Eleven companies from North West make it onto Fast Track league table
Eleven companies in the North West have made it onto the annual Sunday Times Fast Track league table.
The number of firms included in the tables has increased from last year’s total of eight.
The 23rd annual Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 league table ranks Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing sales.
The eleven companies headquartered in the North West – compared to eight last year – include six new entrants to the league table.
Their sales have grown by an average of 83% a year over three years to a total of £261.5m, and together they employ over 2,000 people.
The region’s top-ranked company is new entrant Manchester-based Junkyard Golf Club, which ranks in the top three nationally.
It operates five mini golf courses across the country, with fairground, jungle and junkyard themes. Founded in 2015, it is one of the youngest companies to feature on the league table, and has grown its sales by an average of 204% a year, reaching £12.8m this year.
Another new entrant is Chinese restaurant chain Tattu, which is based in Spinningfields.
Its founders, brothers Adam and Drew Jones, gave up careers in law and events management to set up their first restaurant. This year, it opened restaurants in Birmingham and Edinburgh. It has grown its sales by 64% a year, hitting £8.7m in 2018.
The companies from the North West appear with businesses from around Britain, including fitness clothing retailer Gymshark, beauty products retailer Revolution Beauty, and brewer BrewDog.
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 23 years, said: “While these are uncertain times, there is one thing I am certain of: entrepreneurs are the ones driving innovation, chasing improvements and challenging the norm. There are so many inspiring examples of this on the Fast Track 100 league table and it’s heartening to see the power of entrepreneurship to create jobs and positive change across Britain.”
