The billionaire couple behind the Specsavers optical chain had their payout cut in half last year, despite the company recording a lift in profits.

Dame Mary Perkins and her husband Doug’s dividend was slashed to £17.4m last year compared to a £36.8m windfall in 2015, according to recently filed accounts.

Dame Mary, who started the world’s largest optical chain from a table-tennis table in a spare room over three decades ago still lives in the same four-bedroom house in Guernsey. She has an estimated fortune of over £1bn.

The company, which sells more than 12m spectacles a year, posted a 1.2pc lift in sales to £673.7m during the year to the end of February. Pre-tax profits also inched up from £38.6 to £28.8m.

The Specsavers founder, who was made a Dame in 2007 and is Britain’s richest self-made woman, has previously revealed that she wears a wig during her “mystery shopper” tours of optician chains.

