EAST MIDLANDS TOP 20
1 (1) BOOTS UK: The Nottingham pharmacy group is owned by Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) in America. Plans to sell it were pulled last month with WBA saying it will now keep Boots and the No7 beauty brand under its existing ownership following an “unexpected and dramatic change” in the financial markets. The Boots brand has 2,000 UK stores and sales grew 13.5 per cent in the three months to May, as shoppers headed back to UK high streets, with sales of beauty products doing well. Operating revenue: £8,711,813,000;. Employees: 43,742
2 (2) SYTNER GROUP: Based out of Grove Park, Leicester, Sytner has built a reputation as a new and used retailer of some of the most prestigious car brands in Britain. They include the likes of Aston Martin, BMW, McLaren, Jaguar, Rolls Royce and Land Rover. Operating revenue: £5,915,844,000. Employees: 10489
3 (4) PENDRAGON PLC: The car dealership business has moved up a space this year from fourth on our list. Founded in 1989, it represents more than 20 vehicle manufacturers at more than 160 sites across the UK under the Evans Halshaw, Stratstone and Car Store brands. Operating revenue: £4,506,100,000. Employees: 9,564
4 (5) NEXT PLC: The Leicestershire-based fashion retailer has remained strong due to its proactive approach during Covid19, subsequent global stock shortages, general HGV driver shortages – partly caused by Brexit – rising international freight costs and recent price rises. Operating revenue: £4,266,200,000. Employees: 25,491
5 (6) FRASERS GROUP
(formerly SPORTS DIRECT INTERNATIONAL PLC): Founded in 1982, Mike Ashley’s retail group is the UK’s biggest sporting goods retailer by revenue, and operates a diversified portfolio of sports, fitness, fashion and lifestyle fascias and brands. The group also wholesales and licenses its brands to partners in the UK, continental Europe, the Americas, and the Far East. Mr Ashley recently sold Newcastle United FC and was one of the parties interested in buying Derby County out of administration prior to its sale last week to Clowes Developments. Operating revenue: £3,957,400,000. Employees: 30,179 6 (3) BARRATT DEVELOPMENTS
PLC: Britain’s biggest housebuilder lost more than £1.3 billion in sales as a result of lockdown – reflected in the figures used here. Revenues at Barratt Developments, which is based in north west Leicestershire, dropped almost 30 per cent over the year to June 30, 2020, to £3.42 billion. Pre-tax profits, meanwhile, almost halved – to £492 million compared to £910 million the previous year. Operating revenue: £3,419,200,000. Employees: 6,422 7 (7) TOYOTA MOTOR MANUFACTURING (UK): In 1989 Japanese car manufacturing giant Toyota announced plans to establish its first European factory at Burnaston, near Derby – and in December that year it established Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK). Today, the majority of the cars manufactured at Burnaston are hybrids, running on a combination of petrol and electricity. Operating revenue: £2,626,072,000. Employees: 2,657
8 (8) ECO-BAT TECHNOLOGIES:
Eco-Bat Technologies is the world’s biggest producer and recycler of lead, and offers a closed recycling loop for lead-acid batteries. Operating revenue: £1,834,549,000. Employees: 3,170
9 (9) BLOOR INVESTMENTS t/a BLOOR HOMES & TRIUMPH BIKES: Measham-based Bloor Homes was established in 1969 and is building houses at a rate of more than 2,000 a year – everything from one-bedroom apartments to sevenbedroom luxury homes. Using the money he made in housebuilding, founder John Bloor revived the
Triumph Motorcycles brand in the 1980s, relocating it to Hinckley and opening factories around the world. Operating revenue: £1,557,289,000. Employees: 4,024
