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,[1] and alumni dinners during the year. The league table is researched and produced by Fast Track, an Oxford based research and networking events business.[2]
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[3] by Hamish Stevenson,[4] [5] it now publishes seven annual league tables and brings company founders and directors together at invitation-only networking awards events and alumni dinners.[6]
Companies have to meet the criteria below to be able to qualify for the Top Track 250 league table:[7] [8]
Exclusions
Companies that do not meet all the criteria can still be considered for the Ones to Watch programme,[9] particularly if they forecast good sales growth
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:
The 16th annual Sunday Times Top Track 250 league table supplement was published on 27 September 2020 and featured established brands including Dr Martens,[28] and Thatchers Cider[29] as well as number 1 ranked company Turner & Townsend.[30]
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.[31]
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.[32]
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.[33]
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.[34]
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 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.
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.[35]
| Rank | Company name | Sector | Location | T/o(Sales) (£ Million) | Profit(nett) (£ Million) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Flybe | Airline | Exeter | £536 | £38 | |
| 2. | Construction (PM) | London | £531 | £6.8 | ||
| 3. | Construction (M&E) | Leeds | £524 | |||
| 4. | Food production | Leicestershire | £518 | |||
| 5. | Odeon Cinemas & UCI Cinemas Group | Leisure | London | £517 | ||
| 6. | Car Manufacturer | Warwickshire | £515 | |||
| 7. | Household appliances | Wiltshire | £514 | |||
| 8. | Engineering & aerospace | Sheffield | £492 | |||
| 9. | Construction | Stevenage | £492 | |||
| 10. | Retirement home Builders | Bournemouth | £471 | |||
| 11. | Motor Racing | London | ||||
| 12. | Port operator | London | ||||
| 13. | Car Dealerships | Northampton | ||||
| 14. | Healthcare provider | Burton on Trent | ||||
| 15. | Conglomerate | Edinburgh | ||||
| 16. | Healthcare provider | London | ||||
| 17. | Property developer | Brentwood | ||||
| 18. | Newspapers & Publishing | London | ||||
| 19. | Outsourcing provider | London | ||||
| 20. | Department store operator | London | £440 | £45.8 | ||
| 21. | Gondola | |||||
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| 24. | Food production | Norwich | £422 | £21.6 | ||
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| 27. | Whiskey Distiller | |||||
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| 36. | Cereal manufacturer | Northamptonshire | £372 | £61.1 | ||
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| 49. | Department store operator | London | £348 | |||
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| 52. | Alexander Mann Solutions | |||||
| 53. | Newspaper publishing | London | £341 | |||
| 54. | (formerly Virgin music shops) Retail | London | £341 | |||
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| 58. | Fuel distributors | Leeds | £335 | £2.1 | ||
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| 66. | Direct Wines (Laithwaites) | Mailorder Wine Distributor | £317 | £2.7 | ||
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| 70. | Health clubs | Milton Keynes | £313 | £19.2 | ||
| 71. | Communications | Warwick | £311 | £22 | ||
| 72. | Retail operators (Discount shops) | West Midlands | £311 | |||
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| 87. | Fuel distributor | Hull | £294 | |||
| 88. | Yacht builder | Poole (Dorset) | £293 | £13.7 | ||
| 89. | Building supplies (Windows) | Norwich | £292 | £8.2 | ||
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| 97. | Media publisher | London | £283 | |||
| 98. | Department store | Newcastle | £280 | |||
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| 106. | Fuel distributor | Chesterfield | £274 | |||
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| 108. | Online food retailer | Hatfield | £272 | |||
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| 116. | Steel Distributor | Bradford | £261 | |||
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| 122. | Car park operator | Croydon | £253 | |||
| 123. | Holiday park operator | Nottinghamshire | £251 | |||
| 124. | Building Contractors | Chichester | £251 | |||
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| 134. | Building contractor | Flintshire | £245 | |||
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| 136. | Budget Hotel chain | Oxfordshire | £243 | |||
| 140. | Retailer, | Liverpool | £240 | |||
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| 157. | Sandwich & Coffee shops | London | £222 | |||
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| 160. | City Refrigeration Holdings | |||||
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| 166. | Car & JCB Dealerships | Derbyshire | £215 | |||
| 169. | Book retailer | London | £215 | -£9.5 | ||
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| 171. | Coach & Bus builders | Falkirk | £213 | |||
| 174. | Internet retailer | East Yorkshire | £212 | |||
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| 179. | Football Club | Manchester | £210 | |||
| 180. | Car Distributor | Chesterfield | £209 | |||
| 187. | Race car builder & team | Surrey | £206 | |||
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| 191. | Football team | London | £200 | |||
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| 193. | Health club operator | Hatfield | £198 | |||
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| 195. | Transport specialist | Middlesbrough | £196 | |||
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| 207. | Forecourt operator | Hertfordshire | £191 | |||
| 208. | Cable Distributor | Middlesbrough | £191 | |||
| 209. | Caravan & Motorhome manufacture | East Yorkshire | £191 | |||
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| 217. | Construction | Lincolnshire | £188 | |||
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| 225. | Online Bookmaker | London | £181 | |||
| 227. | Electronics retailer | Rotherham | £179 | |||
| 229. | Shearings (Wallace Arnold) | Tour operator | Lancashire | £179 | ||
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| 231. | Bridges, Steel & Engineering | Reading | £177 | |||
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| 234. | Electricity supplier | Worcestershire | £175 | |||
| 236. | Car distributor | Sheffield | £173 | |||
| 237. | Davies Turner | |||||
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| 242. | Recycling & Scrap merchants | Rotherham | £169 | |||
| 250. | Department store operator | London | £166 |
Top Track 250 is one of seven league tables of private companies produced by Fast Track and published in The Sunday Times: