Aberdeen Rich List 2025
Aberdeens Richest - Final Group
GROUP 17
24. Conrad Ritchie & The Ritchie Family
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Estimated Wealth: £120m
Conrad Ritchie is the eldest son of Charlie Ritchie, widely regarded as the most successful businessman in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. Charlie began his career in the early 1980s working for Sir Ian Wood’s Woodgroup Valves. After seeking investment from Sir Ian to help grow the business and being rejected, Charlie left to start his own company. His first major client was BP, which played a pivotal role in transforming his business. The company he founded became the Score Group, which has since grown to become the world’s largest aftermarket valve stockist for the oil and gas industry, with annual sales exceeding £200 million and a workforce of over 2,000 employees.
Conrad Ritchie, now head of the family business, sold the Ritchie family's stake in Score Group in 2024 for over £100 million. In addition to his business success, Conrad has also been active in politics, standing as a councillor for the Reform Party. He is involved with several charitable causes, including:
Crimond Community Hub – Charitable Trust (medical and community services)
Peterhead Prison Museum (a 5-star visitor attraction)
Men United SCIO (an award-winning men’s mental health charity)
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5. John Clark – Car Dealership
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Estimated Wealth: £700m
Although not originally from Aberdeen, John Clark has earned his place in the Aberdeen Rich List due to his pivotal role in the city’s car industry. John Clark is one of the most successful car franchise dealers in history. In the 1960s, Lothian Sports Cars opened a showroom on Broomhill Road in Aberdeen, which later became John Clark Specialist Cars, where he sold second-hand BMWs.
During the oil boom of the 1980s, John would buy BMWs from central Scotland, drive them to Aberdeen, and have them sold by noon the next day. Born in Edinburgh in 1947, John grew up near the Le Mans-winning Ecurie Ecosse racing team base, forging friendships with F1 legends like Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart. At 17, he joined Ford on a management training scheme and later worked at Meadowfield Garage, a Ford dealership.
2. Sir Ian Wood – Fishing & Oil & Gas – Rig Maintenance – Philanthropy
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Estimated Wealth: £1.9bn
Undoubtedly the most exceptional entrepreneur on our list, Sir Ian Wood stands out not only for his success but for his sheer determination and vision. Unlike all other Billionaires on this list, he did not inherit his family fortune. Starting with a modest fishing company employing just 30 odd people, Sir Ian boldly ventured into the Oil & Gas industry in the late 1960s, despite his father's objections.
In 1972, Sir Ian made a transformative move by purchasing the John Lewis shipyard in Torry, Aberdeen for £1.2m after an eye-opening trip to the Houston Oil Show. By 1973, he had already rented half the yard to Chevron for £3m a year. His first major oil contract came in the mid-1970s, when he secured a deal with Shell to provide maintenance teams for the new oil rigs. During this period, Sir Ian also founded Woodacon, which became the UK's largest independent fuel distributor.
Over the years, Sir Ian diversified his ventures, creating the largest property development in Aberdeen's history in 1980, with a 1,000-home development in Cove. His empire expanded into shipbuilding, oil rig construction, logistics, shipping, and at one point, he owned much of the land around Aberdeen's industrial estates. By the time of his retirement in 2012, his company was valued at $12bn with $6bn in annual sales, employing 60,000 people.
In 2013, Sir Ian sold all the shares in the company he founded. Through his charity foundation, he has since raised and donated nearly £400m, lifting over 60,000 tea farmers in Africa out of poverty. Sir Ian Wood is undoubtedly the last great industrialist of our time and remains by far the most successful living entrepreneur to have founded a business still in Aberdeen.
