This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
~rising stars~ 10. Wiggle


Turnover: £86.8m (+56%) Pre-tax profits: £10.5m (+42%) Sector: Retail Based: Portsmouth In the late 1990s, during the birth of online retail, Harvey Jones and Mitch Dall quickly recognised the opportunity that the internet presented as a sales channel for cycle accessories, and co-founded Wiggle.co.uk in 1999. Wiggle acquired a loyal following and within five years had a turnover of £11 million. In the summer of 2008, Wiggle started to push overseas sales, translating the website into different languages and handling other currencies. Within six months, international sales had increased tenfold. Since then, sales have risen notably, with the company reporting a massive increase in turnover from £33.15 million in 2009 to £86.79 million in the year ended 31 January 2011. Profits have also soared from £4.51 million to £10.53 million in the same period.


13. La Fosse Associates


Turnover: £7.5m (+129%) Pre-tax profits: £726,339 (+15%) Sector: Recruitment Based: London La Fosse Associates serves the technology sector and was founded by CEO Simon La Fosse in 2007. Its growth trajectory has been impressive and its plans include expanding beyond its two offices and increasing employee numbers tenfold. ‘I want to reinvest as much profit as I can in growing,’ he says. ‘The truest measure of growth for me is people.’ And to keep them happy he says that 40 per cent of the business’s equity is made available to the ‘people that help run it’. It’s this opportunity for wealth creation that La Fosse believes will sustain his venture.


15. Your Golf Travel


Turnover: £27m (+64%) Pre-tax profits: Approx. £900,000 (+350%) Sector: Travel Based: London Durham University friends Ross Marshall and Andrew Harding founded Your Golf Travel after graduating. The duo used their industry contacts to set up the golf packages business, financed by credit cards and their own ‘limited savings’. The company boasts a high recurring booking rate, with 51 per cent of people who booked with them in 2009 doing so again in 2010. Data capture technology is now helping to target customers. With the launch of a couple of sister companies, SpaBreaks.com and RacingBreaks.com, the focus is on building those brands and marketing the group of companies. Marshall observes, ‘Now our technology is more sophisticated, the future of our business is going to be technologically driven.’


11. Primesight


Turnover: £50.1m (+63%) Pre-tax profits: £5m (+121%) Sector: Advertising Based: London Outdoor advertising business Primesight has been operating since 1984 and boasts over 20,000 advertising boards placed throughout the UK. The purchase of competitor Titan’s roadsdie assets in September 2009 doubled the size of the business. CEO Naren Patel observes that audiences aren’t declining in the outdoor sector, which puts Primesight in a ‘good place’. ‘Most of our energy is going into the digital space – it’s an exciting area,’ he says, explaining where the company’s focus will lie in the coming 12 months. Internally, the business is keen to foster a culture of communication. The emphasis is on establishing goals that are ‘realistic but challenging’ and that everyone can work towards, says Patel.


12. Judges Scientific


Turnover: £16m (+42%) Pre-tax profits: £2.8m (+75%) Sector: Science/Manufacturing Based: West Sussex Growth at scientific instrument manufacturer Judges Scientific has been driven primarily by acquisitions, a strategy that CEO David Cicurel says is the only realistic route to achieving the £50 million market cap he is striving for. Cicurel is optimistic that the next year will see two new business purchases, adding that there are an array of attractive targets for his venture to choose from. But it’s not all about buy-and-build. Cicurel says much of Judges Scientific’s success can be attributed to being located in a thriving sector. ‘We are on an up escalator right now,’ he argues. The recent uplift in sales and profits would seem to add a lot of weight to this claim.


14. INTO University Partnerships


Turnover: £10.3m (+71%) Pre-tax profits: £708,000 (+291%) Sector: Education Based: Brighton John Sykes, group managing director of INTO University Partnerships, estimates that there are four million students studying outside their home countries. Founded in 2006 by current chairman Andrew Colin following an initial joint venture with the University of East Anglia, the business has expanded rapidly and now operates 12 university-based study centres across three continents. He says the company’s ‘robust management’, £250 million investment in learning centres, and a global sales and marketing infrastructure has helped its growth and reputation for academic excellence.


16. Thunderhead


Turnover: £25.7m (+40%) Pre-tax profits: £5.1m (+76%) Sector: Communications software Based: London Launched in 2001 by chief executive Glen Manchester, the expansion of the London communications software company has been driven largely by its international operations in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. There has been a remarkable take-up of Thunderhead’s communications platform in North America, a market that accounted for half of its revenues last year. Manchester says, ‘Becoming customer-centric is an increasingly important objective for organisations in all sectors. Social media and mobile internet are radically changing the nature of customer communications, as well as increasing competition by enabling new business models.’


business xl 33


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60