º£½ÇÊÓƵ

Nine businesses which are headquartered in the Midlands have been named among the º£½ÇÊÓƵ's 100 fastest-growing private companies.

Firms from Staffordshire, Solihull, Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Leicester have been recognised in this year's Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100.

The region's top-ranked company is Solihull-based fitness clothing retailer Gymshark which is listed at number 10 nationally.

New entrants include Kingswinford-based home lift manufacturer Stiltz Lifts which has seen sales grow by 82 per cent over the last three years to £19 million last year.

Sports nutrition brand Grenade, which is based in Solihull, also features for the sixth time on the Fast Track 100 league table after seeing average sales growth of 73 per cent over three years - growing to £44 million last year.

Staffordshire-based waste management company Red Industries has also been named on the list - in 73rd place - after seeing sales grow by more than 50 per cent to £23.8 million in 2018.

Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Group, which has supported Fast Track 100 for all 23 years, said:

"While these are uncertain times, there is one thing I am certain of: entrepreneurs are the ones driving innovation, chasing improvements and challenging the norm.

There are so many inspiring examples of this on the Fast Track 100 league table and it’s heartening to see the power of entrepreneurship to create jobs and positive change across Britain."