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Region's businesses make the Top Track 100


TI Automotive, which has its UK headquarters at Oxford, was the best-selling company in the Thames Valley for the second year running, according to the Top Track 100 league table which ranks Britain’s private companies with the biggest sales.


No company from the region managed to make the top 20 of the 12th annual listing, but TI came closest with £1.97 billion sales putting it in 22nd place


overall. Alliance Boots, the pharmaceutical group, was top for the fourth year in a row with sales of £22.4b in the year to March.


TI Automotive was founded in 2001 and makes fuel tanks, brake lines and other fluid- carrying systems for cars and vans. It has invested £34 million in product development – 2% of its sales in 2012 – to help improve fuel economy and vehicle safety, and it recently


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introduced the world’s first plastic fuel tank specially designed for hybrid vehicles.


With customers including most of the main motor manufacturers, the company opened its fifth production facility in India in February. Led by chairman Bill Kozyra, the group employs nearly 18,500 staff and last year made £230m profit.


The second-placed Thames Valley company was Reading- based Thames Water, which was in top place two years ago and is up from third last year. In the national table it was pipped by TI by just one place.


Thames Water was founded in 1989 and is now Britain’s biggest water and waste-water business with over 4,500 staff. It has 14 million customers in London and the Thames Valley, and is now targeting growth across Britain – in April one of its divisions signed its first deal north of the border to supply Jurys Inn hotels in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. It made just over £1b profit in the past year from sales of £1.8b, and despite debts of £9b it says it is spending £5b to upgrade its network.


Thames Water is led by chief executive Martin Braggs. It is owned by a consortium led by Macquarie European Infrastructure Funds, and the Canadian infrastructure fund Aquila bought a minority stake in April.


Third in the regional list (26 nationally) was SSP, the Weybridge-based group that provides food and drink at airports, railway stations and motorway service areas in 30 countries. Its 2,150 outlets feature own brands such as Caffè Ritazza, Upper Crust and Millie’s Cookies, as well as franchises for brands including M&S Simply Food and Burger King.


Led by chief executive Andrew Lynch, it is continuing to expand and last year won contracts to run catering outlets at two airports in China and one in


America. Last year profits were £139m from sales of £1.73b.


Westcoast, the Reading group which distributes IT products and services to more than 8,000 customers, was at number 52. Its range includes servers, storage devices, printers and audio-visual equipment from companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, Hewlett- Packard and Toshiba.


The company was established in 1984 by Joe Hemani and is still owned 100% and run by the 66-year-old entrepreneur. It now employs nearly 800 staff and last year made £11m profit after reaching sales of more than £1b for the first time.


Oxford-based Unipart, in the top 50 for the past two years, slipped back to 60th place. It manages the supply chains of customers such as Jaguar, BSkyB and Homebase.


Since its formation in 1987, Unipart has been led by chairman and group chief executive John Neill. The company’s disposal in 2011 of a 50.1% stake in its automotive division led to a 15% sales drop in 2012 to £906m, but recorded £11m profit and is expanding overseas.


Biffa, the High Wycombe company started by Richard Biffa exactly 100 years ago, was 70th in the national list. It collects ashes from London power stations and currently has 2,000 refuse trucks hitting the road every morning.


Last year Biffa’s lenders swapped their loans for equity when the company failed a covenant test. The resulting restructuring more than halved its net debts to £430m with a £75m cash injection. Chief executive Ian Wakelin reported a 9% increase in sales in 2012 to £843m.


Expro International at Reading, the oilfield services provider, failed to make the Top Track 100 last year but squeezed into the latest list at number 78. Chief executive Charles Woodburn reported sales of £758m in the year to March, up 20%.


The Top Track 100 was published in the Sunday Times, sponsored by BDO and compiled by Oxford- based Fast Track.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – OCTOBER 2013


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