Pets at Home, DRL and Living Ventures toast Best Companies rankings

NORTH West retailers Pets at Home and Iceland Foods have swapped places at the top of the ‘Best Companies to Work For’ guide.

Handforth-based Pets at Home, which has more than 5,900 staff, pipped Malcolm Walker’s Iceland Foods to top spot in the Best Big Companies table – reversing the ranking of 2012, when the Deeside-based grocer came first.

In the top 100 Best Companies list, the highest-placed North West businesses are Bolton-based DRL, the onlinre retailer behind Appliances Online, which rises from fifth to fourth in the table.

Breaking into the top 10 is Living Ventures, the Knutsford-based leisure group behind the Alchemist bars and the Blackhouse Grills.

The company, led by Tim Bacon and Jeremy Roberts, soared from 28th place to 9th in the league table published by the Sunday Times, and which grades businesses according to their leadership, the environment at work, links with the communities they serve.

Also rising up the rankings is Lancashire jewellery retailer Beaverbrooks, now at 15th place from 22nd in 2012.

Private equity-backed Think Money Group, the debt management and paid bank account provider rose was ranked 21st, compared with 20th last year, while Ashton-under-Lyne-based vodka bars chain Inventive Leisure was up at 25th from 26th place last year.
 
Crewe-based car retailer Swansway Group was up 13 places to 37th, while tool group Hilti (Great Britain) fell from 8th to 40th this year.

DRL chief executive John Roberts said that he was “elated” at the company’s high ranking.

He said: “It’s a really proud moment for us to have not only moved up the rankings since last year but also to have been recognised again, on this prestigious platform, for our efforts to make DRL a truly unique and enjoyable place to work.

“I believe that happy people means happy customers and we will continue to take every step possible in providing our team with the best possible support and working environment.”