Sunday Times Top Track 250

The Sunday Times Top Track 250 is an annual league table published in association with The Sunday Times newspaper in the UK. It ranks Britain’s private mid-market growth companies with the biggest sales. It is published in The Sunday Times each October, with an awards event typically held in November, and alumni dinners during the year. The league table is researched and produced by Fast Track, an Oxford based research and networking events business.

About Fast Track Fast Track is a leading research and events company that has built a network of the UK’s top-performing private companies, from the fastest-growing to the biggest, through its rankings in The Sunday Times. Founded in 1997 by Hamish Stevenson, it now publishes seven annual league tables and brings company founders and directors together at invitation-only networking awards events and alumni dinners.

Entry criteria Companies have to meet the criteria below to be able to qualify for the Top Track 250 league table:

Sales are typically between £700m (the bottom ranked company on Top Track 100) and £120m UK registered, unquoted, and not subsidiaries Sales are taken as total turnover, net of VAT Sales in the latest year must have grown by 5% or more for companies with the highest sales, graduated to 10% for those with lower sales; or profit growth must have been 5% or more Companies must also have operating profit margins that exceed 2% Trading weeks in the latest year have to exceed 25 Companies may have their ultimate holding company offshore

Exclusions

Companies that are equal joint ventures, or majority-owned by quoted or other companies Companies with the majority of sales generated by their quoted subsidiaries Companies with fewer than 50 staff Not-for-profit companies, co-operative societies, mutual societies, provident associations, and member-owned buying groups

Companies that do not meet all the criteria can still be considered for the Ones to Watch programme, particularly if they forecast good sales growth.

Notable alumni companies Top Track 250 was launched in 2005 to recognise Britain’s private mid-market growth companies with the biggest sales. Since its launch, more than 1,000 companies have appeared on the league table, including:

Dyson, which was first featured in 2005 with sales of £277.1m, and by 2019 was ranked at No.7 on Top Track 100 with sales of £4.4bn, and profits of £1.1bn The Watches of Switzerland Group, which featured 10 times before its IPO in May 2019, valuing it at £647m B&M Retail featured three times from 2009 to 2011, with initial sales of £255.9m, before its IPO in June 2014 valuing it at £2.7bn IHS Markit first featured in 2010 with sales of £305m; floated in 2014 and completed a $13bn merger with IHS in 2016 Ocado first featured in 2006, with sales of £143m and floated in 2010

Latest Top Track 250 list The 16th annual Sunday Times Top Track 250 league table supplement was published on 27 September 2020 and featured established brands including Dr Martens, and Thatchers Cider as well as number 1 ranked company Turner & Townsend.

Previous rankings

2013 Top Track 250 list Virgin Active, the health club operator, was ranked 1st in the Sunday Times Top Track 250 with sales of £641.5 million, a rise of 14 places compared to 2012.

Other significant rises in The Top Track 250 league table include Wonga.com (Sales £309.3 million), with a rise of 140; Countryside Properties (Sales £272.9 million) – rise of 85; Opus Energy (Sales £369.5 million) – a rise of 73; The Range (Sales £381.9 million) – a rise of 63.

2012 Top Track 250 list Shepherd Group, one of the UK's leading family-owned private businesses, was named in 1st position of The Top Track 2012 with sales of £607.7 million.

New entrants to The Top Track 2012 include A.T. Kearney – management consultancy – with sales of £604.1 million; Camelot UK Lotteries – lottery operator – with sales of £574.5 million; Aurora Fashions – fashion retailer – with sales of £568.8 million; City Electrical Factors – electrical parts wholesaler – with sales of £527.2 million.

2011 Top Track 250 list Partnership, the life assurance specialist was ranked number 1 in Top Track 250 for the first time in 2011 with sales of £587.9 million, followed by: Noble Foods – egg products manufacturer – with sales of £558.8 million; Farmfoods – frozen food retailer – with sales of £558 million; Edrington – whisky and rum distiller – with sales of £553.4 million; and Gondola – restaurant operator – at position 5, with sales of £545 million.

