Region’s SMEs report £3.5bn revenue growth over three year period

A group of 1,100 Yorkshire SMEs  have experienced combined revenue growth of £3.5bn over the last three years.

BGF has today published figures showing growth through changes in turnover and employee size among Britain’s private companies with revenues between £3m and £150m. This incorporates 13,286 businesses nationwide – 1,100 of which are based across Yorkshire.

Collectively employing more than 200,000 people in Yorkshire, overall combined turnover growth across the region over the last three years was 14%, with 73% of businesses growing their revenues during that period.

Regional highlights include:

• 525 of businesses in this group are based in West Yorkshire, 233 have South Yorkshire HQs with North Yorkshire and the East Riding being home to 205 and 137 respectively. West Yorkshire boasts the second highest concentration of high potential SMEs in the UK
• Businesses in West Yorkshire have experienced the region’s highest growth in combined turnover over the last three years, at 16 percent, higher than the UK average (14.9 percent)
• North Yorkshire has seen the region’s highest proportion of growing businesses, with three-quarters (75%) increasing their revenues in the last three years
• East Riding has the UK’s second highest proportion of hiring companies, with 76% of businesses growing their workforce over the last three years.

Richard Taylor, who leads BGF’s Yorkshire office, said: “For the first time, this research has allowed us to see the growth of this group of SMEs in Yorkshire and how much they contribute to the economy and its prosperity. It can feel like the headlines are dominated by stories of start-ups or large scale, multi-national businesses, so it’s hugely encouraging to see the strength and potential of businesses like these, despite wider political and economic uncertainty.

“These companies represent activity, productivity and progress and it’s more crucial than ever that they have access to the support they need to accelerate. We must recognise the major and genuine impact that unlocking capital to fast-track growth among businesses like these can have on industry, the economy, and society.”

Eddie Austin, CEO at Operam Education Group, which recently received BGF investment to make acquisitions to accelerate growth, added: “As a business owner, it’s refreshing to see the spotlight placed on Yorkshire’s SME businesses and their growth. For nearly three quarters of companies to have boosted sales over the past three years is an impressive statistic. Yorkshire is a very supportive business community and home to many ambitious, entrepreneurially-spirited companies which with the right support will thrive.”

The research looks at publicly-reported data. Given current reporting thresholds, this group of companies is likely to be much larger – BGF’s proprietary database indicates that there could be an additional 4,000 companies, increasing the size of this group by 30%.

BGF, a UK and Ireland’s  investor, was founded in 2011 specifically to address a long-standing gap in equity funding directed into companies that have outgrown friends, family or angel funding but are not typically large enough to be courted by traditional private equity.