With 2020 now (thankfully) behind us, we take a look at some of the companies to keep an eye on in 2021.
In no particular order, here are 21 businesses to watch out for this year.
1. Dyson
Sir James Dyson’s company looks set for a big year in 2021 as it turns 30 years old.
The business - known for its vacuum cleaners and air purifiers - announced a number of major developments for growth in 2020.
In November, the company said it was planning to double its product range with a £2.75billion investment, vowing to grow research into robotics and artificial intelligence at its Hullavington Airfield Campus in Wiltshire.
The site has become home to Dyson's large and growing robotics and machine learning hub. With its existing campus in nearby Malmesbury, Dyson employs some 4,000 people in Wiltshire working on new technologies and new products.
The company’s education institute - The Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology - is also being given the power to award its own degrees from September next year.
It will mean the technology company is able to deliver and award every aspect of its degree programme (it currently partners with Warwick University) using its own teaching departments, professional services teams and governance structures.
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Dyson is also progressing plans to open its new global head office complex in the historic St James Power Station in Singapore. This will be accompanied by an expansion of its advanced R&D facilities and research labs.
The business is planning to create a new dedicated software hub in Alabang, in the Philippines, to boot.
2. Babcock International Plc
There were big changes at the defence and engineering giant, which operates Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth, in 2020 and the new year will be no less important.
The company went through a gruelling time during Covid hit 2020, and in November announced it had seen blaming the coronavirus pandemic and the decline of civil aviation.
The engineering titan, which also operates the huge dockyards at Rosyth in Scotland, experienced a 9% dip in underlying revenue and a 43% drop in underlying profit for the six months to the end of September 2020.
The company, which had scrapped its dividend in April and is not reinstating it due to “continued uncertainty around the impact of Covid-19”, revealed underlying revenue fell from £2.458billion, between April and September 2019, to £2.244billion in the same months this year. Underlying operating profit plummeted from £250.6million to £143.1million over the same half-year period.
But in Plymouthcontinues with five ships being worked on at one time at Devonport as 2021 began.
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Aside from surface ship work, Babcock also has submarine contracts at Devonport, and in 2021 is due to begin an extensive refurbishment project which will begin with a two-year programme to redevelop a dry dock for nuclear submarines.
More than 600 construction jobs will be created during the rebuilding of the 10 Dock Facility, and there are further improvements planned to other areas of the naval base and dockyard.
Four new Dreadnought-class missile submarines, which will form part of the 海角视频's nuclear deterrent programme, will enter service in the early 2030s. They will replace the Vanguard-class submarines, becoming the largest submarines ever operated by the Royal Navy.
Babcock also has new faces at the helm, with David Lockwood appointed chief executive in 2021, quickly followed by David Mellors as chief financial officer and, in Plymouth, which manages the two dockyards.
3. ‘Harland & Wolff (Appledore)
The revival of Appledore Shipyard came in August when it was announced that the historic site, which has supported generations of shipbuilders in North Devon, had been bought by Infrastrata, the parent company of the famous Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged support for the shipbuilding industry on his visit to the site soon afterwards.
And there are further hopes for a healthy order book after he further pledged to back British shipbuilding in a £16.5billion funding deal for defence in November.
John Wood, Chief Executive of Harland and Wolff (Appledore) said at the time it was ready to deliver 'on time and on budget' ambitions for the 海角视频's defence capability with plans to build at least 13 additional ships to bolster the fleet.
And the shipyard is well in the running for the Fleet Solid Support Warship programme worth around £1.5billion.
Mr Wood said that there will be substantial packages of work available, with an additional eight Type 26 and five Type 31 vessels being confirmed in addition to Type 32 and other research vessels in the Government's defence spending plans.
Harland and Wolff went on a in the autumn and has joined with Spanish shipyard and NATO partner Navantia and subcontractor BMT to form ‘Team Resolute’, a 海角视频 shipbuilding collaboration which will .
In October, the , set to launch in the spring of next year, will see a “significant proportion of the build and assembly work to be carried out in the 海角视频”.
