The family behind whisky firm William Grant and Sons has leapfrogged Mahdi al-Tajir, head of the Highland Spring mineral water firm, to the top of an annual rich list.
A fortune of £1.9billion earned the Grant and Gordon family, whose Dufftown-based company make the Glenfiddich and Balvenie single malts, pole position among billionaires living in Scotland or with substantial business interests north of the border.
The whisky makers are 49th among the UK’s top billionaire individuals of families, led by brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja after their Hinduja Group conglomerate helped take their total to £11.9billion.
Scotland has a record number of billionaires, with seven among the super rich, according to the latest Sunday Times rich list.
Mr al-Tajir, whose interests include a development of luxury homes at Gleneagles, is said to be worth £1.67billion.
Sir Brian Souter and Ann Gloag, the siblings who founded the Stagecoach transport empire, have become members of the billionaire club for the first time after amassing a fortune of £1 billion – an increase of £270million on last year.
North-east businessman Sir Ian Wood and his family, whose £1.32billion fortune comes from oil services and fishing, are 73rd on the list.
The Thomson family, owners of publisher DC Thomson, are 81st with £1.2billion.
Former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, who owns an estate in Scotland, is estimated to be worth £1.3billion while Jim McColl, of engineering business Clyde Blowers has an estimated fortune of £1billion.
A total of 104 billionaires either based in the UK or with substantial business interests here is more than triple the number from a decade ago.
The full rich list, likely to include a Scottish breakdown, will be published this weekend.