Strong NW showing in annual ranking of UK firms showing fastest profit growth
A table of UK companies with the fastest growing profits includes 13 from the North West, compared with just six last year.
The 20th annual edition of the Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 league table is published this weekend.
The 13 firms headquartered in the North West include 11 new entrants to the league table.
They have made a strong contribution to the local economy. Together they employ 5,370 staff and have achieved combined profits of £120m.
Achieving a place for the first time is Manchester’s Arlington Industries, which designs and builds parts for manufacturers in the automotive and aerospace industries.
Its customers include Ford, Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover, and its factories include former Remploy facilities, employing disabled people.
Profits grew by an average of 129% a year to £6.2m in 2018.
Featuring for the second consecutive year is online cosmetics group Beauty Bay, which grew annualised profits by an average of 90% a year to £5.8m in 2018.
Founded in 1999, this etailer sells more than 8,000 make-up, skincare and haircare products from cult beauty brands such as Anastasia Beverly Hills, Jeffree Star Cosmetics and The Ordinary.
The companies in the North West appear alongside well-known British brands including fitness clothing retailer Gymshark, luxury yacht builder Princess Yachts and jewellery and watch retailer The Watches of Switzerland Group.
Others are connected to star names, such as Hippodrome Casino on London’s Leicester Square, at which Harry Houdini, Frank Sinatra and Julie Andrews have all performed.
Since the first league table was published in 2000, Profit Track 100 has featured many of Britain’s most successful private companies.
They include Dyson, featured on the inaugural table with profits of just £24m and achieved ebitda profits of £1.1bn in 2018; Ineos, first featured in 2005 with profits of £156m, reached profits of £3.5bn in 2017 and is majority-owned by Manchester-born Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s wealthiest man, according to The Sunday Times Rich List; and bet365, first featured in 2009 with profits of £25m and hit profits of £660m in 2018.
More than 50 companies have floated, including IHS Markit (market cap £16bn), Liverpool-based B&M Retail (£3.8bn) and Aston Martin (£2.4bn).
The North West firms featured in the latest ranking are:
- Joseph Heler Cheese, a Nantwich cheesemaker which attained 18th position
- Cheadle-based international schools operator, Orbital Education (35)
- Amelia Knight, Knutsford-based cosmetic designer and manufacturer (91)
- Arlington Industries Group, the Manchester-based components supplier (4)
- Manchester waste management and recycling specialist, Kenny Waste Management (19)
- Salford online cosmetics retailer, Beauty Bay, which soared from 99th last year to 21
- Edam Group, Manchester-based credit hire and post-accident services firm (50)
- Manchester internet services provider M247 (57)
- Outdoor clothing distributor, Manchester-based Regatta (62)
- Vehicle finance provider, Manchester-based CarFinance247 (77)
- Preston-based rare and vintage car dealer, William Loughran (100)
- Southport personal injury solicitors, Fletchers Solicitors (39)
- Liverpool-based specialist car insurer Acorn Insurance (70)
The league table programme is sponsored by BDO, Santander Corporate & Commercial and UBS Wealth Management, and compiled by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events firm.
