Morris is founder and largest shareholder of TJ Morris, the Liverpool, England-based company behind discount retail chain Home Bargains. The closely held business sells groceries and housewares, has more than 500 stores and 22,000 employees, and had revenue of 3.4 billion pounds ($4.1 billion) in the year to June 30, 2022.
Morris owns 98% of closely held value retailer TJ Morris directly, according to a regulatory filing with UK's Companies House. The Liverpool, England-based company, which operates the Home Bargains chain, has more than 500 stores and 22,000 employees, according to its website.
The business is valued using financial results for the year to June 30, 2022 and the average enterprise value-to-sales, enterprise value-to-Ebitda and price-to-earnings multiples of four publicly traded peer companies: B&M European Value Retail, Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Dollarama. The valuation was updated on May 5, 2023, to reflect the latest financials and this led to a decrease in the calculation of about $1 billion.
The value of his cash investments is based on an analysis of share sales, dividends, market performance, taxes and charitable contributions.
Steph Cureton, a spokesperson for Home Bargains, declined to comment on Morris's net worth.
Thomas Joseph Morris was born in Liverpool, England, on Feb. 10, 1954, one of seven children of Tom and Veronica Morris. The couple owned a shop on the city's Scotland Road, according to a Financial Times interview with his younger brother Joe in March 2009. His father named the store V, which stood for value.
The billionaire established his first store in 1976, selling beauty and health-care products in the north of England. The chain expanded its product line to groceries, household items and other general merchandise. The collapse of Woolworth in 2008 allowed Home Bargains to buy 14 of their stores and expand its network, just as the financial crisis drove customers to discount retailers in greater numbers. The UK value retail market has grown 12 percent annually since 2006, according to a July 2014 research report by Caroline Gulliver, a retail analyst at Jefferies Group.
The company had revenue of 1 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) in 2013, double its sales in 2008, and it plans to increase its store network to 700 stores in the next five years. The chain suffered a scandal when it withdrew a batch of sliced beef cans after horse DNA was detected in the meat in October 2013.
The billionaire lives in Liverpool with his partner Kristina O'Hare.