We built £1.5bn empire after working in dad’s scrapyard clearing washing machines… what being super-rich is really like
FASTEST way to lose your fortune?
‘Buy a football club’, say billionaire brothers Sandy and James Easdale.
For two years, until 2015, the Scottish siblings were directors of Glasgow Rangers.
But despite believing that owning a football club makes you poorer, the brothers are now worth just under £1.5billion, ranking 116th in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List.
It has been a long road to riches from working in their dad’s scrapyard.
They were buying property and taxis before they had even left school.
And today, they own more than a dozen companies – including Britain’s largest independent bus firm, window manufacturers, 800 taxis and a massive property portfolio – and employ 3,000 people.
They have also invested in as many as 30 businesses, including a start-up sports drinks manufacturer they put money into recently that is now turning over £200million.
And they still have the scrap metal firm started by their late dad, Jim.
Despite being on the Rich List, Sandy and James admit that they still love collecting scrap.
And when they bought a first edition Bentley Continental GT, the brothers put £30-worth of scrap copper piping they found in a skip at the showroom in the boot of the brand-new £160,000 motor.
Sandy, 56, and James, 53, have been speaking to Money Talks, The Sun’s new video series where celebrities and tycoons chat about their finances.
Here the Easdale brothers, from Scotland, tell us how they made their fortune, how they spend their money and give advice to budding businessmen and women.
‘Start small’
Sandy says: “We always say ‘don’t work with boing people’.
“And we always tell people ‘don’t say I’m going to do a multi-million-pound deal’ when you’ve not got multi-millions. Work with the pocket you’ve got. It doesn’t come overnight.
“We started with smaller deals, smaller flats, smaller bits of property, some of the stuff we bought way back then we have still got 35 years on.”
James adds: “We couldn’t give you a secret formula of what to do. But, get your head down and get on with it.
“I don’t think there’s any substitute for hard work and we just see ourselves as grafters that have done quite well.
“I don’t think I was out of school, about 16, when I bought my first flat. It was nothing salubrious, cost £6,000 and I never even lived in it.
“I still stayed with my mum and dad and, in fact, Sandy and I were still sharing a tiny little bedroom with sloping ceilings. Two single beds and a small box of toys in between.
“We used to get up during the night and bump our heads.”
Sandy adds: “We grew up together very close, literally. And we’ve worked very closely ever since.”
When they were working together in the family scrapyard did the brothers plan to become billionaires?
Sandy says: “If I’d have planned it, I’d have probably planned it better. We wanted to succeed in life, and we wanted to own businesses.
“Work ethic is the biggest thing we have and that was instilled by our parents.”
Dad Jim ran the family scrapyard in Greenock, while mum Christina looked after the money and invested it.
Sandy says: “There’s no better business to learn everything in the world as in a scrapyard, because you meet every character under the sun.
“You meet the top end businessman to a punter coming in with a washing machine. You deal with so many people. And it’s a real learning place.”
I really like Bugattis but I’m far too big. I sat in one and I needed a tin opener to get me back out
Sandy
James says: “Mum and dad were real business people and they spoke business 24-seven.
“So, we had an atmosphere of business around that kitchen table as kids. As far back as 16 or 17 we were buying properties.
“Dad was a hard worker, good businessman, but Mum was more adventurous.
“There’s nothing you can’t do if you apply yourself, boys, within reason. We picked up a lot from her and a lot of encouragement.”
Christina bought an old sugar factory and split it into 12 separate industrial units, which the brother still earn money from 40 years on.
Biggest weakness
The brothers, who are both married, reveal that they have a weakness for blowing cash on cars.
Sandy admits: “Every time I go into a showroom, I buy cars.
“I’ve got a driveway full of them and two garages full of them. Some of them I’ve never driven.
“I actually walk by garages now and don’t get in because I know I’ll buy something.
“I’ve probably got about 20 cars, maybe a bit more.”
The Rich List 2024 - top 20
Sandy and James Easdale rank at 116th in the 2024 Sunday Times rich list, up from 126th last year. Their fortune stands at £1.45billion, up £25million. Here is the top 20.
