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Into the top 250
Despite the tough economy, two thirds of companies in the latest Top Track 250 table improved their operating profit margin in their latest year, and 93% increased their sales to a combined £68 billion, equivalent to 5% of GDP. Staff numbers were up 36,000 from the previous year to 410,000, representing 1.4% of the UK workforce.
The top Thames Valley spot was claimed by Reading- based WSH (29th), whose Benugo café brand has sites in numerous public attractions
including the Natural History Museum, Edinburgh Castle and Westminster Abbey. It also operates BaxterStorey, which recently won a five-year catering contract with British Airways. Founder Alastair Storey is chairman and chief executive of the 13-year-old company that now has over 10,000 staff.
Newbury-based car dealership Ridgeway Group (36th) was founded 16 years ago with just one Audi and two Volkswagen outlets, but has continued its prolific growth in southern England under chairman David
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Newman and chief executive John O’Hanlon. The company added its first Land Rover franchise in May and now has marques that include BMW, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz.
Airwave Solutions (43rd) at Slough provides secure radio communications for all three emergency services in Britain, though these contracts are due to expire in 2016. It also works with local authorities, utilities and transport providers. In 2007 Macquarie paid Telefonica £1.9b for the business and since then chief executive Richard Bobbett has invested £1.4b to upgrade the Airwave network, which covers 99% of mainland Britain.
Making the top 50 was Marlow- based Softcat (48th), which sources and resells software, hardware, security systems, data storage and IT services to companies, the NHS and local authorities in Britain. Under chairman Martin Hellawell, the IT reseller has recently expanded by opening branches in Manchester and London, with sales up 30% year-on-year in 2012.
Cryptologist Eugene Kaspersky founded the cyber-security firm Kaspersky Lab (52nd) 16 years ago in Moscow to develop anti- virus, anti-spam, mobile security and email protection software. In 2007. Its holding company was registered in Oxfordshire to help with expansion plans and the company has since opened an office in Washington to sell to the American government.
Wellness Foods at Chertsey (129th) were one of three Surrey-based companies that made the top 200. Dorset Cereals and Rowse Honey are two of the many brands of Wellness, which supplies most of the big supermarkets with own-label prepared fruit and smoothies. Founded in 2005 by chief executive Michael Griffin, it is majority-owned by Erbium
Capital, an investment vehicle of Irish entrepreneurs JP McManus, John Magnier and Dermot Desmond.
James Walker Group at Woking (151st) provides sealing services for the oil, gas, power and marine sectors, and installs noise and vibration-reduction systems for the rail and mass transit industry. Founded in London in 1882 by Scottish engineer James Walker, it now has more than 50 sites around the world.
Also keeping the flag flying for Surrey is Colbornes of Guildford (160th), which first introduced Volkswagen cars to the British public in 1949. The dealership changed ownership seven years ago and is now led by John Walsh and Richard Neulaender. It has seven sites representing Audi and Volkwagen, and also has a trade parts, commercial vehicles and bodyshop operation.
Buckinghamshire was represented in the table by DX Group at Iver (134th), which delivers and collects 1 million orders a day specialising in high value, time-sensitive items such as optical lenses and passports. Clients include Specsavers and Argos, as well as government agencies and law firms. In 2010, chief executive Petar Cvetkovic and chairman David Hoare led a buyin when former lenders, including Axa and Prudential, swapped debt for a 49% stake, and owner Arle Capital injected a further £15m.
Four other companies listed in the latter section of the table are Fresh Direct, the Bicester food distributor (206), Gamma Telecom at Newbury (236), Leasedrive at Wokingham (241) and Vines the Guildford car dealership (250).
The Top Track 250 is published by the Sunday Times, sponsored by Grant Thornton and compiled by Oxford-based Fast Track.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – DECEMBER13/JANUARY14
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