2010 Top Track 250 list The Sunday Times Top Track 250 league table list was published on 17 October 2010 with the title sponsor HSBC. The Sixth Annual Sunday Times HSBC Top Track 250 awards dinner was held at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in London on the night of 14 October and was attended by owners and directors of country's leading mid-market private companies. The sixth annual Top Track 250 league table supplement was published in The Sunday Times on 17 October 2010 with HSBC as the title sponsor.

TJ Morris 590.3 (Sales £m), Watson Petroleum 584.7 (Sales £m), Aurora Fashions 550.0 (Sales £m), Vestey Group 541.2 (Sales £m), Dunbia 540.4 (Sales £m), Noble Foods 533.5 (Sales £m), NDS Group 521.7 (Sales £m), Harrods 519.8 (Sales £m), Agricola Group 510.8 (Sales £m), Warburtons 510.5 (Sales £m)

Southall Travel is the only travel agency included in the influential league table. The agency recorded astounding sales of £203.1 million for the year ending in March 2010 and was ranked at 148th place. Other companies from the travel industry listed include Gatwick airport in 16th with sales of £475 million, the Alternative Hotel Group at 18th with sales of £465 million, Travelodge at 71st with sales of £297 million, Park Resorts at 215th with sales of £154 million and Holiday Extras at 236th with sales of £145 million.

2008 Top Track 250 list The 250 companies in the list follow on from the Top Track 100 list published in June. The companies account for 5% of GDP and 1.5% of the UK workforce. The Combined turnover is £69 billion ( up £11 billion on 2007)saw an average profit increase of 67% pa with the maximum increase being 114% pa. Profits across the list vary greatly with many firms in the Profit Track 100 list, totalling over £4 billion. Employees increased from 400,000 to 477,000 in these companies over last years list. The list includes some well known household names, some of whom were taken private (De listed companies). Some are wholly Family owned others are owned by Venture capital trusts, or bank investors. Some previous entrants have now floated.