4. Cornish Geothermal Distillery Company
How the Cornish Geothermal Distillery could look
Ambitious plans have been drawn for a £10million rum distillery inside a biome heated by geothermal energy, eventually supporting 100 jobs.
Matthew Clifford, founder of the (CGDC), submitted outline plans in November for an ultra high-tech facility which would incorporate his patent-pending carbon-neutral rum “cask maturation pods”.
The project would initially see ethically produced, Bonsucro accredited rum distilled around the world brought to the site, laid down in oak casks made and repaired by CGDC coopers and stored in the maturation biome to enhance the product’s quality and flavour.
The biome, approximately 14 metres tall at its highest point, would incorporate four maturation pods, each holding 800 2000-litre casks, amounting to 640,000 litres of rum in total, which would be tropically matured over a period of five to 10 years.
The CGDC team hopes the rum cask maturation facility would be up and running by the late summer of 2022, and that a demonstrable success of this “Catalyst Phase” could draw further interest and investment into the creation of a full £30million Cornish geothermal rum distillery with potential to create up to 100 jobs.
5. Ultraleap
Fast-growing touchless tech company Ultraleap is predicted to join Ovo Energy and Graphcore as one of Bristol’s next unicorns.
The business was formed when Bristol University spinout Ultrahaptics and San Francisco-based computer hardware device manufacturer Leap Motion merged in 2019 - and it secured some major deals in 2020 for its hand-tracking and mid-air haptic technology, including with a US cinema advertising business.
It also signed a five-year agreement with the Aquarium of the Pacific in California for its technology and was named one of the top 50 most innovative technology companies in the West of England.
In 2020, Ultraleap developed a way to make public touchscreens touchless in a bid to stop the spread of germs.
Its application – known as TouchFree - lets companies retrofit existing kiosks and touchscreens so people are able interact with the screen without touching it.
The company uses camera technology and hand-tracking software that means the screens can work with touchless gesture control.
In a world gripped by a global pandemic, a company using touchless tech will certainly be one to watch out for.
6. Princess Yachts
The 海角视频’s largest yacht maker is expecting another exciting year in 2021, with new products such as the X80, which will be due to launch in the Autumn.
The vessel is the sister boat of the new X95, which has been undergoing sea trials off Plymouth, and is the second model in the new Superfly family.
The X80 has been developed to offer a “unique boating lifestyle” that is tailored to how each owner wants to use the yacht. It has a “super flybridge” providing in excess of 30% more useful interior space on-board than a traditional flybridge yacht of its length. It is also available with optional main deck master stateroom which includes private owner's sundeck.
Princess Yachts, which employs more than 3,000 workers in the Ocean City, has stressed its “aggressive investment strategy”, and the company’s record financial position and full order book, are the reasons it has been able to create such high-spec new yacht designs.
The company began returning to production in early May 2020, after weeks in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, and is now working on fulfilling its order book for 2020 and 2021.
7. Eden Project
Cornwall’s famous Eden Project is pressing ahead with expansion plans despite a tumultuous year.
In November, the attraction presented a 140-page business case to Government in a £70million funding bid towards building a new attraction in the North West as part of a plan to expand around the world.
The Eden Project North seeks to “reimagine” the Lancashire seaside resort of Morecambe by building a “ticketed visitor attraction that is sustainable and transformative, with large indoor environments, housed within iconic pavilions”.
It says that the scheme is shovel-ready” and primed to deliver significant economic, environmental and social benefits for the North West.
The idea is to create an all-year destination, inside five shell-shaped domes built on the waterfront on the site of Bubbles, a former swimming pool, and appeal to people keen on art, science, adventure, play and performance as well as nature.
The overall cost of the project has been put at £125million, up from an initial estimate of £85million, and the Eden Project would look to supplement any central Government funding with public and private sector investment.
It is projected to attract about a million visitors a year once completed, with work expected to end in 2023.
