Discount boss picks up a £20m divi bargain

THE billionaire owner of Home Bargains was handed more than £20 million in dividends last year despite the retailer’s profits falling by 26 per cent.

TJ Morris, which runs the discount chain, posted profits of £290million for 2022 from revenues of £3.42billion, its latest filings show. This led to a £30 million dividend to shareholders, with the lion’s share going to chief executive Tom Morris.

The Morris family, which has a reported fortune of more than £5billion, sparked controversy last year when it refused to repay taxpayer support from the pandemic.

That was despite pretax profits ballooning to almost £400million.

Home Bargains, which has 570 UK outlets selling a wide range of discount products, launched in

Liverpool in 1976. It now employs 28,000 workers and is Britain’s largest independent grocer.

The company’s most recent filings declared an ambition to ‘eventually have between 800 and 1,000 retail outlets’.

Home Bargains was contacted for comment.