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Top Track 100 Research Report 2015 1

Research Report 2015

Britain's 100 biggest private companies

@ST_FastTrack

#TopTrack100

In association with

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 1 Top 10 companies on the league table 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 The long view of the Top Track 100 3 Companies appearing every year since 2002 4

KEY STATISTICS 5 Regional breakdown 6 Sector breakdown 6 Industry breakdown 7 Main ownership 8 The ten wealthiest individual shareholders 8 New entrants 9 Departures from last year's league table 10

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE 11 Biggest profits (ebitda) 11 Biggest ebitda margin 12 Sales growth by sector 13 Profit growth by sector 13 Biggest rises & falls in sales 14 Biggest rises & falls in profits (ebitda) 15 Biggest debts 16 Examples of companies faring well 17 Examples of companies hit by the economic downturn 18 Boardroom changes 19

CORPORATE ACTIVITY 20 Public-to-private takeovers 20 Buyouts of subsidiaries or divisions 21 Acquisitions and disposals 22 Possible future exits 23

2015 TOP TRACK 100 LEAGUE TABLE 24

METHODOLOGY 28

BACKGROUND 31 Sponsors & media partner 31 Compiler & publisher 33 The authors 33 Fast Track 34

CONTACT DETAILS 34

© 2015 Top Track 100 fasttrack.co.uk


INTRODUCTION

For 14 years, The Sunday Times Top Track 100 has ranked Britain’s biggest private companies by sales. HSBC is the title sponsor of the league table, and Linklaters is a main sponsor.

The Top Track 100 is the only league table of its kind in Britain.

To qualify, companies must be unquoted, registered in the UK and not subsidiaries, although their ultimate holding companies may be based offshore.

This year, the league table companies have combined sales of £178bn, equivalent to 11% of UK GDP. Their profits (ebitda) are £18bn, and they employ more than 900,000 people, equivalent to 2.8% of the UK’s entire workforce. Some of the companies have significant debts.

The contribution to the UK economy of the Top Track 100 companies remains important, and we aim to continue to monitor and measure this contribution in the years to come.

Chemicals maker Ineos takes the top position this year following the merger of Alliance Boots, last year’s No 1, to US chemists chain Walgreens. Its founder and executive chairman Jim Ratcliffe intends to turn the company into the UK's largest shale gas producer.

Top 10 companies on the league table

*Supplied by the company † annualised

Ineos is the UK's biggest private company by sales, replacing Alliance Boots at No 1

1 2 INEOS Chemicals manufacturer UK/Switzerland Dec 14 *17,981 4.6 *1,679 14,319 Jim Ratcliffe (60%), John Reece (20%),

Andrew Currie (20%)

2 3 Greenergy Fuel supplier Central London Apr 15 *14,109 -10.1 *30 604 Tesco Pension Trustees Ltd (35%), Owens

family (32%), Seerave (24%)

3 4 John Lewis Partnership Food & general retailer Central London Jan 15 *9,536 5.6 *797 92,100 Employees (100%)

4 5 Swire Conglomerate Central London Dec 14 *6,927 10.8 *1,471 88,179 Swire family (67%), others (33%)

5 7 Palmer and Harvey Wholesale distributor East Sussex Apr 14 4,197 -0.6 30 3,706 Management & employees (54%), former

employees (46%)

6 6 Stemcor Steel trader Central London Dec 13 3,807 -25.5 -40 1,733 Oppenheimer family (71%), management

& staff (29%)

7 8 WorldPay Payment processor Central London Dec 13 3,394 9.9 346 4,142 Advent International (43%), Bain Capital

(43%), management & staff (10%), other (4%)

8 14 2 Sisters Food Group Food producer Birmingham Jul 14 †3,355 16.3 †176 23,767 Baljinder & Ranjit Boparan (100%)

9 9 Laing O'Rourke Engineering & construction group Dartford Mar 14 3,327 -0.3 115 15,312 Ray O’Rourke & Des O’Rourke through

