The natural phenomenon even Covid can’t stop
The uplifting sight of urban murmurations of starlings every evening this year over the centre of Penzance has helped many people in the town get through lockdown
ACORNISH helicopter firm has soared into the league table of UK firms with the fastest growing exports.
Liskeard’s Castle Air is hovering at number 65 in the 12th annual Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200, which ranks Britain’s midmarket private companies with the fastest-growing exports, after reaping £10.4 million in international sales.
Castle Air, which also operates out of Biggin Hill and Gloucestershire airports, charters helicopters from its fleet of luxury AgustaWestland A109 turbine choppers, and counts X Factor creator Simon Cowell among customers. The business also sells aircraft.
It has seen a 56% hike in its international sales during the past two years, and they now account for about a third of overall turnover, which was £29.5 million in 2019.
The company employs 84 people and says it has the largest stock of parts for the Agusta 109 helicopter in the world.
Also breaking into the list for the first time, at number 172, is Somerset’s
Redlynch Agricultural Engineering, which sells combine harvesters, seed planters and tractors to trade customers.
It has seen a 23%, two-year growth in overseas sales to £1.8 million, with overall turnover at £32.2 million. The Burton-headquartered company employs 36 people.
A fourth new entrant is Gloucester’s ProCook cookware manufacturer and retailer, which enjoyed 49% overseas growth in the two years to March, 2020, with £2.5 million in exports, from £39 million total sales.
The firm, which sells cookware and kitchen accessories online to customers across Europe, has 550 employees.
However, the region’s top-ranked company is Gloucester’s Spectrum Medical, at number 25, which makes life support systems that have treated critically ill Covid-19 patients in the USA and Germany.
Specialist cardiac hospitals in more than 60 countries use its devices,
helping international sales reach £32.8 million in 2019, on total sales of £33.1 million.
Its international sales grew an average of 93% a year during its last two years, and it has risen 56 places in the 2021 list. It has a total of 173 workers.
Portishead is home to chemicals and gases distributor A-Gas – which supplies the refrigerants used to aircondition buildings and chill food.
Its international sales grew at 25% a year, reaching £205.7 million in 2019, on total sales at home and abroad of £247.4 million.
In November, 2020, it expanded in Italy, acquiring refrigerant reclamation specialist Safety Hi-Tech for an undisclosed sum. It has 665 staff, but despite its sales growth has fallen 21 places in the list.
Bristol tour operator Inside Travel Group saw a 32% growth in foreign sales to £22.8 million, but fell 13 places to number 123.
It had overall sales of £49.4 million, and 194 staff, pre-pandemic, when it was helping 12,000 people explore Asia each year.
Combined, the businesses grew their international sales by an average of 43% a year over the past two years to a total of £332 million. All are profitable and together they employ more than 2,000 people, but the figures largely relate to financial periods before Covid-19 struck.
The companies in the South West appear alongside well-known British brands based across the UK including Sweaty Betty, the women’s active wear brand that sells to 195 countries; BrewDog, which was valued at £ 1 billion in 2017 and now has 100 bars worldwide, and is due to open in Plymouth and Exeter in 2021; and Brompton, the bicycle manufacturer, which ships to 47 markets.
International Track 200 star alumni include Skyscanner, Fever-Tree and Dr Martens – which featured on the league table in 2013 with exports of £100 million, and floated in 2021 valued at £3.7 billion.
The league table programme is sponsored by HSBC and DHL Express, and compiled by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events firm.
Amanda Murphy, head of commercial banking, HSBC UK, praised the businesses named in the list. She said: “We are confident that the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of businesses such as those in the South West listed on International Track 200 will carry them forward.”