10. JP McManus

Few billionaires have travelled further from humble beginnings than JP McManus. He began his working life driving a bulldozer for his father’s earth-moving business. Today he runs his empire from a six-storey building in Geneva, in the interim having made millions on the currency and bond markets.

He is close friends and frequent business partners with Dermot Desmond and John Magnier. The three men together control the famous Sandy Lane hotel in Barbados, a favourite of Simon Cowell and Tiger Woods, having purchased it with a consortium in 1998. Together he and Magnier also own a 23pc share in Britain’s biggest pub company, Mitchells & Butlers, which saw profits soar in 2019, as total revenues rose to £2.23bn (€2.63bn).