- Gopi Hinduja and family – £37.2 billion
- Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £29.25 billion
- David and Simon Reuben and family – £24.98 billion
- Sir Jim Ratcliffe – £23.52 billion
- Sir James Dyson and family – £20.8 billion
- Barnaby and Merlin Swire and family – £17.2 billion
- Idan Ofer – £14.96 billion
- Lakshmi Mittal and family – £14.92 billion
- Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family – £14.49 billion
- John Fredriksen and family – £12.87 billion
- Kirsten and Jorn Rausing – £12.63 billion
- Alex Gerko – £12.05 billion
- Michael Platt – £12 billion
- Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho – £11.75 billion
- The Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family – £10.13 billion
- Marit, Lisbet and Sigrid Rausing – £9.19 billion
- Carrie and Francois Perrodo and family – £9.17 billion
- Nicky Oppenheimer and family – £7.94 billion
- Lord Bamford and family – £7.65 billion
- Denise, John and Peter Coates – £7.47 billion
When we ask for a list, Sandy replies: “How long have we got? I’ve got Porsches, a couple of Rolls Royces, a couple of Ferraris, Lamborghinis.
“We’ve got several Range Rovers, different types. We’ve just got two delivered, one each. New SVs, there are only 500 made.”
James chips in: “The factory asked if we wanted one, I think because we buy so many Range Rovers.”
Sandy confesses: “I’ve not even driven it yet. It’s in my driveway. My daughter and my son drove it before me. How much was that?”
The new cars cost £180,000 each, says James, who confesses he is happiest driving an old Land Defender.
I don’t think I was out of school, about 16, when I bought my first flat
James
A £450,000 Rolls-Royce is the most expensive car they have ever bought. They are not, James makes clear, into paying two or three million quid for a car.
Sandy, who is well over six feet tall, admits: “Actually, I really like Bugattis but I’m far too big. I sat in one and I needed a tin opener to get me back out.”
Despite working together all their lives, they say they have never fallen out over a business deal.
Sandy says: “We’d probably fall out over buying a round of drinks more than anything else. Because James never buys anything.”
His brother hits back: “He did tell me off for adding prawns to a curry once in a restaurant. It was a set menu. I think it was £1.50 extra. He says, ‘you’re getting a bit carried away with yourself’.”
One thing they do agree on is buying a private jet would be a waste of money.
The brothers fly to London each week on scheduled airlines from Glasgow and stay two nights in hotels.
And, unlike many other billionaires, they refuse to buy a yacht.
Sandy says: “This is the thing, we’re still working every day, we’re not jet-setting, we’re not sitting in yachts, we’re not built to sit on a beach, it would bore me.
“I’ve got friends, who have all the toys and even they say that boat is a waste of time, ‘I’ve only used it for two weeks, it’s costing me two mil a year just to sit there’.”
James adds: “We’re not sun lounger types. One of my friends says, we’re going to one of these wonderful exotic lodges above water, I couldn’t think of anything worse.”
‘I would sack me’
Boredom is Sandy and James’s idea of hell.
Sandy explains: “It’s a wee bit addictive, is the rush for the deal, to buy or to sell. That’s where we get our kicks.
James continues: “We love the buzz of the deal, the adrenaline rush it gives you.
Sandy adds: “I’m the worst day-to-day operator in the world. If I had to run one of my businesses every day, and do the same every day, I would fail with that.
James confesses: “I would sack me.”
I’ve got friends, who have all the toys and even they say that boat is a waste of time, ‘I’ve only used it for two weeks, it’s costing me two mil a year just to sit there’
Sandy
They admit that when they are bored, that’s when they buy things they don’t really need – like expensive shoes.
Sandy says the most he has paid for shoes is £2,000 for a hand-made pair.
He says: “They’re probably not any better than a couple of hundred quid ones, to tell you the truth.
“You get those moments when you’re feeling flush, when you think you deserve these things but they’re not as good as they’re cracked up to be.”
The brothers have no plans to retire. Their dad, Jim, who died in January, was still working age 84 and on his deathbed he was still talking about work.
James says: “It’s the excitement that drives us. We go in it with a view to make money. But we want to enjoy ourselves as well, that’s why we don’t work with boring people.”
The brothers both have two children. Sandy’s son Alexander, 24, quit life as a professional footballer to work in the scrap business.
James says: “My kids are young. I don’t know if I want them to have to work as hard as we did when we were young.
“We weren’t a poor family. We were quite well off. My dad wasn’t up for sharing it. You had to work for it.
“I think I’m a bit more generous with my kids. But at what point does that become spoiled? I don’t know. You want to be grounded. Or else you end up a pompous idiot with too much money.”