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Solent companies making it onto the Top Track 250
The buoyant position of the British car market, which recently reported record car sales, was reflected in the latest southern area section of the Top Track 250 league table. For three of the six regional companies featured in the chart are car dealers – Harwoods, Westover Group and Snows Motor Group.
Harwoods, 31st in the 250 table with sales last year totalling £474.6 million and profits of £13.1m, was founded in 1931 and is still owned 100% by the Harwood family. Chairman Guy Harwood, who was a renowned jockey and horse trainer – his horse Dancing Brave won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 1986 – took over the reins of the dealership from his father and now employs over 800 people.
Harwoods currently has 18 sites in southern England selling luxury marques such as Aston Martin, Bentley, Jaguar and Land Rover. They include Portsmouth,
Southampton, Bramshaw, Basingstoke and Chichester.
The Aston Martin brand has had a special focus recently with the release of the latest James Bond film ’Spectre’ in UK cinemas at the end of October. To mark the occasion the marque has produced a special DB9 GT Bond Edition with just 150 models coming off the production line. “The Bond Edition is likely to be much sought after,“ said the company.
Bournemouth-based Westover (109 in the UK table) began life more than 90 years ago as a Morris Motors dealership, but now has 28 sites in Dorset and Wiltshire. In 1984 chairman Peter Wood led a buyout and has subsequently built the company through a series of acquisitions.
It now employs 675 people who created sales last year of £249.4m with profits of £6.6m. Wood and his family trust own 100% of shares.
Service sector pulls away as manufacturers fear downturn
As the prospects of the UK services and manufacturing industries continue to diverge, the Government’s plans to rebalance the UK economy are increasingly at risk, according to the latest Business Trends Report by accountants and business advisers BDO LLP in Southampton.
BDO’s Optimism Index – which predicts growth six months ahead – remains above its long- term trend at 101.9, indicating that UK businesses expect their order books to continue to grow strongly. However, this is driven by the buoyant services sector, masking serious concerns among manufacturers.
Manufacturers’ optimism is deep in negative territory at 90.2, showing that manufacturers are gloomy about the future. In contrast, the services sector is expecting rapid growth, with optimism scores well above the trend at 104.2.
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Short-term economic prospects – as predicted by BDO’s Output Index – are more positive, with all sectors expecting strong growth and output over the next three months. The BDO Output sub-indices sit at a healthy 103.8 and 103.9 for manufacturing and services respectively.
The contrast between the manufacturers’ Output Index – which reflects actual experience of order intake – and the Optimism Index – which reflects judgements as to how orders will develop – is stark. It seems that the UK’s makers fear a sudden contraction as we go into 2016, even if trading remains strong today.
These trends could see the UK economy become even more unbalanced as sluggish manufacturing growth becomes entrenched and the UK becomes even more reliant on the service sector for growth.
Snows (no. 158) is another family- owned car dealership, selling marques including Toyota, BMW and Lexus at 26 sites across the south, including Portsmouth, Isle of Wight, Winchester, Basingstoke, Romsey and Poole. Based in Southampton, it also operates an accident repair business and eight Too Good to Auction centres that sell part-exchange vehicles.
Founded much more recently than the other two groups, in 1980, Snows recorded sales of £194.8m last year with profits of £2.5m. Under chairman Stephen Snow – his family still owns 90% of shares with management taking the other 10% – it now employs some 500 staff.
Bournemouth-based housebuilder McCarthy & Stone (35 in UK) claims to sell two-thirds of Britain’s owner-occupied retirement housing. It hopes to capitalise on a predicted 50% increase in over- 65s by 2030 and is investing £2 billion over the next four years to build 12,000 new homes.
To support this growth it is opening four new regional offices that are expected to double its output to more than 3,000 units per year in the medium term. Under chief executive Clive Fenton the group’s sales in the last year totalled £470.4m with profits of £95.3m. Founded in 1973, it now employs over 1,100 staff.
Wiggle, the Portsmouth-based online sports goods retailer, was one of two Solent companies in
the lower reaches of the table. At 202 in the table, it sells mainly cycling and triathlon products to customers in 80 countries.
The group’s Wiggle Workshop bike service and repair centres were launched last year with sites in St Albans, Milton Keynes and Cambridge, and there are plans to target further cycling hotspots across Britain.
Wiggle was launched in 1999 and private equity firm Bridgepoint bought a majority stake in the business in 2011, valuing it at £180m. Under chief executive Stefan Barden sales last year were £167.9m showing profits of £2.8m. It now employs some 400 staff.
Havant-based ventilation systems provider Colt (no.239) can trace its roots back to 1931 and made light- blocking ventilation equipment to keep factories safe during WWII blackouts. With a staff of some 960, it now designs and supplies smoke control, ventilation and solar shading for clients in 50 countries.
Last year it expanded production in China to supply customers in Australia, Asia and the Middle East. Still owned by the founding O’Hea family, the firm is led by chief executive Antoine Ligtvoet who saw sales reach £146m last year with profits of £4.2m.
• The 11th annual Sunday Times Top Track 250 league table was sponsored by Grant Thornton and is the sister publication of the Top Track 100 which identifies Britain’s 100 private companies with the biggest sales. Compiled by Oxford- based Fast Track, it ranks the 250 next biggest private companies in the UK.
CLARIFICATION
The figures for law firm Moore Blatch, published in our Solent 250 section in the last edition of The Business Magazine, were incorrect.
The firm, which has recently been recognised as the ’leading UK independent law firm’ by The Lawyer, is in fact at No 160 on the list (and not No 250 as published), with £19.0 million turnover for year ending April 2014.
We apologise for the inaccuracy. THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – DECEMBER 15/JANUARY 16
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