Eden Project North is expected to create 400 jobs directly, while driving a visitor spend of more than £200million in the wider economy annually, supporting an additional 1,500 jobs, and make Morecambe a 21 st Century destination around the message: “Beauty Surrounds, Health Abounds and Nature Astounds”.
Eden in Cornwall has had a turbulent 2020 alongside all hospitality and leisure venues. In September, it announced that 170 staff were under threat amid .
8. Graphcore
Bristol-based artificial intelligence chip maker Graphcore is now valued at $2.8billion after raising a whopping $222million (£162.5million) in its latest funding round in December 2020.
The Series E funding round was led by Ontario Teachers’ Pensions Plan Board as well as new investors Fidelity International and Schroders. Existing Graphcore investors, including Baillie Gifford and Draper Esprit, also joined the round.
Graphcore’s latest investment brought the total funds raised by the company to more than $710million since it was co-founded by Nigel Toon and Simon Knowles in 2016.
The business has developed one of the most advanced intelligence processing units in the world. The technology is now used in machine learning globally to help power driverless cars and robots.
Graphcore achieved ‘unicorn’ status in 2018 - and has continued to grow rapidly in the last two years. In 2019, Mr Toon, Graphcore’s co-founder and chief executive, was named the 海角视频’s entrepreneur of the year.
The company says it expects 2021 to be another “big year” with advances in artificial intelligence moving apace.
Graphcore’s next fundraising step could be an initial public offering, Mr Toon told the Guardian in December. However, he said this would be “unlikely" in 2021.
9. The Range
Retail magnate Chris Dawson saw his to nearly £1billion as turnover leaped 6% for the year to February 2020.
Sales increased from £942.679million to £999.972milion, due to an increased number of stores and fixed costs remaining static, and the firm remained unfazed by the prospects of Covid-19 and Brexit.
The retail juggernaut opened 20 stores in 2019/20, also seeing gross profits increase by 9% to £386million from £355million.
Mr Dawson, who began his empire from a market stall, stressed the firm would continue to grow The Range chain and “provide customers with value-for-money shopping” and he said: “The group is optimistic about the future.”
He predicted that 2020/21 will see “further significant growth in sales”. And the Covid-19 crisis will not stand in its way, He wrote, in November 2020, that: “The Covid-19 pandemic will naturally present internal challenges in addition to the wider economic impact that is being felt.”
But he stressed: “As a value retailer the group as a whole is in a strong position to withstand these challenges.” Mr Dawson said that although the pandemic created a “volatile economic environment” all stores, barring "a few exceptions", remained open “resulting in the group being protected from the wider impacts of the worldwide pandemic”.
The company has not needed additional funding and doesn’t expect to need it in the coming year, and Mr Dawson said trading has been strong throughout the pandemic, even opening three new stores and amassing healthy cash reserves.
The company has also taken steps to mitigate any impact from the 海角视频’s final Brexit from the European Union, in January 2021.
10. Exeter Rugby
Rob Baxter, Exeter Chiefs Director of Rugby poses for a photo with the Gallagher Premiership Trophy and Heineken Champions Cup (Image: Getty Images)
Exeter Rugby Club is riding high and has ambitious plans for 2021 and beyond.
Fresh from securing a historic Premiership and European double, the Devon club based at Sandy Park is expanding its state-of-the-art facilities - including the expansion of the East Terrace - whilst the multi-million pound Sandy Park Hotel continues to be built and will be set for opening in late 2021.
The club has also launched the new Exeter Chiefs 2027 Bond, allowing supporters to invest at least £1,000 to secure the future of the club.
Following on from the success of the 2020 Bond, which helped oversee improved growth in both the Chiefs and Sandy Park, the new bond will look to further develop the business and the club itself over the next seven years.
Open to investments of over £1,000 and upwards, Chief Executive Tony Rowe says the 2027 Bond will help to not only keep the Chiefs at the top end of the modern-day game, but at the same time bring about upgrading facilities at Sandy Park that will be the envy of all its rivals.
11. Flybe
There are hopes that regional airline Flybe will take off once again in 2021. The Exeter-based airline collapsed in March, just before lockdown with the loss of around 2,000 jobs - 1,000 of which were based at the Exeter HQ.
