Revealed: Seven East Mids companies with fastest-growing profits in UK
Seven companies from the East Midlands have been revealed as having some of the fastest-growing profits in the UK
Published this weekend, the 19th annual Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 league table ranks Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing profits over three years.
The seven companies headquartered in the East Midlands (compared to four last year) include six new entrants to the league table. Together they employ 2,400 staff and have achieved combined profits of £43m.
The ranking also reveal that companies from the ‘Midlands Engine’ have overtaken London for the first time on Profit Track 100 with a record 19 companies in total, up from 11 last year.
The highest ranked company in the East Midkands is Derbyshire’s Forest Holidays, which features at number four. The holiday park operator has 571 wood cabins available to hire in nine forest locations across the UK. The group’s profits grew by an average of 130% a year to an annualised £7m in 2017, on sales of £36m. In the same year Phoenix Equity Partners paid £110m for a 42% stake in the business.
Bruce McKendrick, chief executive officer, Forest Holidays, told TheBusinessDesk.com: “We are delighted to be recognised by the Sunday Times Profit Track 100 and to be featured as the highest ranked company in the East Midlands.
“Our nine locations across the UK are set exclusively in Forestry Commission owned woodland, with many locations situated in National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We have a long term strategic partnership with the Forestry Commission, which means that our strong growth over the last five years also helps fund the important work they do and supports them in their vision of managing the forests for recreation, conservation and commercial sustainability.
“There is a real synergy in our organisations and together we work closely to ensure the Public Forest Estate contributes to the economic, social and environmental well-being of the county, because our purpose goes far beyond just generating profit.
“We are rooted in the community around each of our locations, supporting domestic rural tourism that contributes on average £2m per year and 60 jobs to the local economy with our year-round business helping to build resilience in the local economy.”
Another new entrant is card retailer Cardzone, which was established in 2003, when managing director Paul Taylor joined forces with card shop owner Jo Hancock, an ex-colleague and friend. The group has since made strategic acquisitions, including 14 Hallmark stores in 2016, and expanded to more than 100 sites throughout the UK, helping profits grow by an average of 65% a year to £3m in 2017.
Richard Rose, partner and head of the Midlands at BDO, the title sponsor of the league table, said:
“These high-growth, high-energy and highly-entrepreneurial companies will be the difference between success and failure in our post-Brexit economic future. These businesses are playing their part by recording strong levels of revenue and profit growth and by creating jobs. We’d like to see the Government do more to help them by focusing on skills, infrastructure investment and tax simplification.”
The league table and awards programme is sponsored by BDO and UBS Wealth Management, and is compiled by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events firm.
