FiveWelsh companies among UK top 100 for profit growth
FIVE companies from Wales have made it on to the league table of Britain’s fastest-growing companies by profit.
Published yesterday, the 18th annual Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 league table ranks Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing profits over three years.
The five companies headquartered in Wales are all new entrants to the league table – which featured no Welsh firm last year.
Together they employ 1,300 staff and have achieved combined profits of £41m.
The highest-ranked Welsh company is Powys-based Radnor Hills.
As well as branded and own-label bottled water, the group produces flavoured spring water, sparkling premium presses and fruit juices.
Profits grew by an average of 77% a year to £6m in 2016, helped by investment in production, including a new £6m bottling line.
Also making its debut this year is Net World Sports.
The online sports goods retailer sells 100,000 football goals a year, which it despatches from its headquarters in Wrexham.
More than half of its sales are to overseas customers, such as sports clubs and schools, and this international growth helped profits grow by an average of 73% a year to £3m in 2016.
Also on the list is Brickability, a brick supplier based in Bridgend which has created a “brick calculator” to work out the exact number of bricks required for a project.
It saw profits rise by an average 76% over the three years to reach £5m last year.
Civil engineering business the Hollingsworth Group, based in Flintshire, completed construction of one of the largest robotic jig foundations in the UK aerospace industry, and achieved an average profit growth of 69% to £5m in 2016.
Finally, cash machine operator Notemachine, based in Crickhowell, which employs 987 people, recorded the largest profits at £22m in the year to June, and saw profits increase by an avaerage of 68% over the three years.
Notemachine operates 9,000 cash dispensers, including 550 in German supermarkets and shops.
The five companies from Wales appeared on the league table alongside businesses from around the UK, including domestic appliance designer Gtech, restaurant operator Bill’s and gym operator PureGym.
Altogether, the companies achieved a higher average rate of profit growth (83%) than any previous Profit Track 100 league table, which have typically ranged from 50%-75% pa.
The minimum rate of profit growth to secure a place on the league table has also risen to 57% pa – annual growth in the mid-40s has typically been sufficient to feature on previous tables.
The league table and awards programme is sponsored by BDO and UBS Wealth Management, and is compiled by Fast Track, the Oxfordbased research and networking events firm.
Andrea Bishop, partner and head of Wales at BDO, the title sponsor of the league table, said: “Highgrowth, mid-sized businesses played a leading role in the UK economic recovery after the global financial crisis.
“With Brexit and more uncertainty looming, it is companies like these with their natural energy, ambition and entrepreneurial spirit that will help the UK economy thrive.
“By supporting their growth, government would also be helping to achieve a more regionally balanced economy that ‘works for all’.”