Hopes of its resurrection came in October when it emerged that former shareholder, Thyme Opco Limited, headed by hedge fund boss Lucien Farrell had .
The deal is subject to regulatory hurdles, including discussions on its landing slots and operating licence before being final. In December, it was reported that Flybe had taken a step forward by with the Civil Aviation Authority.
Thyme Opco Limited is a company affiliated with investment adviser Cyrus Capital, which was a shareholder of Flybe, along with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic in the Connect Airways deal, before its collapse in March.
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A spokesman for Thyme Opco said in October that its operations would be smaller than before but would 'create valuable airline industry jobs, restore essential regional connectivity in the 海角视频, and contribute to the recovery of a vital part of the country’s economy.'
But there is no guarantee the airline will return to Exeter, despite lobbying by MPs and business leaders that the city has the workforce and support network to ensure it can take to the skies once again.
12. Real Ideas Organisation
The received nearly £400,000 from the Government in 2020 and is set to open in the new year.
The Immersive Dome is being created in Plymouth as part of the redevelopment of Devonport Market Hall into a £7.4million tech business centre.
It is due to open in 2021 as a “world-class space for creative, digital and immersive experiences” and will position a 15m diameter, 210-degree dome in an extension next to a redeveloped 19th Century building that will house new creative enterprises.
The grants come from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England as part of a national programme.
The Real Ideas Organisation (RIO), which has already successfully refurbished Devonport Guildhall, will receive £394,135 towards the near-completed redevelopment of the 166-year-old Devonport Market Hall so it will connect communities with new creative enterprises, help to develop future-facing skills and jobs, and will feature the first immersive dome of its kind in Europe.
Meanwhile, is to open in the former bakehouse space inside the Grade I-listed Devonport Guildhall. Former Western Morning News journalist Kate Langston and her partner, experienced baker Sam Dennis, have taken over the bakery space, in what was once a mortuary inside the historic guildhall, vacated when the artisan Column Bakehouse business closed in August 2020.
13. The Fragrance Group
The Singapore based property investors are changing the face of Torbay - English Riviera - with four hotel projects underway. The firm is building £150million worth of hyper modern hotels in Torquay and Paignton. The developers have demolished the , the prime seafront Corbyn Head Hotel spot in Torquay and the twin Park Hotel and Lighthouse locations on Esplanade Road, overlooking Paignton Green.
The Palace is expected to be completed by 2023, Park Hotel in August 2021, the Lighthouse in September 2021 and Corbyn Head will take between 18-22 months to build when it gets started. In total, the four ultra-modern hotels will provide more than 600 rooms.
The schemes are revamping derelict sites to revitalise the tourism offer in Torbay as it stands to gain from the post-Covid staycation trend.
14. Inspecs
The Bath-based designer eyewear manufacturer and distributor floated on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in February 2020.
The company raised £23.5million in its initial public offering (IPO) and had a market capitalisation at the time of £138million.
In April, the business won a Queen’s Awards for Enterprise for international trade.
Although the company saw revenues hit by Covid-19 in 2020 - in the the six months to June 30, revenue decreased to $16.7million from $30.4million - the business has made progress back towards profitability.
In July, it bought up the manufacturing arm of collapsed Gloucester-based glasses company Norville Group for £2.4million. The deal included £1.2million of freehold property for Norville’s Gloucester site and the remainder for stock, plant, IP and contracts.
Then, in November, the company, which also owns the factory where John Lennon's famous round glasses were made, agreed to buy a German rival for €95million (£84.7million).
Inspecs acquired all the equity interests in Nuremberg-based eyewear supplier Eschenbach Holding. The Bath firm said the acquisition was a “key strategic step” in the company’s growth internationally.
15. Sutton Harbour Group
The Plymouth development company to enable it to start work on a £50million project to build multiple apartment blocks close to the city’s waterfront.
