Sir James Dyson’s wealth blows up by another £200m thanks to £299 hairdryer 

Sir James Dyson’s wealth blows up by another £200m thanks to £299 hairdryer

  • The family-owned company revealed it made a record £3.5 billion last year
  • Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer has ‘exceeded expectations’ in first 12 months 
  • 73 per cent of growth came from Asia and further 21 per cent came from Europe

He made his fortune by reinventing the vacuum cleaner.

And now tycoon Sir James Dyson has seen his wealth soar by another £200 million – by blowing consumers away with his new bladeless hairdryer.

Dyson’s family-owned company this weekend revealed it made a record £3.5 billion last year – a rise of 40 per cent from 2016.

James Dyson (pictured) saw his wealth soar by £200million thanks to the company’s new Supersonic Hair Dryer ‘exceeding expectations’ in its first full year on the market 

The Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer – which costs £299 in the UK – has been credited as one of the firm’s major successes, ‘exceeding expectations’ in its first full year on the market, with Asian consumers responsible for three-quarters of the growth.

Accounts for Weybourne Group – the parent company of Dyson’s business empire – show dividends of £34 million and £52 million were paid to shareholders. 

The company refuses to say how much of Weybourne is owned by Dyson himself. 

However, he is the majority shareholder and is believed to control the company with his family, who are understood to hold almost all the rest of the shares between them.

A spokesperson for the company said that 73 per cent of growth last year came from Asia and a further 21 per cent from Europe (pictured is Dyson CEO Jim Rowan)

A spokesperson for the company said that 73 per cent of growth last year came from Asia and a further 21 per cent from Europe (pictured is Dyson CEO Jim Rowan)

The 2017 accounts also reveal that in the new financial year there were two further dividend payments of £62.3 million and £46.7 million, taking the total released by the company to its owners to £195 million.

A spokesman said that 73 per cent of its growth last year came from Asia, where, in Sir James’s words, ‘people have an extraordinary enthusiasm for technology that works’. 

A further 21 per cent came from Europe.

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