Home Bargains billionaire pays himself over £1bn as sales and profit surge

The billionaire owner of Home Bargains paid himself more than £1bn as sales and profit both jumped at the discount retail giant during its latest financial year.

Tom Morris, who owns 98 per cent of Liverpool-headquartered TJ Morris, the firm behind the brand, received the vast majority of the £1.22bn in ordinary dividends and asset distributions which were dolled out in the year to 30 June, 2024.

The pay out comes after TJ Morris issued a dividend of £36m for its prior financial year.

The details have been revealed in newly-filed accounts with Companies House which also show Home Bargains’ turnover increased from £3.76bn to £4.20bn in the 12 months.

Its pre-tax profit also surged from £336.5m to £454.8m over the same period.

Home Bargains said the rise in its turnover was achieved by opening new shops, relocating some existing locations and higher sales from its sites.

At the end of its financial year, Home Bargains had 617 open in the UK.

The company is opening further locations during its current year and is eventually aiming to have between 800 and 1,000.

According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2024, Tom Morris and his family are worth £5.17bn, up from the £4.84bn valuation they commanded in 2023’s list.

The main competitor to Home Bargains, fellow Liverpool-headquartered B&M, posted a revenue of £5.48bn for its latest full year, a 10 per cent rise.

Its pre-tax profit also increased by 14 per cent to £498m.

The huge pay day for Tom Morris and his family comes after City AM reported that Denise Coates, the CEO of Bet365, took home around £150m during her firm’s latest financial year.

The latest accounts for Bet365 also revealed that it returned to making a pre-tax profit in the year after falling to a pre-tax loss of £72.5m in the 12 months before.