Today we bring you the fourth and final part of our rundown of the biggest companies in the East Midlands – the Top 20.
These are the businesses that help guide the local industrial scene and shape the 海角视频 economy. Between them they employ 200,000 people and generate revenues of £50 billion.
This is the culmination of our listing of the 500 biggest businesses in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire – and coincides with a breakfast event for business leaders, hosted by BusinessLive at the Radisson Blu Hotel at East Midlands Airport.
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Looking through the list – printed below – you will see it is dominated by retail, followed by heavy engineering, car and bike building, and car sales. There are two big house builders and two big food manufacturers, followed by construction, aggregates and recruitment.
Many of the names are known around the world – think of Caterpillar, Rolls-Royce, Triumph Bikes and Toyota.
All of them have had to adapt in recent years to the pandemic and – what East Midlands Chamber calls – the “cost of doing business” crisis currently enveloping the economy.
The 2022 list has been compiled by researchers from the Business Schools at De Montfort, Derby and Nottingham Trent Universities, supported by the chamber, and sponsored by Leicester property developer Bradgate Estates.
Because of the way the list is compiled it does not use the latest accounting figures published on Companies House. That means that some of the figures relate to the start of the pandemic.
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However they still provide an indicator of the range and strength of businesses across the three counties covered by East Midlands Chamber.
Chamber CEO Scott Knowles knows as much about the region’s economy as anyone, and despite all the problems facing local businesses right now, is confident they can fight on.
He said: “As we emerge from one of the most difficult periods our economy has endured for generations, we again look to our businesses to haul us back and spearhead a strong recovery.
“The East Midlands, often labelled the engine room of the 海角视频’s economy, will be at the very forefront in shaping our country’s future in a post-Brexit, post-Covid and net zero world.
“We are the region for making, moving and innovating – one packed with hugely important players in the manufacturing, engineering and logistics industries.
“Whether it’s unlocking electric aviation or discovering the drugs that treat previously incurable conditions, our impact goes far beyond Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.
“There’s an amazing story to tell here and it is set out in vivid detail within the East Midlands Top 500 Companies Index, which showcases the huge contribution our region makes to 海角视频 Plc, and the strength and depth of our business community.
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“It’s a great opportunity to take stock of just how many household brands we boast, as well as many others that may not be so familiar to the average person on the street but are titans of their industries or key components in supply chains.
"Many of the top positions remain stable but there are interesting observations to be made in the climbers among these latter cohorts – the wide variety of SMEs that ultimately make our economy tick.
“We are in the grip of a cost of doing business crisis, resulting from a combination of global and local headwinds.
“But these firms – if supported sufficiently – can drive the economy forward by upskilling our people, innovating our traditional industries and making the productivity gains required.”
Here are the 20 top businesses in the East Mildlands:
(2020 position in brackets)
20 (13) BOMBARDIER TRANSPORTATION 海角视频 (ALSTOM GROUP)
In February 2021, a £4.9 billion deal to sell Derby-based train maker Bombardier Transportation to the French Alstom group went through.
The deal saw the Litchurch Lane works, which employs 2,000, among the assets transferred to the new owner.
It was initially approved by EU regulators in July, 2020, and officially went through on Friday, January 29, 2021.
Alstom said the enlarged group had a combined revenue of around €15.7 billion (around £13.9 billion), and employs 75,000 people worldwide in 70 countries.
Operating revenue: £976,864,000
Number of employees: 3,648
Postcode: DE24 8AD
19 (20) MOTORPOINT GROUP PLC
The “nearly new” car retailer, which has 17 stores across the 海角视频, recently said the rising price of cars plus a bigger share of the market helped fuel growth.
The business continues to grow its share of the second hand car market, and has a medium term plan to open new stores and grow revenues to £2 billion.
Part of that plan includes growing online sales – which currently make up almost half of revenues – to £1 billion.
However last month the Derby-based business warned it was likely that rising inflation and worldwide vehicle supply chain challenges would cause a drop in sales over the coming months.
Operating revenue: £1,018,000,000
Number of employees: 762
Postcode: DE21 6BZ
18 (17) ROLLS-ROYCE
Rolls-Royce is Derby’s biggest private sector employer with around 12,000 staff working in the city.
