Region provides 13 new entrants in ranking of UK’s top 100 fast-growth firms

Ed Dwan

The 22nd annual Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 league table is published this weekend and includes 13 new entrants among the 17 North West-based companies included in the ranking of private firms with the fastest-growing profits over their past three years.

The data was gathered largely before COVID-19 struck.

The North West regional stars have grown their operating profits by an average of 56% a year over the past three years to a total of £180m, and together they employ more than 9,300 people.

The region’s top ranked company is new entrant Plan.com, a software and communications business based in the Isle of Man.

In response to the pandemic, the firm helped to enable home learning for underprivileged children across 75 schools, while its software has supported remote working for thousands of UK companies.

Profits grew an average of 125% pa to £7.1m in 2019, placing it in the top three nationally.

Manchester’s St Pierre Groupe also makes its debut on the table.

It supplies baked goods to more than 35,000 stores worldwide, and to wholesalers and the hospitality industry in the UK, US, Middle East and Europe.

In 2019, it secured a £6.5m investment from BGF to fuel overseas growth. Profits hit £8.9m that year.

The companies in the North West appear alongside well known British brands based across the UK including Thatchers Cider, the Somerset cider maker, and Brompton, the London-based bicycle manufacturer.

Past star alumni include Dyson, which featured in 2000 with profits of £24m, and saw these rise to £711m in 2019, and global technology platform THG, which ranked No 1 in 2014, with profits of £11m. The Manchester-based business floated last year valued at £5.4bn and is now worth £6.5bn.

The Profit Track 100 league table is sponsored by BDO, Santander and UBS Wealth Management, and is compiled by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events firm.

Ed Dwan, North West-based tax partner at BDO, said: “These ambitious, entrepreneurially-spirited businesses punch well above their weight and are vital for the UK economy – they invest and this investment also creates jobs.

“As the vaccine programme continues to be rolled out and lockdown restrictions are eased, high growth businesses like these must have adequate support.

“We are pleased to see the range of business support measures in this year’s Budget. Developing and strengthening our innovation-focused economy is crucial and these businesses will play a key role in the UK’s wider economic recovery post-pandemic.”

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