FOUR stellar-growth companies from Northern Ireland, who between them have achieved sales of £3.8 billion and banked profits of £154 million in their latest financial year, are included in the 18th annual Sunday Times HSBC Top Track 100 league table.
It ranks private companies with the biggest sales, and features 100 of the UK’s most ambitious private enterprises, each of which have shown their mettle by shrugging off economic uncertainty in the last year.
The local quartet in the list are W&R Barnett (ranked at number 48) and Henderson Group (83rd), both of whom featured in the list last year, and newcomers LCC Group (63th) and Graham (95th).
W&R Barnett, which was founded in 1896 as a grain merchant, now also has interests in oils and molasses as well as packaging, animal feeds, storage and horse breeding. Its sales rose 11 per cent to £1.2bn in 2018, helped by two acquisitions. Employing 1,567 staff, it was 51st last year.
Food wholesaler and retailer Henderson Group, which has risen four places from 2018, employs 3,570 staff. Its sales rose to £853m and its profit came in at £46m. The group owns the Spar, EuroSpar, Vivo, VivoXtra and Vivo Essentials franchises in the north.
LCC Group in Cookstown, which operates 35 Go petrol stations as well as Go Power, saw sales rise 16 per cent to £991m in 2018, while family-run construction and civil engineering services firm Graham in Hillsborough, which has 2,108 staff across 23 UK offices, grew sales by 36 per cent to £768m, helped by targeted bidding for projects and investment in staff.
The four companies appear in the league table alongside well-known British names, including bet365, Clarks, Iceland, JCB, John Lewis Partnership, Nando’s and Specsavers.
This year, the 100 companies reached a record £220bn in total sales, up 14 per cent on the prior year, with total profits of £24.6bn, up by 15 per cent. Almost four in five companies (78 per cent) increased sales in their latest financial year.
Amanda Murphy, head of commercial banking at HSBC UK, said: “Once again, the UK’s most ambitious private enterprises have shown their mettle by shrugging off uncertainty, growing their combined sales 14 per cent to a record £220bn.
It's reassuring that UK businesses are navigating change so confidently and the companies in the Top Track 100 are an inspiration to all. The four companies in Northern Ireland are the kinds of firms that provide the backbone of our economy, and we at HSBC UK are thrilled to see them thrive.”
