The 200 top performing businesses in the East Midlands have seen their profits grow by 30 per cent over the last three years, according to a detailed new study.
However, Grant Thornton’s latest annual East Midlands Top 200 report suggested profit growth was down on the 35 per cent calculated the year before.
The report showed the most successful firms out there grew staff numbers by 8.2 per cent between 2015 and 2018 – a reflection of a trend for bigger companies making it onto the list such as Coalville’s Barratt Developments, Joules in Market Harborough and Bloor Homes in Measham.
Around three-quarters of the accountancy firm’s top 200 continue to be small and medium sized businesses.
Between them all, the 200 provide jobs for some 68,000 people.
The report names new entrant 海角视频 Carbon & Graphite Company, in Belper, Derbyshire, as the region’s number one business for profit growth, with a 198 percent compound growth since 2015.
In the year to June 2018, pre-tax profits for the company – which principally provides graphite rods and electrodes to steel producers – grew from less than £850,000 to more than £17 million.
Turnover last year went from £18.7 million to more than £82 million.
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The phenomenal growth was put down to a “global panic” in the market for the products it provides brought on by big policy changes in China.
Lincolnshire aggregates supplier Ballast Phoenix had a compound growth in profit of 134 percent for the three years under review which earned it second place on the report.
It turned over around £56 million last year with pre-tax profits up to almost £12 million.
Lincoln Protein takes the number three spot, Market Harborough interior design agency Sheridan & Company is in fourth, and Derbyshire’s Global Brands Group is in fifth place.
Of the 200 businesses on the report, 57 are based in each of Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, 50 in Derbyshire and 36 in Lincolnshire.
Grant Thornton said that together, the top 200 businesses have a combined annual turnover of £18.6 billion, with an average 13 percent growth in annual turnover.
They had an average operating profit of £2 million and profit margin of 10.9 percent.
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Grant Thornton said Employees at the East Midlands’ top 200 businesses have seen an average wage growth of 3.3 percent.
A total of eleven companies have returned to the Top 200 list for the fifth time in seven years, and Newark-based haulage company Walker & Son is the only company to have appeared on the report for six out of the last seven years it has been running.
The top three sectors represented are business support services – accounting for a quarter of company’s on the list – property and construction (20 per cent) and industrial and manufacturing (18 percent).
Mark Pashley, director at Grant Thornton’s East Midlands regional office, said: “The 200 businesses making it onto our list this year are a great example of what the East Midlands has to offer.
“The local economy is strong and in great shape to support fast growing businesses, with 91 of the top 200 being new entrants that haven’t appeared on the list in previous years.
“Whilst our top 200 have grown profits by an average of 30 percent, down slightly from 35 percent reported last year, their turnover growth is 12.7 percent from around £13 billion to £18.6 billion, and have made a large increase in total employment numbers up to 68,055, reflecting a trend of a number of larger businesses making it into this year’s report.
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“Around three-quarters of the top 200 continue to be small and medium sized businesses, which are the powerhouses of the East Midlands economy, and are drawn from a very broad range of market sectors and industries, further emphasising the region’s diversity and durability.
“The 海角视频 has faced continued political uncertainties over the past few years surrounding its potential exit from the European Union and now the election of a new Prime Minister.
“Our data shows how resilient East Midlands businesses are, as they continue to make positive decisions with cautious optimism, helping to drive the regions’ prosperity.”
Grant Thornton partner and corporate finance specialist John Bryant, who is based at the firm’s new Nottingham office, said: “Our region continues to exhibit a vibrant mix of successful and dynamic businesses that promote the East Midlands as a fantastic place to work, live and do business.
“Our report shows that the region’s businesses continue to innovate and make optimistic strides forward, supported by a strong local economy.”
The report analyses the financial performance of the 200 businesses in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire that have delivered the greatest, sustained profit growth between 2015 and 2018.
The 11 companies to have appeared on the top 200 for five out of the seven years it has been published are: Games Workshop Group, Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground, The Long Rake Spar Company, Skills Leisure, Derbyshire Aggregates, Walker & Son, Pochin Plumbing & Heating, Parkers Motor Services, Freeths, Smith Brothers (Leicester), and Ambitions Personnel.
The list was put together in association with the CBI, HSBC and Macildowie.