86 inspiring firms across region among Britain’s best

NEARLY 90 West Midlands businesses have been named among the nation’s most inspiring in a new report.

The London Stock Exchange’s 1000 Companies to Inspire

Britain 2019 research features 86 small and medium-sized businesses from across the region including major household names and those SMEs who drop under the radar.

The West Midlands has the fifth highest number of companies from the 12 regions featured in the report while Birmingham, with 16, is the third of seven cities ranked.

But one of the perils of producing such reports is the fastmoving nature of the business world as Black Country construction Shaylor, which last week folded with the loss of more than 200 jobs, is included.

Among the West Midlands names featured is Codemasters, the computer game firm based in Warwickshire with support offices in Birmingham and Cheshire and two in Asia.

It has been in business for more than three decades and is behind popular motorsport names such as DiRT and the official games of Formula One.

Also featured in the sixth annual report is Aspens Services, a privately owned company based in Hindlip, Worcestershire, that provides catering services to schools and colleges.

Established in 2008, the company now employs more than 2,500 people and it works alongside schools to reduce the use of plastic bottles, packaging and disposables.

The research is compiled based on data supplied by financial technology company DueDil.

To qualify for inclusion, companies must be active and registered in the UK and have singular or consolidated group revenues of between £6 million and £250 million based on its latest Companies House filings.

Companies incorporated after November 1, 2016 are excluded.

Writing in his foreword, David Schwimmer, chief executive of London Stock Exchange Group, said: “Ensuring that dynamic growth companies can realise their potential is vital to the UK’s future prosperity.

“SMEs – accounting for 60 per cent of all private sector employment – drive growth, innovation and job creation and are the lifeblood of the British economy.”