Firms fly flag for West Midlands in fast-growth profit rankings
Seven West Midlands companies have made it onto a league table which ranks Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing profits.
The companies headquartered in the West Midlands include five new entrants to the Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 league table.
They have made a strong contribution to the local economy. Together they employ 1,880 staff and have achieved combined profits of £51m.
Featuring for the second consecutive year is Solihull-based Gymshark. Founded by Ben Francis in 2012, the fitness clothing retailer has sponsored popular YouTubers, Instagrammers and bloggers, and used social media to boost brand recognition, driving up profits, which grew by an average of 152% a year to £18.1m in 2018.
Among the new entrants is Parentpay, which helps millions of parents pay for fees, meals and trips at their children’s schools.
Based in Coventry, the group also owns also owns Cypad, which provides software for school caterers, and nimbl – a digital pocket money app for teenagers. Profits grew by an average of 65% a year to £11.5m in 2018.
2019 Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100
The companies in the West Midlands appear alongside well-known British brands, including luxury yacht builder Princess Yachts and jewellery and watch retailer The Watches of Switzerland Group.
Others are connected to star names, such as Hippodrome Casino on London’s Leicester Square, at which Harry Houdini, Frank Sinatra and Julie Andrews have all performed.
Since the first league table was published in 2000, Profit Track 100 has featured many of Britain’s most successful private companies. They include Dyson, featured on our inaugural table with profits of just £24m and achieved ebitda profits of £1.1bn in 2018; Ineos, first featured in 2005 with profits of £156m, reached profits of £3.5bn in 2017 and is majority-owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s wealthiest man, according to The Sunday Times Rich List; and bet365, first featured in 2009 with profits of £25m and hit profits of £660m in 2018.
More than 50 companies have floated, including IHS Markit (market cap £16bn), B&M Retail (£3.8bn) and Aston Martin (£2.4bn).
Richard Rose, partner and head of the Midlands at BDO, said: “We pride ourselves on being the champion of the UK’s Economic Engine – those mid-sized, fast-growth, entrepreneurially minded business that are the backbone of the UK economy, generating more than their natural share of GDP growth and jobs.
“One of the ways we do this is through our sponsorship of the Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 league table. Our ‘New Economy’ report also sets out 5 policy areas that government could follow to better support these mid-sized entrepreneurial companies and businesses generally in our post-Brexit future.”
The league table programme is sponsored by BDO, Santander Corporate & Commercial and UBS Wealth Management, and compiled by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events firm.