This list is compiled from the Sunday Times Top Track 250, 2008. Rank Company name Sector Location T/o(Sales) (£ Million) Profit(nett) (£ Million) 1. Flybe Airline Exeter £536 £38 2. Mace Construction (PM) London £531 £6.8 3. NG Bailey Construction (M&E) Leeds £524 4. Samworth Brothers Food production Leicestershire £518 5. Odeon Cinemas & UCI Cinemas Group Leisure London £517 6. Aston Martin Car Manufacturer Warwickshire £515 7. Dyson Household appliances Wiltshire £514 8. Firth Rixson Engineering & aerospace Sheffield £492 9. Morrison Utility Services Construction Stevenage £492 10. McCarthy & Stone Retirement home Builders Bournemouth £471 11. Formula One Administration Motor Racing London 12. Associated British Ports Port operator London 13. Perrys Motor Sales Car Dealerships Northampton 14. Healthcare at Home Healthcare provider Burton on Trent 15. Murray International Conglomerate Edinburgh 16. Spire Healthcare Healthcare provider London 17. Countryside Properties Property developer Brentwood 18. Northern & Shell Newspapers & Publishing London 19. Giant Group Outsourcing provider London 20. Harrods Department store operator London £440 £45.8 21. Gondola 22. Watson Petroleum 23. Edwards Industrial 24. Bernard Matthews Food production Norwich £422 £21.6 25. Warburtons 26. Kearney 27. William Grant & Sons Whiskey Distiller 28. PA Consulting Group 29. Henderson Group 30. CP Holdings 31. Farmfoods 32. Halcrow Group 33. Vertex 34. Willmott Dixon 35. 2 Sisters Food Group 36. Weetabix Cereal manufacturer Northamptonshire £372 £61.1 37. SHS Group 38. Four Seasons Health Care 39. Arqiva 40. BOCM Pauls 41. Carcraft 42. Bargain Booze 43. Noble Foods 44. Pets at Home 45. Dhamecha Foods 46. Northgate Information Solutions 47. Argent Group 48. Barchester Healthcare 49. Selfridges Department store operator London £348 50. Stewart Milne 51. Polstar 52. Alexander Mann Solutions 53. Telegraph Media Group Newspaper publishing London £341 54. Zavvi (formerly Virgin music shops) Retail London £341 55. Pentagon Motor Group 56. Langley Holdings 57. ERM Consultants 58. Bayford & Co Fuel distributors Leeds £335 £2.1 59. Agnew Group 60. James Hall & Company 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. Direct Wines (Laithwaites) Mailorder Wine Distributor £317 £2.7 67. 68. 69. 70. Virgin Active Health clubs Milton Keynes £313 £19.2 71. Telent Communications Warwick £311 £22 72. Poundland Retail operators (Discount shops) West Midlands £311 73. ASCO 74. Eastern Western Motor Group 75. PHS 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. Rix Petroleum Fuel distributor Hull £294 88. Sunseeker International Yacht builder Poole (Dorset) £293 £13.7 89. Anglian Group Building supplies (Windows) Norwich £292 £8.2 90. Ridgeway Group 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. Emap Communications Media publisher London £283 98. Fenwick Department store Newcastle £280 99. Berry Brothers & Rudd 100. Globespan 101. 102. 103. 104. 105. 106. CPL Industries Fuel distributor Chesterfield £274 107. 108. Ocado Online food retailer Hatfield £272 109. 110. Seddon Group 111. Williams Group 112. 113. 114. 115. 116. Barrett Steel Group Steel Distributor Bradford £261 117. 118. 119. 120. Ballyvesy Holdings 121. British Seafood 122. NCP Car park operator Croydon £253 123. Center Parcs UK Holiday park operator Nottinghamshire £251 124. Osbourne Building Contractors Chichester £251 125. Freightliner Group 134. David McLean Building contractor Flintshire £245 135. DC Thomson 136. Travelodge Budget Hotel chain Oxfordshire £243 140. TJ Hughes Retailer, Liverpool £240 150. Vue Entertainment 157. Pret a Manger Sandwich & Coffee shops London £222 158. 159. 160. City Refrigeration Holdings 161. 162. 163. 164. 165. Clancy Docwra 166. TC Harrison Car & JCB Dealerships Derbyshire £215 169. Borders (UK) Book retailer London £215 -£9.5 170. Apollo Group 171. Alexander Dennis Coach & Bus builders Falkirk £213 174. Ebuyer Internet retailer East Yorkshire £212 175. BGL Group 176. 177. 178. 179. Manchester United Football Club Football Club Manchester £210 180. GK Group Car Distributor Chesterfield £209 187. McLaren Automotive Race car builder & team Surrey £206 188. 189. 190. Moody International 191. Arsenal Football Club Football team London £200 192. 193. David Lloyd Leisure Health club operator Hatfield £198 194. 195. Bulkhaul Transport specialist Middlesbrough £196 196. Epwim Group 197. Danoptra 198. Travelsphere 199. Thomas Vale 200. Lamex Food Group 207. Snax 24 Forecourt operator Hertfordshire £191 208. Cleveland Cable Company Cable Distributor Middlesbrough £191 209. Swift Group Caravan & Motorhome manufacture East Yorkshire £191 210. Malcolm Group 217. Simons Group Construction Lincolnshire £188 218. 219. 220. 221. 222. 223. 224. 225. Betfair Online Bookmaker London £181 227. Maplin Electronics Electronics retailer Rotherham £179 229. Shearings (Wallace Arnold) Tour operator Lancashire £179 230. Cromwell Group 231. Mabey Group Bridges, Steel & Engineering Reading £177 232. 233. 234. BizzEnergy Electricity supplier Worcestershire £175 236. Gilders Group Car distributor Sheffield £173 237. Davies Turner| 238. 239. 240. Best Connection Group 241. McNicholas Construction 242. CF Booth Recycling & Scrap merchants Rotherham £169 250. Harvey Nichols Department store operator London £166

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