EMR tops NW Top Track ranking
EUROPEAN Metal Recycling has broken into the top ten in the latest Sunday Times Deloitte Top Track 100, with a total of six companies from the North West being listed.
Now in its ninth year, the league table ranks Britain’s 100 biggest private companies by their latest sales.
Other North West companies in the list include Liverpool retailer Shop Direct Group (ranked 18), which owns Littlewoods and Woolworths.co.uk, and Skelmsdale-based Matalan (36), which both improved on their position in last year’s table.
The six North West companies to have made the ranking employ a combined 50,000 staff with collective sales of £9.2bn and profits of £646m.
Warrington-based European Metal Recycling grew sales 38% to £3.1bn in 2008, thanks to record metal prices prior to the recession.
The impact of the recession on the company will not be known until it publishes its 2009 accounts, but its acquisition of the Sunderland Metal Company last October should help to offset any downward pressure on sales caused by reduced metal prices.
The remaining three North West companies in the list were Liverpool-based conglomerate Bibby Line Group (38); maintenance firm Enterprise (39); and 20:20 Mobile Group, based in Crewe.
20:20 Mobile climbed 13 places on last year, with a 17% growth in sales to £992m in 2009, which it said it had achieved through expansion into new markets.
Paul Lupton, head of the North West region for Deloitte, said: The companies featured in this year’s league table, such as European Metal Recycling and Enterprise have shown remarkable resilience throughout the recession and it is very rewarding to see the North West region represented in the Top Track 100.
“In the months ahead, the invaluable contribution these companies make towards the UK and Global markets will continue to help strengthen the economy as it emerges from the recession.”
