ThreeWelsh firms make fast-growth league table

Three firms based in Wales have made an influential list of the UK’s fastest-growing privately owned mid-market companies.

Notemachine, Walters Group and Ralawise.com will feature in this weekend’s Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250 league table.

Combined, the three Welsh firms increased sales by 22% to £387m, with operating profits up 45% to £60m. They are also major employers for the Welsh economy, with a combined direct workforce of 2,000.

Ranking is determined by year-onyear increases in sales, providing that firms are in profit.

The biggest mid-market growth company was machine firm Notemachine, based in Powys, which has over 9,000 dispensers in Britain and Germany. Aided by the expansion of its cash machine network and new Eurochange branches, it increased turnover by 31% to £143m in 2016 and profits rose 55% to £26m. The company, with a ranking of 195th, is new to the league table.

Aberdare-based civil engineering Walters Group (ranked 240th), is included after achieving sales of £121m. It has a workforce of nearly 500.

Deeside-based clothing distributor Ralawise.com, which sells to more than 60 countries worldwide, and whose turnover increased 17% to £123m, is ranked 235th. It employs 527.

Other businesses on the list included Aston Martin, Holland & Barrett, Travelodge, The Hut Group and PureGym.

The initiative is sponsored by Grant Thornton and Lloyds Banking Group, and compiled by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events company.

Alistair Wardell, a Cardiff-based partner at Grant Thornton UK, said: “The UK may be at a pivotal point in its history, but the Top Track 250 clearly demonstrates what can be achieved by exciting, dynamic businesses. These companies think locally and act globally, they innovate to grow and embrace an entrepreneurial spirit that this country needs to secure a positive post-Brexit future.

“At Grant Thornton, we are seeking to stimulate ideas and actions that can help shape a vibrant UK economy that thrives. We can all learn a lot from the Top Track 250.”

There are 120 companies that were not on the league table in 2016, 39 of which have appeared on the league table previously, while the remaining 81 make their debuts this year.

London is home to 68 companies, the South-East of England 46, Yorkshire 29, Scotland 22, the North-West 21, the West Midlands 17, East 15, South-West 11, East Midlands eight and Northern Ireland seven, with Wales and the North-East each having three.

A mid-market company is defined as having sales of between £100m and £650m,