Fast growth in exports success for Midlands firms
Companies from Staffordshire and Shropshire feature in a league table of 200 mid-market private businesses with the fastest-growing international sales.
Newport's Jupiter Group is the highest ranked at 22 – down from 17 a year before – in the 10th annual Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 league table.
New entrants to the league table are Stafford-based TopCashback at 141; Busy Bees, Burntwood, at 184 and Rosewood Pet Products, Telford, 189.
Busy Bees, which looks after more than 50,000 children and employs 9,979 at its 550 nurseries from Canada to Malaysia, has announced plans for 32 nurseries to open in China. Overseas sales grew 35 per cent over two years to hit £94.9m, on total sales of £327.5m, in 2017.
The companies in the Midlands appear alongside well-known British brands, including BrewDog, now valued at over £1bn.
Fruit grower and exporter Jupiter, which employs 83, saw 107 per cent growth over two years to £11m on total sales of £49.3m. It bought South African fresh produce supplier Bonaire in November.
Rosewood, which has a workforce of 67, had 34 per cent growth to £4.2m from £29.1m. Its 4,000 strong product line is sold in more than 60 countries
TopCashback, the cashback website which employs 177, increased by 47 per cent to £24.8m from £109.2m
The average international sales growth for the 200 companies was 69 per cent a year, to a total of £14.1bn on combined total sales of £30.9bn. Together they employ 140,000 staff, having added 38,000 employees to their combined workforce over the period.
The full league table is published as a 10-page supplement with the business section of The Sunday Times on February 10.
Amanda Murphy, Head of Commercial Banking, HSBC UK, said: “We at HSBC UK are delighted to back The Sunday Times International Track 200 again this year. All the businesses it showcases have truly inspiring stories to tell about creativity, resilience and ambition to succeed.
"The 16 companies in the Midlands are putting the region firmly on the map. They are the kinds of enterprises we are thrilled to support and that provide the backbone of our economy, today and tomorrow.”