Suffolk Partners Corporation

10 13 Arnold Clark Automobiles Car dealer Glasgow Dec 14 *3,265 11.9 *261 9,184 Clark family & trusts (100%)

Rank2015

Rank2014

Sales£m

% annual sales

growthFYEHQ locationActivityCompany Ebitda

£m Staff Main shareholders



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• More than two thirds (71) of the Top Track 100 companies reported increased sales in their latest accounts. Combined sales are up 2% to £178bn

• More than six in ten companies (65) grew their profits year-on-year. Another 32 saw a fall in ebitda and three did not disclose their profits. Total profits are up 7.1% to £17.9bn, while margins at ebitda level remained level at 10%

• Total combined debt (including shareholder debts) among the 95 companies that disclosed figures is £87bn, resulting in an average debt multiple of four times ebitda. Sixteen of the companies have debt of more than £1bn, while 31 have debt of more than five times ebitda

• Of the 10 companies with the highest ebitda profits, seven have debt of more than £3bn and pay out a large proportion of their profits in interest. Of the seven, six are owned by private equity

• The 12 new entrants to this year's Top Track 100 include six services companies, three retailers and one each in construction, manufacturing and wholesale

• Construction companies have grown their sales the fastest, up 8.1% to £13bn

• Retail grew sales 5.3% to a combined £41bn

• One third of the companies (34) are majority-owned by private equity, with private equity firms owning minority stakes in an additional three companies

• Of the 12 companies that left the table, 10 of which were backed by private equity, five were sold and three floated on the stock market

Swire (No 4), which owns a stake in Cathay Pacific, grew sales by 11% to £6.9bn

Levels of sales

Number of companies in each range of sales in their latest financial year (2013-2015)

17

>£5bn

£2bn–£5bn

£1.5bn–£2bn

£1bn–£1.5bn

£750m–£1bn

£675m–£750m

9

25

24

21

4

Levels of ebitda

Number of companies in each range of ebitda profit/loss in their latest financial year (2013-2015)

>£250m

£100m–£250m

£50m–£99m

£0m–£49m

<0

Not disclosed

2

4

33

18

18

25



The long view of Top Track 100

• Over the 14 years that the Top Track 100 has been published, the biggest private companies in the UK have made an important contribution to the nation’s economy, though the constituents of the league table have changed over that time

• The lower total sales figure in 2015 is primarily a result of Alliance Boots leaving the league table after being bought by US chemist chain Walgreens. In 2014 the company ranked No 1 with sales of £23.4bn and 77,000 staff

• The Top Track 100 companies in 2002 had combined sales of £72bn; the figure that has grown 2.5 times to £178bn this year.

• The companies’ contribution to GDP has also increased. Total sales represented 6% of gross domestic product when the 2002 league table was compiled, and now make up 11%

• The total number of people employed by the Top Track 100 companies has increased by nearly 30% in the 14 years, from 704,000 in 2002 to 921,000 in 2015

• Operating profits climbed from £2.9bn in 2002 to £7.7bn in 2007, after which our profit measure changed to ebitda, which is up from £13.6bn in 2008 to £17.9bn this year

• The increases are due in part to the entry of Ineos Group in 2003, and its subsequent growth. Its sales account for a tenth (10%) of the total turnover of the Top Track 100 this year

• In terms of sectors, there were 30 manufacturing companies on the league table in 2002, but only 13 in 2015. Conversely, there are now almost double the number of retailers, 24 compared to 14 in 2002

• This year, the wealthiest individual shareholders according to the 2015 Sunday Times Rich List were Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay with £6.5bn. This was also the case last year

Total sales

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

Staff employed

£195bn

£202bn

£178bn

1,005,000

1,010,000

921,000

£183bn

963,000

£175bn

1,011,000

£160bn

970,000

970,000

£161bn

£149bn

950,000

£118bn

871,000

£106bn

887,000

£97bn

930,000

£89bn

869,000

£80bn

750,000

£72bn

700,000



Companies appearing every year since 2002

Thirty-eight companies appearing on this year’s league table also appeared on the inaugural Top Track 100 in 2002. Of these, 25 (listed below) have featured in all 14 years, of which only one has private-equity ownership, Gala Coral (No 41).