Sutton Harbour Group Plc completed the purchase of about 1.5 acres of land, for an undisclosed sum described as “at market value”, immediately to the east of Sutton Harbour.
The deal will enable the company to push ahead with its plan to construct six blocks of flats on industrial land next to where it also aims to build what would be one of Plymouth’s tallest skyscrapers.
The AIM-listed company envisages a “residential quarter”, with a combined construction value of more than £50million, created on land between Sutton Road and St John’s Bridge, connected by a walkway leading directly to the waterfront and the company’s previously approved £60million Sugar Quay tower of waterside apartments, shops and restaurants,
That 20-storey skyscraper, granted full planning permission in December 2018, is the subject of a new application, revised to relocate a planned basement car park to facilities at St John’s Bridge.
Meanwhile, SHG is aiming to start work on a nine-storey apartment block, Harbour Arch Quay tower, in 2021 and even start marketing the flats by the spring.
Pre-construction preparations for the scheme, also at Sutton Harbour, have continued in recent months and selection of the construction management team and finalisation of the detailed drawings are in process.
The firm said it is expected that, subject to completion of finance arrangements, work on the 14-apartment, nine-floor building “will start during 2021, with marketing of the units to be launched in the springtime of the new year”.
Plans have also to screen movies and sports matches and host events such as gigs and even yoga classes.
SHG has been given planning and listed building consent to install the structures at the historic Sutton Harbour, near the Barbican – provided it makes sure they can’t float off if he area floods.
The company wants to build a pedestrian walkway linking the Barbican’s Custom House with Vauxhall Quay and Guys Quay, and two movable floating event pontoons on the water off Vauxhall Quay and in the corner of the harbour near The Parade, in areas too shallow for mooring boats.
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16. Virti
Bristol-based Virti uses extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI) to help organisations around the world to train workers remotely.
The business was included on TIME ’s Best Inventions list for 2020 after being used to help hospitals, universities, schools and businesses during the pandemic.
Dr Alex Young, a former orthopaedic surgeon who founded Virti two years ago, said with face-to-face training “near impossible” his company’s technology could be used instead.
Virti developed a special Covid-19 module that teaches frontline workers skills such as how to ventilate a patient, safely use personal protective equipment (PPE), and navigate an intensive care ward.
It is also helping carry out training including preparing medics in the US to perform complex surgeries and tackling doctor shortages in Northern Ethiopia.
In December, the business announced it had developed a 'virtual patient' that was being used by the NHS to train medical staff.
The pioneering AI technology allows healthcare clinicians and medical students to hone their skills remotely, minimising the need for in-person training.
The tech allows medics and trainees to interact with AI-powered ‘patients’ through a tablet, desktop or VR or AR headset, and role-play life-like, interactive scenarios.
West Suffolk Hospital has been using Virti's technology in its intensive care unit to help train staff who have been drafted in to deal with the Covid-19 demand. It is now considering applying Virti tech to other areas of hospital practice.
17. Jurassic Fibre
The Exeter-based firm is set to continue ambitious plans to deploy ultrafast fibre-to-the-premises broadband across the South West in the next four years.
with roll out in Barnstaple, Wellington, West Hill and Marsh Green among the latest developments.
Chief Executive Michael Maltby said that 2020 had emphasised the importance of digital connectivity, for homes and businesses, with fast and reliable broadband now needed more than ever for remote working, home-schooling and connecting with others.
Jurassic Fibre has grown rapidly in the past year. With a £250million investment, it has recruited more than 175 staff from Devon and Somerset to ensure it can roll out its network, ahead of the Government’s 2026 target for full-fibre broadband to be universally available across the 海角视频.
18. Pennon Group
There was much speculation at the end of 2020 about the possible , as Exeter-based Pennon Group said it was pursuing 'growth opportunities'.The parent company of South West Water raised £4.2billion from selling its waste management arm, Viridor in March.
Pennon ended up with £3.7billion in cash after the sale to private equity firm KKR and used some of the money to paying down debt and bolster its pension scheme.
