Fashion brand leads fastest growing private firms in North West
Adanola, the Manchester-based fashion brand, is the fastest growing private company in the North West, according to the third annual Sunday Times 100 rankings, published today (June 28) online at thesundaytimes.com/100 and in this Sunday’s print edition.
The annual ranking, for the 2023 financial year, identifies and celebrates Britain’s 100 leading entrepreneurial businesses, and showcases the people behind these most dynamic private companies.
Best known for its signature Ultimate Leggings, Adanola’s other athleisure hits include oversized sweatshirts and hoodies that Vogue says delivers the ‘TikTok clean girl aesthetic’.
Since its launch in March 2018, endorsements from celebrities including the model and actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and listings in Selfridges and Harrods have helped it grow to annual sales of £57.4m in the year to March.
Earlier this month the firm’s founder, Hyrum Cook, 31, handed over the chief executive role to Niran Chana, 33, the former chief commercial officer at Gymshark.
Adanola’s annual accounts for the year to March 2023, show that it employed 53 staff, up from 12 the previous year.
The research for The Sunday Times 100 found on average the top 100 fastest-growing companies have increased their sales by 118% a year over the past three years to a combined £2.9bn in sales.
In total these companies employ 13,670 people, having created 10,000 new jobs in the past three years, with 99 of them planning further hires in the next 12 months – equating to around 3,800 additional roles.
Out of the 100 companies featured in the ranking, more than a third (43) are based in London, with the rest spread throughout the country. This includes 12 in the Midlands, 11 in the South East, 10 in the North West, and nine in the South West of England.
North West firms featured in this year’s top 100 are: Adanola (7th); bridalwear retailer Six Stories (15); dental care provider 21D Clinical (28); off-grid energy as a service company Think Hire (30); advertising agency Open Communication Partners (33); Castore (34); grant consultancy Grantify (46); fashion brand Club L London (54); menswear brand Represent (68); and sports nutrition supplements specialist Applied Nutrition (77).
Twenty five of the ranking’s businesses have female founders or co-founders. This includes Kate Prince, 51, of health supplement brand Ancient + Brave (No 5), whose fans include sportswoman Dame Kelly Holmes and pop star Ellie Goulding and which generated sales of £10.2m in the past year.
More than two thirds of the companies (69) were founded in the last decade – in 2014 or after.
The oldest company on the list is Leeds-based power transformer manufacturer Wilson Power Solutions (No 99). It was set up in 1946 by Richard Wilson to provide flameproof equipment, pumps and motors. His children Colin and Dennis built the business into one of the largest suppliers of refurbished transformers and switchgear to industry, and it is now led by Erika Wilson, 45, apprentice-turned-managing director.
Forty of the fastest growing companies have received external investment, raising a combined total of £1bn through 125 rounds of fundraising.
Tom and Phil Beahon
This includes Manchester-based sportswear brand Castore (No 34), with the founding brothers Tom, 34, and Phil Beahon, 31, attracting investors including the tennis star Andy Murray and US investment bank Raine Group, which led a £145m investment in Castore in December 2023 for a near-£1bn valuation.
Earlier this month Castore clinched a kit supply deal with Everton FC, worth around £28m a year to the Premier League club, a record for the Blues.
Nearly two thirds of the companies (63) trade internationally, including Heroes (No 8), founded by three brothers in 2020 to buy up companies selling through Amazon marketplace, focusing on baby and youth consumer products. They have since raised more than £200m from investors, and generated 70% of its £82.2m sales overseas last year.
Jim Armitage, Business Editor of The Sunday Times, said: “Our politicians talk about how they will deliver economic growth, but it is the graft of entrepreneurs – such as those featured on this year’s Sunday Times 100 – who achieve it. Their remarkable resilience in difficult economic conditions shows what is possible with vision and hard work.”
The research for the Sunday Times 100 was conducted by its business reporters, in partnership with Beauhurst, a source of private company data. As well as a dedicated online hub and print supplements, The Sunday Times 100 also hosts a series of networking events for participants.
The Sunday Times 100 forms part of The Times Enterprise Network, a cross-platform network staffed by reporters from The Times and The Sunday Times, which was launched in 2021 to provide advice, inspire and inform established business leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs.