Two Rolls-Royce businesses are located in Derby.
Its Civil Aerospace division designs, develops, tests and manufactures the Trent family of aero engines, which are supplied to airline customers all over the globe.
Meanwhile, the firm’s Defence division manufactures nuclear power plants for Royal Navy submarines. Rolls-Royce has been in Derby for over 100 years.
Operating revenue: £1,054,600,000
Number of employees: 4,350
Postcode: DE24 8BJ
17 (18) DUNELM GROUP PLC
Back in the spring the boss of Dunelm said the Leicestershire retailer was likely to “accelerate” price increases in the next few months amid surging costs.
The home furnishings chain has been under pressure from rocketing freight costs, utilities bills and wage inflation.
Chief executive Nick Wilkinson told the PA news agency that the company had kept prices flat in previous years but has recently imposed increases and expects more to come.
He said: “Price increases have been a feature of the past 12 months as we’ve seen pressure on costs.
“That will probably accelerate in the next few months, but we recognise the position of our customers so will continue to provide a wide choice on pricing.
“Some may choose to price down but we have those products available so don’t expect to see a huge impact there.”
Operating revenue: £1,057,900.00
Number of employees: 6,519
Postcode: LE7 1AD
16 (22) BOWMER AND KIRKLAND
B+K dates back to 1923 and has grown to become one of the 海角视频’s most successful privately-owned construction and development groups.
It has been a major contractor for the Department for Education since the launch of the contractor framework in 2013.
There are 27 companies within the group specialising in construction and construction-related activities, which have a combined turnover of more than £1 billion.
Operating revenue: £1,069,774,000
Number of employees: 1,539
Postcode: DE56 2BW
15 (15) STAFFLINE GROUP PLC
Nottingham headquartered recruitment giant Staffline is the 海角视频’s leading provider of flexible blue-collar workers, supplying tens of thousands of staff per day to hundreds of client sites, across industries including agriculture, supermarkets, drinks, driving, food processing, logistics and manufacturing.
Operating revenue: £1,076,700,000
Number of employees: 2,798
Postcode: NG2 1AE
14 (16) CATERPILLAR (海角视频)
Caterpillar is also heading up the list. The US machinery giant established its first major facility outside the United States more than 60 years ago in the United Kingdom.
Today its main assembly operation is in Desford, Leicestershire. Major industries served by Caterpillar in the 海角视频 include mining, marine, construction, industrial, quarry and aggregates and electric power.
Operating revenue: £1,101,800,000
Number of employees: 2,217
Postcode: LE9 9JT
13 (19) SAMWORTH BROTHERS (HOLDINGS)
Leicestershire food-to-go specialist Samworth Brothers has shot up the rankings this year.
The family-owned business, which is based in Melton Mowbray, is one of the 海角视频’s biggest makers of sandwiches and wraps, its main area of business, and the market leader for savouries and pasties.
It has several factories in its Melton hometown and in Leicester, and also owns the Ginsters and West Cornwall Pasty businesses, Soreen malt loaves and the SCI-MX sports nutrition business.
Other brands include Walker and Son pork pies, Dickinson and Morris pork pies, Higgidy and Walkers sausages. In all the business employs around 10,000 people.
Operating revenue: £1,163,984,000
Number of employees: 9,895
Postcode: LE13 1GA
12 (12) AGGREGATE INDUSTRIES 海角视频
One of the 海角视频’s biggest construction and infrastructure specialists, Aggregate Industries is based in north west Leicestershire.
Aggregate industries is a £1.3 billion turnover business with more than 200 sites and more than 3,500 staff, which produces everything from building aggregates to asphalt, ready-mixed concrete and precast concrete products.
It also provides national road surfacing and contracting services.
Operating revenue: £1,330,012,000
Number of employees: 3,433
Postcode: LE67 9PJ
11 (11) GREENCORE
Greencore Group plc is a leading manufacturer of convenience foods, supplying chilled, frozen and ambient foods to some of the most successful retail and food service customers in the 海角视频.
Its team of chefs create over 1,000 new recipes each year and work hard to ensure our products are fresh, nutritious, and tasty.
Greencore was established in 1991 following the privatisation of Irish Sugar. In 2001, the business diversified into convenience food through the acquisition of Hazlewood Foods.
