news Tracking the profit
McLaren not only knows how to roar around the world’s Formula One race tracks faster than anyone else – with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button having teamed up successfully in the cockpits – but the Woking-based group are also leading the way when it comes to making profits.
Thanks also to its lesser-known offshoots, the group was the region’s top company in the latest Sunday Times Profit Track 100 table which lists British firms in terms of profit over a three-year period.
While its F1 activities bring the group world-wide prestige, and its automotive division designs and manufactures supercars that cost more than £100,000 each, McLaren also has an electronics company that sells software and technology to Indy Racing teams and the American government; a division that works with organisations such as UK Sport to improve performance in sport; and even an upmarket catering company which runs restaurants in Chelsea Design Centre and Harvey Nichols.
Founded nearly 50 years ago and still led by Ron Dennis, the group now employs over 1,500 staff and grew profits by 146% a year, from £2.2 million in 2006 to £32.6m in 2009, to gain fourth place overall in the Profit Track table.
The Wokingham-based company Airinmar Holdings, at number 19, was the top-placed Berkshire listing. Group chief executive Malcolm Fullbrook set up Airinmar in 1985 to manage aircraft repairs for big airlines, aircraft manufacturers, repair organisations and aircraft stockists.
The company now manages all aspects of the repair process, from removing parts from aircraft to delivering them back to the customer. It now employs some 125 people and has a global capability by using web-based technology; clients include the Royal Air Force, Qantas Airways and United Airlines. Profits grew by 96% a year, from £785,000 in 2007 to £5.9m in 2010.
The top Oxfordshire company in the league table was Audley Travel, which came in at 26 after profits rose 83% a year, from £1.2m in 2006 to £7.3m in 2009. Whether it’s watching polar bears on Hudson Bay, crossing Asia by train, trekking in the rainforests of Madagascar or relaxing on a beach in French Polynesia, Audley specialises in finding the right route for its clients.
Founders Craig Burkinshaw and John Brewer maxed out their credit cards in 1996 to start the firm, at first running small group tours in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Wokingham-based Leasedrive Velo was at no. 40 in the league table, having been created through the merger of Leasedrive and Velo in 2007. This vehicle management firm leases a fleet of 42,000 cars and vans to blue-chip companies across Britain, and counts T-Mobile, Marks & Spencer and British Airways among its customers. It also advises clients on such issues as cars’ green credentials, health-and-safety scores, fuel efficiency and taxation.
In December the company acquired a big competitor, Masterlease, in a deal with Investec which, it says, will quadruple its size. Led by managing director David Bird, profits grew 65% a year, from £700,000 in 2006 to £3.1m in 2009.
Priory Group, one of Britain’s largest independent providers of acute mental-health services, complex care, specialist education and neuro- rehabilitation services, made number 55 in the table. The Leatherhead- based company was established in 1980 and operates from 66 sites.
Under chief executive Philip Scott it grew profits 57% a year, from £17.3m in 2006 to £67.1m in 2009. The business was bought from Royal Bank of Scotland by the private- equity firm Advent International in January for a reported enterprise value of £925m.
Two more Surrey-based companies scraped into the lower end of the league table. Marlborough Communications (no.94), based near Gatwick airport, designs and develops communications equipment for the Ministry of Defence. It has experienced a surge of orders for equipment to be used in Afghanistan, boosting profits by 44% a year, from £1.2m in 2006 to £3.7m in 2009.
Prater (no.96), based near Reigate, was formerly a roofing contractor but has diversified over the past 15 years. It lifted profits by 43% a year, from £2.7m in 2006 to £7.9m in 2009, and is now working on a number of structures for the 2012 Olympics..
The Profit Track 100 is compiled by Oxford-based Fast Track, published in the Sunday Times and sponsored by PwC.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MAY 2011 Business T H E TM MAGAZINE:DIGITAL
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