How the rich invest: Chris Morris

Billionaire Chris Morris has about $120m reasons to be happy with the recent market progress of Computershare.

Morris Group Executive Chairman, Chris Morris has taken ownership of a new 9 seat private jet. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Name: Chris Morris

Age: 70

Lives: Melbourne

Estimated Wealth: $1.02 billion

Source: Computershare shares, tourism assets

Secrets of Success: Building Computershare into the world’s biggest share registry company

Billionaire Chris Morris has about $120 million reasons to be happy with the progress of his share registry firm Computershare.

The company’s share price (CPU) hit an all-time record high on Friday and was rising in value during trading on Monday morning, giving founder Morris a stake worth more about $675m.

Morris founded Computershare forty years ago with sister Penny Maclagan, and listed it on the ASX in 1994 at $1.80 per share before turning it into the world’s largest share registry company.

Computershare is now worth 10 times its float figure and the wealth of Morris, who is now a non-executive director after decades at the helm as chief executive and then chairman, is worth $120m more on paper now than at the beginning of year.

Chris Morris at Colonial Leisure Group’s Melbourne Brewery. David Geraghty/The Australian

The company’s shares are up about 20 per cent since January 1 and about 40 per cent in the past 12 months.

Morris may get even wealthier yet, with analysts forecasting another strong year after what was a record 2018 in profit terms for Computershare when it delivered a $US300.1m ($410m) net profit.

The company will pay shareholders a 21c per share dividend in September, which will result in Morris pocketing a $7.3m cheque.

He has often used his dividends or share sales for an eclectic mix of investments, ranging from a collection of small cap stocks to casinos and tourism assets in Australia and overseas.

Morris owns The Ville Casino and Resort in Townsville, as well as the Orpheus Island Resort and Daintree Eco Lodge in Queensland, the Mt Mulligan cattle station near Cairns and also the Nautilus Aviation helicopter business in the state’s north.

The Ville is undergoing a $43m refurbishment and adds to Morris’s Colonial Leisure Group, which owns more than $100m worth of pubs and hotels. Among CLG’s assets are the Portsea Hotel on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, Sydney’s Newtown Hotel, eight venues in Western Australia and even the Pennsylvania Castle in Dorset in the United Kingdom.

Chris Morris and The Ville CEO Michael Jones at the Quaterdeck. Picture: Evan Morgan

Then there is Morris’s share portfolio, which has had a rollercoaster ride of late.

One is Smart Parking (SPZ), of which Morris is chairman, having first become involved in 2011 when he took what was then a small listed play called Empire Beer Group and turned it into a technology play.

It has not been without its issues, with Morris describing a 2012 buy of UK business Town and City as inheriting something “dysfunctional.”

After several years of relative piece, all hell broke loose earlier this year when Morris removed the management of the UK operation in May regarding misconduct. Shares of Smart Parking have since halved and while the company has not revealed exact details it did at least say the misconduct was not of a criminal or illegal manner.

Morris also has shares in online advertising technology company Adslot (ADJ), which is down 45 per cent in a year, uranium miner Alice Queen (AQX), down 50 per cent, and transport surveillance firm DTI Group (DTI), which has also halved in value.

Chris Morris' superyacht The Flying Fish.