news opinion
The aerospace sector gets a lot of stick for causing environmental damage. The industry actually emits between 2% and 4% of the world’s harmful emissions, although the public assumes it is far greater
This image problem took centre stage at a recent Farnborough Aerospace Consortium conference where speaker after speaker addressed the issue of sustainability and carbon neutrality.
In truth, many companies in the sector are moving towards a cleaner, greener future. Perhaps not fast enough for Extinction Rebellion, but research into hybrid, electric, solar and hydrogen-powered aircraft is moving at pace.
Similarly, the automobile sector is making great strides to reduce vehicle emissions and promote alternatives to petrol and especially diesel-fuelled cars. With more cities introducing low emission zones, car manufacturers know they cannot continue producing vehicles that ruin air quality.
Both these sectors are using technology to help find solutions. Electric cars will soon be ubiquitous on our roads – and manufacturers such as Tesla and Jaguar have shown that battery power can provide performance as well as cleaner air.
Two Oxfordshire companies – Williams Advanced Engineering and Unipart – are at the forefront, in a joint venture to create the country’s largest independent vehicle battery manufacturer. Their first customer is Aston Martin.
Just an example of the pioneering, innovative work that is being done to find greener solutions. All part of the new industrial revolution…
David Murray Publisher
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businessmag.co.uk Moving up the Fast Track Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 Thames Valley
When it comes to fastest-growing sales, Thames Valley-based companies are definitely leading the way – with a record number of five making the top 10 of the latest Fast Track 100 league table which annually measures the growth Britain’s private companies.
Four firms featuring in the table are based in the Basingstoke area, led by children’s toiletries maker Childs Farm, whose sales of £12.8 million – an average annual rise of 142% over the past three years – put it in ninth place in the UK.
The company was founded only nine years ago when former investment banker Joanna Jensen failed to find toiletries suitable for her young daughter’s sensitive skin, and so decided to make them herself. Based on the Jensen family farm, she raised £2m from 25 backers, including angel investors.
It now produces a range of hair and skincare products suitable for babies and children.
Others from Basingstoke making the list were Envisage Dental (51st with sales of £6.3m, average rise 61%), Reassured (59th with sales of £37.8m, average rise 56%) and Intevi (77th with sales of £5.5m, average rise 49%).
Envisage was founded only five years ago by Dr Sandy Dau – who had been practising private dentistry for more than a decade – and her husband Harry Gill. It now has 13 practices spread across the UK.
Reassured is a life insurance broker which compares policies from providers including Legal & General, AIG and LV to find a good deal for customers. To date it has provided protection for more than 440,000 families in the UK.
It was founded in 2009 by chief executive Steve Marshall with help from chief operating officer Laura McGraw, and now has offices in Basingstoke, Portsmouth, Southampton and Manchester. Staff own 21.5% of the firm’s shares.
Intevi is a display and software supplier responsible for Southampton FC’s new video analysis training system. It also counts the Royal Opera House, Estée Lauder and the British Olympic Association among its clients.
Founded in 2011 by Tom Scott and Adam Wilson, its key products are digital displays used for advertising in public spaces and company communication.
Topping the list of 11 from the Thames Valley making the top 100 was Curve (third in table), the Bracknell-based design and fit-out business which uses virtual reality to show clients what their new offices could look like. Sales climbed to £9.2m last year, giving an average rise of 186%.
Originally founded in 2006 as a furniture dealership by Mark Bessant, Curve in its current form was born when managing director Michael Potter and Andy Wilkinson joined in 2016.
Just one place behind in fourth with sales of almost £6.2m (average rise 181%) was Performance 54, the Camberley golf marketing business. The 54 figure comes from what is considered the perfect round of golf (18 birdies).
Founders Jed Moore and Matt Selby, friends since nursery school, combined skill sets in management, marketing and communications with university friend Gary Davidson in 2015, and the same year signed as partner the YouTuber golf broadcaster Rick Shiels.
The car parks of supermarket giants Tesco and Morrisons are home to Banbury-based Xpress Centres’ bodywork repair pods, which resemble drive-through carwashes. Technicians can repair dents and scratches in the time it takes customers to finish their shopping. Sales hit £5.6m for fifth place in the table.
Another top 10 place was won by Maidenhead solar panel installer Evergen Group (8th with sales of £9.3m), founded in 2011 by Sukhbir Sidhu and now run by son Ricky. It is the second-largest operator in the UK by residential sales.
Three other Thames Valley-based companies making the table were HalalBooking at Reading (specialist online travel agency, 33rd with sales of £17.6m, up an average 81%), Oxford Summer Courses (educational provider, 50th with sales of £9.2m, up 62%) and Nurture Landscapes at Windlesham (65th with sales of £73m up 53%).
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – MARCH/APRIL 2020
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