slip of £49 million on the previous year.

Mr Killingsworth said: “This is a reflection of a successful business and is very much about the team.

"It is a measurement of their success and I’m thrilled we have been recognised in this way.

“I’m delighted for all our colleagues in our head office, our warehouses and our stores who are clearly doing an excellent job.

"And thank you to all our customers who spend their hard earned money buying our beautiful products.”

Mr Killingsworth, who began his business on a market stall, has overseen the growth of the fashion enterprise with the addition of the BadRhino brand and the acquisition of Long Tall Sally, Evans, M&Co and Pixie Girl.

Just last month, the company announced a £20 million investment in an iconic new head office at Saxon House, in Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, and a separate warehouse in Southgate Way, Orton Southgate, in a move that is expected to create scores of jobs.

It means the company now has three warehouses providing about 500,000 square feet of spaces along with 50,000 square feet of office space.

The business, which is collectively known as AK Retail, is clearly bucking the doom and gloom.

It enjoyed a hugely successful start to the year with sales 20 percent up on a year earlier and largely driven by unexpectedly warm weather.

Mr Killingsworth’s first appearance in The Rich List was in 2020 when he was placed in 976th position with his wealth given as £122 million.

But he then dropped out of the Rich List for four years at a time when the retail industry was hit by Covid-19 restrictions..

Top of this year’s Sunday Times Rich List is Gopi Hinduja and family, who run the multinational conglomerate Hinduja Group. Their wealth is given as £35,304 billion, which is a drop of £1,892 billion.

The Sunday Times lists the cosmetics giant Charlotte Tilbury, a new entry, as bottom of the Rich List with a wealth of £350 million.

This year the Rich List is made up of 350 individuals and families that together hold combined wealth of £772.8 billion — three per cent down on last year.

Sir Elton John, Lord Lloyd-Webber, Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Euan Blair, Sir Lewis Hamilton and Sir Christopher Nolan all appear in the annual survey.

The combined wealth in the 37th annual edition is £772.8 billion — a sum larger than the annual GDP of Switzerland.

Robert Watts, compiler of the Sunday Times Rich List, said: “The Sunday Times Rich List is changing.

"Our billionaire count is down and the combined wealth of those who feature in our research is falling. We are also finding fewer of the world’s super rich are coming to live in the UK.

“This year we were also struck by the strength of criticism for Rachel Reeves’s Treasury. We expected the abolition of non-dom status would anger affluent people from overseas. But homegrown young tech entrepreneurs and those running centuries-old family firms are also warning of serious consequences to a range of tax changes unveiled in last October’s budget.

"Our research continues to find a wide variety of self-made entrepreneurs building fortunes not just from artificial intelligence, video games and new technologies but also mundane, everyday items such as makeup, radiators and jogging bottoms.”