Billionaire conservationist’s businesses record £9.3m loss

Scotland’s richest man has reported an operating loss of almost £9.3 million on his hospitality and estates business. The annual accounts for Anders Povlsen’s conservation and eco-tourism firm Wildland show turnover of £2.9m in the 12 months to July last year, down from £4.2m in the previous period.

Povlsen, 51, is a Danish businessman who made his fortune in retail. He isthe largest shareholder in online giant Asos and a major investor in Zalando. He is also Scotland’s largest landowner, with 220,000 acres across 13 estates, and has been investing heavily in conservation for several years.

Povlsen commented: “The cost of running and maintaining the landed estate asset base remains a significant and necessary overhead, being the landscape within which the companies’ conservation and regeneration takes place.”

However, the group’s asset base increased by £36m to more than £244m and it is committed to achieving profitability “over time”. Last year Mr Povlsen was ranked the richest person in Scotland, with a fortune estimatedto exceed £8.5 billion.