The biggest of these is John Lewis Partnership (No 3), which has always appeared within the top four companies on the table and was the No 1 company in 2002. Arcadia (No 15) was merged with Bhs in 2009: it is included on the list below on the basis that at least one of the two has appeared on the Top Track 100 in each of the past 14 years. Arcadia sold Bhs in March 2015. In 2004, Rigby Group (No 24) merged its two entities, Specialist Computer Holdings and Specialist Computers International, which both appeared on the table in 2002 and 2003.

JCB (No 18) had sales of £855m when it first featured, at No 25, in 2002. In 2014 its sales were £2.5bn

Rank 2015

Rank 2002

Name Activity FYE Latest sales

£m

Ownership

3 1 John Lewis Partnership Food & general retailer Jan 15 *9,536 Employees (100%)

4 4 Swire Conglomerate Dec 14 *6,927 Swire family (67%), others (33%)

5 2 Palmer and Harvey Wholesale distributor Apr 14 4,197 Management & employees (54%), former employees (46%)

6 19 Stemcor Steel trader Dec 13 3,807 Oppenheimer family (71%), management & staff (29%)

10 24 Arnold Clark Automobiles Car dealer Dec 14 *3,265 Clark family & trusts (100%)

12 8 Virgin Atlantic Airline & tour operator Dec 14 2,928 Virgin Group (51%), Delta Air Lines (49%)

13 83 European Metal Recycling Metal recycler Dec 13 2,810 Sheppard family (100%)

15 21 Arcadia Fashion retailer Aug 14 2,706 Lady Tina Green & family, Lloyds Banking Group

18 25 JCB Construction equipment manufacturer Dec 14 *2,510 Bamford family (100%)

24 37 Rigby Group IT infrastructure integrator Mar 14 1,738 Sir Peter Rigby & family (100%)

25 5 Shop Direct Internet & catalogue retailer Jun 14 1,744 Sir David Barclay & Sir Frederick Barclay (100%)

30 20 Clarks Shoe retailer & wholesaler Jan 15 *1,492 Clark family (84%), employees & institutions (16%)

33 28 Wilko Value retailer Feb 14 1,463 Wilkinson family (100%)

34 47 Marshall Group Conglomerate Dec 14 *1,426 Sir Michael Marshall, Robert Marshall & family trusts (71%), others (29%)

41 13 Gala Coral Betting & gaming operator Sep 14 1,243 Anchorage (21%), Apollo (21%), cerberus (21%), others (37%)

43 55 AF Blakemore & Son Food distributor Apr 14 1,192 Blakemore family (100%)

50 87 Arup Design, engineering consultancy Mar 14 1,048 Employees, through three trusts

52 58 Wates Construction contractor Dec 14 994 Wates family (100%)

55 49 Virgin Trains Train operator Mar 14 953 Virgin Group Holdings (51%), Stagecoach (49%)

59 65 River Island Fashion retailer Dec 13 918 Bernard Lewis & family (100%)

60 70 Bloor Investments Builder & motorcycle maker Jun 14 900 John Bloor (100%)

65 71 OCS Group Facilities services provider Mar 14 871 Goodliffe family (100%)

66 34 Sir Robert McAlpine Construction contractor Oct 14 863 McAlpine family (100%)

78 81 Bowmer & Kirkland Construction contractor Aug 14 *732 Kirkland family & family trusts

91 9 Unipart Group Logistics consultancy & manufacturer Dec 14 659 Management & staff (52%), 3i, Electra (27%), others (21%)