10 (10) AMALGAMATED HLDGS WILKINSON: Key dates in the chain’s growth include starting its first store in Leicester back in 1930, developing its first Wilko brand paint range in 1973 and welcoming its first online customer in 2007. Today, it is a brand with over 14,000 Wilko products which make up more than half its annual sales. It has more than 400 stores in the UK and is rapidly growing wilko.com with more than 200,000 products available. Operating revenue: £1,468,443,000. Employees: 18,351 11 (11) GREENCORE: Greencore Group plc is a leading manufacturer of convenience foods, supplying chilled, frozen and ambient foods to some of the most successful retail and food service customers in the UK. Its team of chefs create over 1,000 new recipes each year and work hard to ensure our products are fresh, nutritious, and tasty. Operating revenue: £1,388,277,000. Employees: 11,164
12 (12) AGGREGATE INDUSTRIES UK: One of the UK’s biggest construction and infrastructure specialists, Aggregate Industries is based in north west Leicestershire. Aggregate industries is a £1.3 billion turnover business with more than 200 sites and more than 3,500 staff, which produces everything from building aggregates to asphalt, ready-mixed concrete and precast concrete products. Operating revenue: £1,330,012,000. Employees: 3,433
13 (19) SAMWORTH BROTHERS (HLDGS): The family-owned business, based in Melton Mowbray, is one of the UK’s biggest makers of sandwiches and wraps, its main area of business, and the market leader for savouries and pasties. It owns the Ginsters and West Cornwall Pasty businesses, Soreen malt loaves and the SCI-MX sports nutrition business, as well as Walker and Son pork pies, Dickinson and Morris pork pies, Higgidy and Walkers sausages. Operating revenue: £1,163,984,000. Employees: 9,895
14 (16) CATERPILLAR (UK):
Caterpillar is also heading up the list. The US machinery giant established its first major facility outside the United States more than 60 years ago in the UK. Today its main assembly operation is in Desford. Major industries served by Caterpillar in the UK include mining, marine, construction, industrial, quarry and aggregates and electric power. Operating revenue: £1,101,800,000. Employees: 2,217
15 (15) STAFFLINE GROUP PLC:
Nottingham headquartered recruitment giant Staffline is the UK’s leading provider of flexible blue-collar workers, supplying tens of thousands of staff per day to hundreds of client sites, across industries including agriculture, supermarkets, drinks, driving, food processing, logistics and manufacturing. Operating revenue: £1,076,700,000. Employees: 2,798
16 (22) BOWMER AND KIRKLAND: The company dates back to 1923 and has grown to become one of the UK’s most successful privately owned construction and development groups. There are 27 companies within the group specialising in construction and constructionrelated activities, which have a combined turnover of more than £1 billion. Operating revenue: £1,069,774,000. Employees: 1,539
17 (18) DUNELM GROUP PLC: Back in the spring the boss of Dunelm said the Leicestershire retailer was likely to “accelerate” price increases in the next few months amid surging costs. Chief executive Nick Wilkinson told the PA news agency that the company had kept prices flat in previous years but has recently imposed increases and expects more to come. Operating revenue: £1,057,900.00. Employees: 6,519 18 (17) ROLLS-ROYCE: Derby’s biggest private sector employer with around 12,000 staff working in the city. Two Rolls-Royce businesses are located in Derby its civil aerospace division and its defence division manufactures nuclear power plants for Royal Navy submarines. Rolls-Royce has been in Derby for over 100 years. Operating revenue: £1,054,600,000. Employees: 4,350
19 (20) MOTORPOINT GROUP PLC: The “nearly new” car retailer, which has 17 stores across the UK, recently said the rising price of cars plus a bigger share of the market helped fuel growth. The business continues to grow its share of the second hand car market, and has a medium term plan to open new stores and grow revenues to £2 billion. Operating revenue: £1,018,000,000. Employees: 762
20 (13) ALSTOM GROUP: In February 2021, a £4.9 billion deal to sell Derby-based train maker Bombardier Transportation to the French Alstom group went through. The deal saw the Litchurch Lane works, which employs 2,000, among the assets transferred to the new owner. Operating revenue: £976,864,000. Employees: 3,648