Subsequently, the business has made a series of acquisitions and disposals to create Greencore’s current portfolio. In 2018 it sold its US division.
Operating revenue: £1,388,277,000
Number of employees: 11,164
Postcode: S80 2RS
10 (10) AMALGAMATED HOLDINGS WILKINSON
Key dates in the chain's growth include starting its first store in Leicester back in 1930, developing its first Wilko brand paint range in 1973 and welcoming its first online customer in 2007.
Today, it is a brand with over 14,000 Wilko products which make up more than half its annual sales.
It has more than 400 stores in the 海角视频 and is rapidly growing wilko.com with more than 200,000 products available.
Operating revenue: £1,468,443,000
Number of employees: 18,351
Postcode: S80 3EG
9 (9) BLOOR INVESTMENTS t/a BLOOR HOMES AND TRIUMPH BIKES
Measham-based Bloor Homes was established in 1969 and is building houses at a rate of more than 2,000 a year – everything from one-bedroom apartments to seven-bedroom luxury homes.
The business has been helped by the Government’s continuing help for first time buyers and support during the pandemic.
Using the money he made in housebuilding, founder John Bloor revived the Triumph Motorcycles brand in the 1980s, relocating it to Hinckley and opening factories around the world.
Last year the millionth Triumph motorbike since the relaunch of the brand rolled off the production line, as the company boasted a 30 per cent uplift in annual sales post-Covid.
Hinckley has a team of almost 700 people providing head office functions and design engineering and testing, and they are continuing to build bikes there – with plans to grow that as demand grows.
Before moving main production overseas, between 7,000 and 13,000 bikes were made here.
Operating revenue: £1,557,289,000
Number of employees: 4,024
Postcode: DE12 7JP
8 (8) ECO-BAT TECHNOLOGIES
Eco-Bat Technologies is the world’s biggest producer and recycler of lead, and offers a closed recycling loop for lead-acid batteries. Its production facilities use the latest technologies to ensure high quality, efficient and environmentally responsible products which are renowned for their consistency.
Operating revenue: £1,834,549,000
Number of employees: 3,170
Postcode: DE4 2LE
7 (7) TOYOTA MOTOR MANUFACTURING (海角视频)
In 1989 Japanese car manufacturing giant Toyota announced plans to establish its first European factory at Burnaston, near Derby – and in December that year it established Toyota Motor Manufacturing (海角视频).
But it was not until 1992 that the first Burnaston-built car rolled off the production line.
Today, the majority of the cars manufactured at Burnaston are hybrids, running on a combination of petrol and electricity.
The powertrains are manufactured at Toyota’s engine-making plant at Deeside, in North Wales.
Both Deeside and Burnaston represent a total investment by Toyota of £2.75 billion.
Operating revenue: £2,626,072,000
Number of employees: 2,657
Postcode: DE1 9TA
6 (3) BARRATT DEVELOPMENTS PLC
Britain’s biggest housebuilder lost more than £1.3 billion in sales as a result of lockdown – reflected in the figures used here.
Revenues at Barratt Developments, which is based in north west Leicestershire, dropped almost 30 per cent over the year to June 30, 2020, to £3.42 billion.
Pre-tax profits, meanwhile, almost halved – to £492 million compared to £910 million the previous year.
The impact of Covid-19 on the Leicestershire building giant saw the total number of homes it built drop to 12,604 in the 12 months to June 30 – compared to 17,856 a year earlier.
However, despite scrapping a special dividend payment, the business did say sales had gone up substantially during the pandemic.
Operating revenue: £3,419,200,000
Number of employees: 6,422
Postcode: LE67 1UF
5 (6) FRASERS GROUP (formerly SPORTS DIRECT INTERNATIONAL PLC)
Founded in 1982, Mike Ashley’s retail group is the 海角视频’s biggest sporting goods retailer by revenue, and operates a diversified portfolio of sports, fitness, fashion and lifestyle fascias and brands.
The group also wholesales and licenses its brands to partners in the 海角视频, continental Europe, the Americas, and the Far East.
Mr Ashley recently sold Newcastle United FC and was one of the parties interested in buying Derby County out of administration prior to its sale last week to Clowes Developments.