*Supplied by the company † annualised



KEY STATISTICS

• Sales among the Top Track 100 range from £18bn (Ineos) to £628m (Dhamecha Foods), with an average of £1.8bn and a median of £1bn

• Profits are measured by earnings before tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) and range from £1.7bn (Ineos) to a loss of £84m (Sir Robert McAlpine), averaging £185m. The median is £84m

• All but two of the 97 companies on the league table that disclosed ebitda are profitable (four did not disclose figures)

• The average ebitda margin is 10%

• Both sales and profits are up on the previous year, with increases of 2% and 7% respectively

• Average debt stands at £823m, four times ebitda

• The total number of staff employed by the league table companies is 921,000, up from 894,000 the year before. The average is 9,200 staff members, and the median is 4,300

• The largest employer is John Lewis (No 3) with 92,100 on the payroll, and Lamex (No 71) the smallest with 235.

• The average sales per employee is £193,000 and the average profits is £19,500

• Fifteen companies, including Swire (No 4) and Sir Robert McAlpine (No 66), trace their history back to the 19th century, while the oldest company, engineering components maker Doncasters (No 85), was established in 1778 when founder Daniel Doncaster obtained the company’s first trade mark

• The youngest companies are Rontec / Snax24 (56) and Worldpay (No 7), which were established in their current form in 2011 and 2010 respectively

John Lewis Partnership (No 3) is the largest employer, with 92,100 people on the payroll

Number of employeesNumber of companies in each range

21

2

>50,000

25,000-50,000

10,000-25,000

5,000-10,000

2,500-5,000

1,000-2,500

<1,000

16

29

17

3

11



Regional breakdown

The majority of companies on the league table are based in London (34) and the Southeast (24), including eight of the top ten companies on the league table.

The next most common location for companies on the league table is the Midlands, with 15 based there including JCB (No 18) in Staffordshire and Bet365 (No 28) in Stoke-on-Trent.

Outside London, the cities with the highest concentration of Top Track 100 HQs are Hemel Hempstead, Reading and Liverpool, which are home to three companies each.

Sector breakdown

Services (41 companies) and retail (24) are the two largest sectors, making up two thirds of the league table between them. The biggest service companies are Swire (No 4) and Worldpay (No 7), while John Lewis Partnership (No 3) and Arnold Clark Automobiles (No 10) are the biggest in retail.

In terms of the Top Track 100 sector breakdown, construction and retail are the sectors with the highest sales growth since last year, up 8.1% and 5.3% respectively. There is one construction firm new to the table this year, Murphy Group at No 90; and one manufacturer, R & R Ice Cream at No 87.

Regional breakdown of UK HQs

Northeast & Yorkshire

Northwest

N. Ireland

Wales

Southwest

Scotland

East

Midlands

London

4

6

2

34243

9

2

1

15

Southeast

Sector breakdown

Number of companies in each sector

Construction 11

Manufacturing 13

Wholesale 11

Retail 24

Services 41



Industry breakdown

The consumer and food & drink industries make up almost a third of the table with 15 companies in each category. They include Specsavers, the eyecare giant at No 21, and William Grant & Sons, ranked at No 45, which makes drinks such as Glenfiddich whisky and Hendricks gin.

Three other industries are heavily represented: Engineering with 14 companies, leisure with 10, and transport with nine.

Only one telecoms company, Lycamobile (No 48) remains on the table after Phones4U went into administration in September 2014.

Industry breakdown

Consumer goods 15

Food & drink 15

Engineering 14

Leisure 10

Transport 9

Automotive 7

Other 13

Oil & gas 5

Recruitment 4

Building related 4Business services 4



Main ownership

Private equity is an important force within the UK’s biggest companies, with 34 majority-owned by investment houses. In addition, they own a minority stake in three companies on the league table.

Worldpay (No 7) was acquired from RBS by Advent International and Bain Capital in a £2.1bn deal in 2010, and Healthcare at Home (No 44) was bought by Vitruvian Partners in 2012, when the private equity firm took a majority stake for an undisclosed sum.