In November, there was speculation that Pennon, the South West’s largest business, is looking to use some of that cash to snap up Southern Water, which covers Hampshire, Sussex, Kent and the Isle of Wight.
Pressed on the potential acquisition, a Pennon spokesman would only say a firm “no comment”. But it is understood shareholders were told the company wants to use cash from the Viridor sale to fund a takeover.
And in September, new chief executive Susan Davy, following the successful lassoing of Bournemouth Water in 2015.
19. M Subs
The “game changing” £1million robotic Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) was cand will sail the Atlantic Ocean in 2021.
The 15m long, aluminium-hulled trimaran, bristling with the latest sensors and AI (artificial intelligence) will set off on a trailblazing voyage from Plymouth to Cape Cod in the USA in the spring of 2021. The vessel will have no-one on board, being piloted remotely from the 海角视频 and USA and collecting vital data about climate change, plastic waste pollution and marine mammals.
The MAS project was started in 2016 and has involved input from engineers and scientists in Plymouth, the USA, and Norway.
The modular vessel was built in a shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, when no British shipyard was able to take on the project.
It was shipped in pieces to Plymouth in the early weeks of the coronavirus lockdown and assembled, safely, at the M Subs factory at Estover.
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That firm’s daughter company Marine AI created the computer technology that has been installed on board and on land in partnership with global tech giant IBM.
M Subs Ltd and if initial tests of the sub are successful, up to £1.5million more could be made available by the MoD to further test the unmanned vehicle.
Measuring about 30ft in length, the autonomous submarine is significantly larger than other robot subs used for beach reconnaissance, allowing it to operate at a range of 3,000 nautical miles.
Estover-based M Subs had a record £10million turnover in 2019 and has grown from 10 employees in 2010 to more than 60.
The company is recognised as the 海角视频’s leading manufacturer of military submersibles and has already completed a manned platform, the Dry Combat Submersible (DCS), for the United States of America’s Special Forces Command. It completed successful trials in the waters around Plymouth in 2019.
20. Hetty's Kitchen
The Gloucester-based brownie maker had a stellar 2020, despite the restrictions caused by coronavirus.
Founder Henrietta Kitt (Hetty), who set up the business in 2018, was forced to adapt her award-winning bakery business to survive after the closure of local markets.
During the first national lockdown Hetty’s Kitchen launched a mail-order brownie service - and business boomed.
According to Hetty’s Instagram, the decision to pivot the business model led to significant growth, with orders from across the 海角视频.
“It's been manic for us, working longer hours with a smaller team,” she wrote. “I've gone from attempting to gently return from maternity leave, to working flat out.”
The business, which also has a ‘cake hatch’ at Morelands Trading Estate, outgrew its bakery and is now looking for new premises as it expands.
Hetty added: “We are in the process of moving and expanding! But it’s going to be a monumental task to do so.”
21. British Land
All eyes will be on property giant The British Land Company Plc after it made as the coronavirus pandemic cut retail sales and footfall in its shopping centres.
The company, which announced a £1.1billion annual loss in May 2020, has now seen underlying profit fall by 29.6% to £107million and dividend per share fall from 15.97p to 8.4p.
It has been hit by the impact Covid-19 and national lockdowns have had on retail across a huge portfolio which includes the Drake Circus Shopping Centre and neighbouring The Barcode leisure complex in Plymouth. The company also owns a huge area of the city centre including the block which contains the House of Fraser and Debenhams department stores.
In September, British Land was only able to collect in 62% of the rents due to it nationally for the three-month quarter. The value of its portfolio has dropped 7.3%, with the value of its retail assets down 14.9%.
However, bosses are remaining upbeat and say the company is “more financially resilient” with an “unrivalled pipeline of opportunities”.
It has sold £2.1billion of assets, including £1.2billion of retail property, and said it will be investing proceeds into development opportunities, particularly mixed-use schemes, which include offices.
British Land is still confident in the office sector, despite many firms moving towards having staff working from home, and is also relying on its out-of-town retail parks, which make up 48% of its retail portfolio and have been “significantly outperforming benchmarks”.