Operating revenue: £3,957,400,000
Number of employees: 30,179
Postcode: NG20 8RY
4 (5) NEXT PLC
Leicestershire-based fashion retailer Next also moves up a space. The business has remained strong due to its proactive approach during Covid-19, subsequent global stock shortages, general HGV driver shortages – partly caused by Brexit – rising international freight costs and recent price rises.
Back in the spring chief executive Simon Wolfson said the business was doing well, with online sales in particular looking positive and pent-up demand among shoppers wanting to spend money saved during lockdown.
With war raging in Eastern Europe and inflation rising at an eye-watering rate, there were new issues for the boss of Next to address.
First and foremost it announced it was winding down a distribution site in Russia and pulled online operations from Russia and Ukraine. That will cost £85 million in sales over the next year and cut profits by £18 million – largely offset by better margins at home.
Lord Wolfson said the next 12 months would be even tougher than the last, with average sales prices expected to rise from the current rate of 3.7 per cent up to between six and eight per cent in the second half of the year.
The cost of Next homeware and furniture in particular, he said, is expected to go up by 13 per cent.
Operating revenue: £4,266,200,000
Number of employees: 25,491
Postcode: LE19 4AT
3 (4) PENDRAGON PLC
The Pendragon car dealership business has moved up a space this year from fourth on our list. Founded in 1989, it represents more than 20 vehicle manufacturers at more than 160 sites across the 海角视频 under the Evans Halshaw, Stratstone and Car Store brands. It sells new and used vehicles and provides expert aftercare services, as well as fleet and leasing services.
Operating revenue: £4,506,100,000
Number of employees: 9,564
Postcode: NG15 0DR
2 (2) SYTNER GROUP
Based out of Grove Park, Leicester, Sytner has built a reputation as a new and used retailer of some of the most prestigious car brands in Britain.
They include the likes of Aston Martin, BMW, McLaren, Jaguar, Rolls Royce and Land Rover.
In 1968, Frank Sytner and his older brother Alan (previously the owner of the world famous Cavern Club in Liverpool) opened their first used car dealership in Nottingham.
Just two years later, the brothers were awarded the BMW franchise for Nottingham – and Frank began his successful motorsport career. It culminated with him winning two British Touring car championships in 1988 and 1990 with BMW.
After that Frank decided to focus his energy on expanding the BMW business and the expansion of the company began in 1993 with the acquisition of a BMW dealership in Leicester and was quickly followed by a third BMW operation in Sheffield.
Operating revenue: £5,915,844,000
Number of employees: 10489
Postcode: LE19 1ST
1 (1) BOOTS 海角视频
The East Midlands’ biggest business has been making headlines recently.]
Some time ago the Nottingham pharmacy group’s US owner Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) announced the 海角视频 business was up for sale.
Even as recently as early June there were indicators a £5 billion-or-so sale might be imminent from a partnership of Reliance Industries – led by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani – and Apollo Global.
However, just a week ago the sale was pulled with Walgreens Boots Alliance saying it will now keep Boots and the No7 beauty brand under its existing ownership following an “unexpected and dramatic change” in the financial markets.
Despite the big news, it’s not all doom and gloom for the business which has 2,000 海角视频 stores.
Only last Thursday WBA said Boots sales had grown 13.5 per cent in the three months to May, as shoppers headed back to 海角视频 high streets, with sales of beauty products doing well.
The parent company said it was helped by a bounce in high street footfall compared with the same period last year when pandemic restrictions were in place.
Footfall across stores was up roughly 45 per cent, with strong performances in flagship stores and travel locations, which basket sizes were up roughly 14 per cent against pre-pandemic levels.
Sebastian James, managing director of Boots 海角视频 & ROI, said a recent transformation programme and growing key categories of healthcare and beauty, has driven strong sales and market share growth and strengthened its position as “the 海角视频’s leading health and beauty retailer”.
He said: “Significant investment in both our digital platforms and in our stores is expected to drive continued market leading growth.
“As store footfall returns to pre-pandemic levels and with cost of living pressures increasing, the launch of our Price Advantage scheme, the expansion of our own label product range and our commitment to freeze prices on 1,500 essential products have been particularly well received by customers.”
Operating revenue: £8,711,813,000
Number of employees: 43,742
Postcode: NG2 3AA