Profits grow at record rate for East Midlands’ top 200 businesses

Phil Sayers, Grant Thornton.

East Midlands’ businesses have experienced the highest average compound growth rate in profits since 2013, according to the initial findings of the annual Top 200 report produced by Grant Thornton UK LLP in partnership with the CBI.

Of the 200 companies on The East Midlands Top 200 Report, 85% have shown annual growth in profit of between 10% and 50%, with the average profit in the region of £2.7m.

Now in its fourth year, the East Midlands Top 200 report is produced by the Leicester office of Grant Thornton UK LLP and the CBI. It is the region’s only dynamic, in depth study of the growth, performance and percentage rise in the profitability of businesses that are managed and run from the East Midlands, from a regional perspective and by individual market sector and county.

The report ranks businesses by the percentage growth in profitability, so highlights both established and up-and-coming businesses, as well as tracking the fortunes of the regional economy, and provides insights into the East Midlands’ fastest growing companies by key sector and performance indicators, providing a barometer of economic performance.

As well as record profit growth, job creation is another key finding of the 2016 Report, as Grant Thornton’s Phil Sayers, Partner in the firm’s Leicester office, explains: “The initial findings of this year’s East Midlands Top 200 Report reveal that these businesses have created 36% more net new jobs over the last 3 years.”

He adds: “The East Midlands Top 200 survey involves a detailed analysis of the financial performance of the region’s 200 fastest growing companies, providing a snapshot of the health of the East Midlands economy, ranking them based on profit growth over a three year period.

“Initial analysis of the 2016 data reveals that a range of market sectors and industries will feature on this year’s report, illustrating the impressive economic and market diversity of the East Midlands, which plays a significant role in its overall economic performance, durability and sustainability,” he says.

“Whilst a spread of market sectors will feature in 2016, the top performing sectors appear to be manufacturing, services, and property and construction.”

CBI Director-General, Carolyn Fairbairn, said: “Scale-up firms are the unsung heroes of the UK economy – creating jobs, increasing investment and driving exports internationally.

“With seven out of ten of these companies located outside London, supporting entrepreneurial and innovative firms to grow can really help drive prosperity across the UK, as shown here in the East Midlands.

“There’s more we can do to back entrepreneurs and support the true potential of scale-ups. This is why the CBI is calling for more support for quality skills training and entrepreneurs’ relief extended to long-term investors.”

The full findings and all 200 businesses making the 2016 East Midlands Top 200 Report will be unveiled at a breakfast event at the Radisson Blu East Midlands, Derby, on Friday 6th May 2016 from 8am, sponsored by HSBC.

All Top 200 businesses will be invited to attend, and guest speakers at the event will be Carolyn Fairbairn, Director-General of the CBI, Mark Berrisford, HSBC’s Head of Economics, and Grant Thornton’s Phil Sayers.