Eight NW firms ‘fast-tracked’ on to top growth league table
The North West has seen a fall in the annual listing of the UK’s fastest growing companies, according to new research.
The 22nd annual Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 league table, published this weekend, ranks Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing sales.
But the latest table reveals that only eight companies headquartered in the North West have made the cut this year, compared with 11 the previous year.
The latest crop includes five new entrants into the league table.
Their sales have grown by an average of 89% a year over three years to a total of £168.6m, and together they employ 1,700 people.
The region’s top-ranked company is new entrant, Manchester-based Mission Mars, which ranks fifth nationally.
It operates Bavarian-themed bar Albert’s Schloss in the city, and 10 other food, beverage and leisure venues across the North West.
Founded in 2015, it is the youngest company featuring on this year’s league table, and has grown its sales over the past three years by an average of 147% a year, reaching an annualised £27.7m this year.
Other new entrants include Indian restaurant chain Mowgli Street Food, which is based in Liverpool.
Its founder, Nisha Katona, spent 20 years as a child protection barrister before opening her first restaurant in 2013, and has since gone on to front the BBC’s ‘Recipes that Made Me’.
It has grown its sales by 106% a year, hitting £8.1m in 2018.
The companies in the North West appear with businesses from around Britain, including burger restaurant chain Five Guys, beauty products retailer Charlotte Tilbury Beauty, and brewer BrewDog, which was valued at £1bn last year.
Past stars include chip designer ARM, which featured in 1997 with sales of £17m, floated and was acquired by Japan’s SoftBank in 2016 for £24bn, and mixer drinks maker Fever-Tree, which floated in 2014 at £154m and is now worth £2.6bn.
The Fast Track 100 is sponsored by Virgin Atlantic, Barclays, BDO, BGF and N+1 Singer, and is compiled by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events firm.
Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Group, which has supported Fast Track 100 for all 22 years, said: “Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of UK business and have always been the beating heart of positive change.
“In a climate of uncertainty it’s more important than ever to recognise those entrepreneurs, like those of this year’s Fast Track 100, who are making the world a better place for everybody.”
The eight North West firms featuring in this year’s table are:
Mission Mars, from Manchester, ranked fifth, with sales of £27m and an annual growth rate of 147%
INSTAsmile, dental veneer retailer from Leigh, ranked 16th, with sales of £5.6m and an annual growth rate of 109%
Mowgli Street Food, from Liverpool, ranked 17th, with sales of £8.1m and an annual growth rate of 106%
Ecclestone Homes, housebuilder, from Warrington, ranked 22nd down from 13th, with sales of £13.3m and an annual growth rate of 99%
CarFinance247, from Manchester, ranked 48th down from ninth, with sales of £47.5m and an annual growth rate of 69%
Easirent, car rental provider, from Liverpool, ranked 55th down from 52nd, with sales of £31.2m and an annual growth rate of 64%
ITD Global, international courier, from Manchester, ranked 56th, with sales of £18.1m and an annual growth rate of 64%
Prime Global, Knutsford medical communications agency, ranked 77th, with sales of £17.2m and an annual growth rate of 52%
