THAMES 250 VALLEY ® Companies excel in our 10th annual list


The top 250 private companies in the Thames Valley are revealed by The Business Magazine – and our list once again shows some exceptional growth among many businesses in the region.


Despite the economic and political uncertainty, our Thames Valley 250 companies are showing remarkable resilience. Through organic growth or acquisition, a number of businesses have enjoyed a stellar year.


This is the 10th year of the 250 list – sponsored by HSBC UK, Gateley plc, BDO, Henley Business School and Vail Williams – and companies on the list have combined sales of well over £20 billion and employ more than 100,000 people.


At the top once again is Westcoast, the IT products supplier based at Theale. It has outgunned Thames Water for yet another year – with sales approaching £2.5b. The


company is moving progressively from traditional IT distribution to cloud services, technology solutions and fulfilment. Its growth is evidenced by the lease of a new 340,000 sq ft warehouse facility, effectively doubling Westcoast’s UK warehouse space.


Thames Water remains at number two in the chart with Urenco at three. Jumping up to number four is CALA Group, the housebuilder, which was founded in 1875, and has built a reputation in the past 30 years for building premium homes with an emphasis on quality. With its head office at Wooburn Green, Bucks, CALA has seen sales jump to £1.2b.


Oxfordshire-based Hook 2 Sisters – trading as PD Hook Hatcheries – is a family-owned business founded in the 1950s when the poultry industry was in its infancy. Hook 2 Sisters produces ‘healthy broilers to the highest welfare standards’;


it now grows six million chicks a year. Sales have jumped by nearly £100 million in a year.


Further down the list, World Wise Foods, based in Bracknell, is a supplier of responsibly sourced fish and other food products to leading retailers across the world. From fish sauces to pickles, the company supplies in excess of 30 million units per year. Sales stand at £82m.


The list for 2019 will be officially launched at the annual dinner at Cliveden on July 8. Guest speaker is Harmeet Ahuja, CEO of Sun Mark – number 32 on the listing – the specialist FMCG distribution business that specialises in doing business in emerging markets. The business started in 1995 and has grown organically to a turnover of £165m and works in over 120 countries. The company represents multinational giants including the likes of Unilever, Mondelez, Kellogg’s and develops its product ranges and distribution all over the world.


The listing COMPANY NAME


1 Westcoast 2 3 4 5 6


Thames Water Utilities Urenco


CALA Group Unipart Group


WSH (Westbury Street Holdings)


7 McLaren Group 8 9


Hook 2 Sisters t/a PD Hook Hatcheries Travelodge


10 Hibu Group (Yell) 11 Whistl


12 AirTanker 13 14 15 16 17 18


Nuvias (Group) (Wick Hill) Noble Foods


Direct Wines/Laithwaites Eden Motor Group Furniture Village


Killinchy Aerospace (Martin-Baker)


19 CH&Co Group 20 21


DCS Group Huntswood


22 Geos Group 23 24 25


Exertis Hammer Solventis


James Walker Group DESCRIPTION


IT products supplier Water services provider Nuclear fuels Housebuilder


Logistics provider Food services


F1 racing and road cars Poultry farming Hotels


Digital marketing solutions Postal services


Tanker aircraft manufacturer Specialist IT distribution Fresh food supplier


Wine producer & retailer Motor dealerships Furniture retailer


Manufacurer of ejection seats Catering


Manu/sale of health/beauty products Business solutions Marine fuel sales


Computer storage solutions Solvent distributor


Rail products manufacturer


SALES (£m)


2464.9 2044.9 1757.5 1220.8 889.6 877.4 847.3 761.9 680.2 651.0 603.0 386.5 346.9 328.5 315.0 300.2 265.0 247.5 244.2 222.9 221.4 208.9 197.8 196.9 194.1


to view the listing showing full company details visit businessmag.co.uk COMPANY NAME


26 Audley Travel Group 27 Medina 28 29


Intersurgical Lucy Group


30 Michael J. Lonsdale (MJL) 31


Data Select


32 Sun Mark 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44


45 Mabey 46


The Entertainer (Amersham) Sorbon Homes t/a Shanly Homes Bullitt Group


EBB Paper (Elliott Baxter and Co) Fourfront Group


Rebound Technology Group IRIS Software Group


LURI (GreenTech Distribution) Greenshields JCB


Grundon Waste Management Ultima Business Solutions Orange Genie Group


Blue Sky Intermodal (UK)


47 Agricultural Central Trading 48 49 50


SAS International Clinimed Farol


DESCRIPTION Tour Operators Milk & food products


Respiratory care products Power distribution products Service contractors


Hosting & mobile comms


Supermarket product distributor Toy retailer


Housebuilder


Branded cellular phones Paper merchants


Commercial interior specialists Electronic component distributor Application software Mobile phone supplier Marketing & sale of JCB Waste management


IT infrastructure solutions Recruitment support services Construction & engineering Marine container leasing


Supplier of animal health products Architectural metalwork manufacturer Healthcare products Agricultural machinery


SALES (£m)


193.4 188.0 184.8 175.7 173.2 171.2 165.1 163.8 160.4 156.8 150.1 146.6 141.0 139.8 133.2 122.1 118.2 110.3 106.0 103.3 102.9 101.2 99.7 97.8 97.7


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – JULY/AUGUST 2019


businessmag.co.uk


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