Rich List Number
Name
Net Worth
44
Ricky Simpson – Bars, Nightclubs, Property
£35M
29
Johanna Basford – Publishing & Bestselling Author
£90M
19
Leslie Benzies – Rockstar Games Visionary | Grand Theft Auto Creator | Video Game Industry Icon
£178M
14
Martin Dickie – BrewDog Co-Founder, Brewing Pioneer
£290M
7
Klaas Zwaart – Oil & Gas | Motor Racing | Investments
£560M
63
Colin Lawson – Transport Logistics
£18M
55
Stewart Proctor – Tech Industry – Motor Racing
£22M
50
Dan Millard – Oil & Gas Inspection and Integrity Services
£28M
45
Stuart Clarkson – Bars – Property Development
£32M
6
Dave Cormack – Software & Football
£600M
66
Steve Judge – Space Solutions
£10M
58
Considine – The Aberdein Considine Family
£20M
47
Eddie Anderson – ARR Craib – Transport and Logistics
£30M
43
Adrian Taylor & Family –Taylors Industrial Waste
£35M
36
Stewart Milne – Housebuilding | Property Development
£45M
41
Robert Kidd – Oil & Gas Rental Equipment – ITS (International Tubular Services)
£36M
29
Peter Tait – Fishing
£82m
16
Roy Macgregor - Global Energy Group
£360m
10
Nicky Walker – Walkers Shortbread | Food & Drink
£320m
5
Martin Gilbert – Finance, Investment & Consulting
£700m
63
Sandy Clark – Finance Expert | Investment Strategist | Corporate Leader
£8m
57
Paul Lawrie – Golf
£19m
44
Jimmy Buchan – Fishing & Seafood Supply
£32m
39
Ian Dunbar – Kirkwood Homes Founder & House Building Pioneer
£38m
33
Marshall Family – Marshall Trailers & Agricultural Innovation
£65M
26
Ian Suttie – Property and Oil
£90M
12
Douglas Craig – Craig Group | Shipping & Offshore Services
£300M
9
Alistair Locke – Abbot Group | Motor Fuel Group | Distilleries
£350M
3
Trond Mohn – Framo & One Subsea – Oil & Gas - Inheritance
£1100M
35
Andy Bird – Inoapps Founder & Software Development Visionary
£48M
65
Mike Straughen – Executive Leadership | Management Expert | Non-Executive Directorships
£10M
57
Eric Evans – Oil Services | Media | International Trade
£20M
54
Alan Massie – Carlton Rock – Property Developer
£22M
40
Jim Geddie – Oil & Gas – Apex Tubulars – Motor Racing
£38M
32
Bob Drummond – Hydrasun | D2Zero
£80M
23
Tommy Dreelan – Oil & Gas | Motor Racing
£150M
54
64. Scott Martin – CEO Glacier Energy – Accountancy MBOs
£10M
40
59. Mark Cavanagh – XPD8 and Oil Plus Ltd – Property Investment
£19M
32
Alistair Thomson – Fishing Rights | Land Investment | Property Development
£35M
23
Malcolm Allan – House Building Entrepreneur
£50M
25
John Ray – Rigblast | Property | Oil & Gas Services
£100M
62
Derek Nicol & Stephanie Nicol – Nicol of Skene – Civil Engineering
£18M
18
Doug Duguid – Oil & Gas Services & Renewables
£180M
17
Tony Quinn – Pet Food, Confectionery & Motorsport
£260M
11
James Watt – BrewDog | Brewing | Beer | Investment
£300M
1
Glenn Gordon – Whisky – Glenfiddich – Distilling - Inheritance
£3100M
59
Ean Emslie – Commercial Property Rental
£19M
38
Maitland Mackie 3 – Ice Cream & Agribusiness
£40M
28
Shaun Ross – Founder of Metrol Technology (Photo Unavailable)
£90M
22
Sir Jim Milne – Balmoral Group | Hotelier | Property
£158M
20
Tom Cross – Oil & Gas | Parkmeade Group
£160M
56
Steve Mackie – Prosource – I.T. Software and Corporate I.T. Services
£22M
49
John Heiton – OEG Group | Oilfield Equipment Rental
£28M
15
Larry Kinch – Oil & Gas Exploration
£285M
8
George Maxwell – Eland Oil & Gas | Oil & Gas Exploration
£350M
53
Doug Milne – MTM Construction – Civil Engineering
£22M
48
Alistair Langlands – WOODGROUP – Investments & Directorships
£29M
27
Graham Wood – Hotels – Bars – Property Development
£90M
21
Michael Freeman – CAN Offshore | Oil & Gas Services
£160M
13
Steven Ferguson – Ferguson Group, Oil & Gas Logistics
£298M
52
Scotoil Graham Davidson Family
£23M
51
Mackintosh Plant Hire – Moira, Suzanne, Albert, Gary, and Moira Mackintosh
£27M
31
Graeme Bone – Drum Property Group Founder | Prime Four Developer | UK Commercial Real Estate Visionary
£80M
24
Conrad Ritchie & The Ritchie Family
£120M
5
John Clark – Car Dealership
£700M
2
Sir Ian Wood – Fishing & Oil & Gas – Rig Maintenance – Philanthropy
£2100M
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Billionaire industrialist Sir Ian Wood stands as the wealthiest homegrown founder of a company in Scotland.
When he stepped down from the helm in 2013, his creation—Wood Group plc—had grown into a global powerhouse valued at $12 billion, operating in more than 60 countries, employing 60,000 people, and elevating his personal fortune to over £2 billion.
A figure both formidable and fiercely debated, Sir Ian Wood’s life unfolds as an extraordinary saga—one marked by relentless effort, unwavering determination, profound personal sacrifice, moments of tragedy, brushes with disaster, and the darker currents of betrayal, greed, immense wealth, and influence.B
eginning with his family’s modest fishing-boat repair business in 1967, he boldly steered the company into the emerging world of oil and gas just as the industry reached Britain’s shores in the 1970s. From there, he built a sprawling empire that touched shipping, energy, fishing, technology, travel, electronics, power generation, offshore drilling, and property development. His leadership oversaw the most dramatic industrial transformation Aberdeen had ever seen.
Now, for the first time, the story long hidden behind closed doors is revealed. This is an explosive, deeply revealing journey into the sometimes shadowy, often ruthless, yet undeniably electrifying world of the Aberdeen oil and gas sector—its power brokers, its high-stakes decisions, and the man whose influence shaped an era.Sir Ian’s real-life ascent makes HBO’s Succession seem like little more than a gentle bedtime tale.
His achievements stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the greatest entrepreneurs in any industry, at any point in history.