Eyewear company is fastest growing across the region

ADESIGNER eyewear manufacturer in Bath has been named the fastest-growing company in the West of England.

AIM-listed Inspecs Group ranked 19th in the annual listing of the top 100 UK firms.

The ORESA Growth Index 2024 examines the British businesses with the fastest-growing sales, with companies ranked by compound annual growth rate in sales over the last two accounting years.

Inspecs, which recently reported underlying profits of £18m for the 2023 financial year – up 16.1% on the year previously – had a compound growth rate of 143.26%, according to the report. Other South West companies included in the top 100 were Bristol-based learning development platform Sponge (42); Salisburybased civil engineering firm Nationwide Engineering Group (56); and

MWE, a specialist manufacturer of swabs and specimen collection vials in Wiltshire.

Speaking of the company’s financial results last week, Richard Peck, chief executive of Inspecs Group, said: “The group delivered record sales in 2023 with an increased number of frames sold, despite a slower than expected end to the year. The progress that we have made in 2023 is now delivering increased distribution of our brands to both key accounts and our independent markets.”

He added: “Our group operates in a resilient and growing market, and we continue to refine our business model and our strategy to deliver sustained and profitable growth.”

Basingstoke-based InstaVolt, the UK’s largest electric vehicle charging network, was named the UK’s fastest-growing firm, with compound annual growth of 362.55%. InstaVolt is Britain’s largest owner-operator of rapid public chargers, with 1,500 in locations around the country.

Orlando Martins, founder of Growth Index and ORESA, said: “What our findings this year confirm, for me, is that growing revenue and making a profit are not mutually exclusive goals. This is something to be welcomed, not least because profitability is an essential feature of good growth: without it, an enterprise cannot be sustainable.”

The 2024 Index included a rise in family-run firms in the top 100, while the farming sector made its Growth Index debut.

According to the report, the appearance of the agriculture sector could be, in part, due to post-Brexit adjustments, with more people buying British-made produce.

“The wider spread of sectors in Growth Index 2024 could be a sign of a broader economic recovery from Covid lows or simply a response to contraction in equity funding - we suspect a combination of both,” Mr Martins added.