Dyson's farming business now worth over half a billion

The inventor's farming business is now worth over half a billion pounds (Photo: Mark Large/Associated Newspapers/Shutterstock)
The inventor's farming business is now worth over half a billion pounds (Photo: Mark Large/Associated Newspapers/Shutterstock)

James Dyson's farming business is now worth more than £500 million, according to a new financial report released this week.

Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2018 show Beeswax Dyson Farming Ltd with net assets worth £527.5m, up from £461.5m in 2017.

Sales were £21.9m last year, an increase from £15.7m in 2017 and pre-tax profit was £2.6m, up from £0.7m.

Farming continues to be the main principal activity for the business, which comprises 35,000 acres of land throughout Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

The company also looks to energy for diversified income and turnover from this source has increased compared to 2017.

The report says the business's principal risks include security of the supply chain, exposure to global economics and the future receipt of support payments once the UK leaves the EU.

Dyson, a prominent Brexiteer, favours the UK leaving the EU as it would 'liberate' the British economy and allow trade deals to be struck around the world.

However, the billionaire inventor has been critical of the Conservative government's direction. In 2017, he criticised then-Defra Secretary Michael Gove's 'Green Brexit' approach to the industry after the UK leaves the EU.

He said small UK farming businesses may be at a disadvantage to their European counterparts under the plans.