Of the 66 companies which are not majority-held by private equity, 33 are still part-owned by a founding entrepreneur, such as Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos (No 1) and Sir Peter Rigby’s Rigby Group (No 24), while 25 remain owned by the family of the founder, such as Bibby Line Group (No 26) and Wates (No 52).

Five companies are majority-owned by their management, among them Mace (No 31) and Unipart Group (No 91), while three are owned by employees: John Lewis Partnership (No 3), Mott MacDonald (No 42) and Arup (No 50).

Many owners of companies on the league table are among the richest individuals in Britain, according to the 2015 Sunday Times Rich List. They include Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, whose wealth is estimated at £6.5bn this year, up from £6bn last year. Sir Richard Branson has moved up to second place with wealth of £4.1bn.

Ownership types

Number of companies by majority ownership type

Family 25

Management & staff 8

Entrepreneur and/or founder 33

Private equity 34

Rank ShareholderRich List

rank*

Net worth (£m)*

Top Track 100 company Company rank

1 Sir David & Sir Frederick Barclay 13 6,500 Shop Direct 25

2 Sir Richard Branson & family 20 4,100 Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Trains, Virgin Active 12, 55, 93

3 Sir Philip Green & Lady Green 22 3,500 Arcadia 15

4 Sir James Dyson 22 3,500 Dyson 38

5 Lord Bamford & family 29 3,100 JCB 18

6 Bernie Ecclestone & family 33 2,940 Formula One 68

7 Mark Pears & family 35 2,800 Telereal Trillium 86

8 Jim Ratcliffe 40 2,500 INEOS 1

9 Sir Anwar Pervez & family 41 2,440 Bestway Group 17

10 Sir John Swire CBE & family 42 2,400 Swire 4

* According to The Sunday Times Rich List, published 26 April 2015

The ten wealthiest individual shareholders*



New entrants

Twelve companies entered the league table that did not feature in 2014. Of these, only Trailfinders (No 97) has appeared before.

The highest ranking new-comer is Heathrow Airport (No 16), with sales of £2.7bn in 2014, a 9% rise. Reed Specialist Recruitment (No 61) grew its sales 8% to £897m.

Three of the new entrants operate in the retail sector. These are Farmfoods (No 73), Benfield Motor Group (No 83), and Euro Garages (No 96), which grew sales 47% as a result of acquisitions, the biggest increase on the table.

As was the case last year, no new companies joined the league table directly as a result of a stock market delisting. By contrast, there were ten new entrants in 2008 due to delistings.

Rank 2015

Company Activity FYE Sales

£mProfit

£mPrevious sales £m Reason for entry

16 Heathrow Airport Airport Dec 14 2,691 1,613 2,473 Sales growth of 9% from 2013 to 2014

61 Reed Specialist Recruitment Recruitment consultancy Jun 14 897 12 833 Sales growth of 8% from 2013 to 201

73 Farmfoods Frozen food retailer Dec 14 796 24 689 Sales growth of 16% from 2013 to 2014

79 Alexander Mann Solutions Recruitment consultancy Dec 14 *728 *27 617 Sales growth of 8% from 2013 to 2014

82 Morson Engineering recruitment consultancy Dec 14 *706 *19 653 Sales growth of 8% from 2013 to 2014

83 Benfield Motor Group Car dealer Dec 14 *700 *13 622 Sales growth of 12% from 2012 to 2013

87 R&R Ice Cream Ice cream manufacturer Dec 14 *676 *113 582 Sales growth of 16% from 2013 to 2014

90 Murphy Group Civil engineering contractor Dec 13 666 17 568 Sales growth of 17% from 2012 to 2013

96 Euro Garages Fuel forecourt operator Jul 14 646 27 439 Sales growth of 47% from 2013 to 2014 due to

acquisition

97 Trailfinders Travel organiser Feb 14 636 25 600 Sales growth of 6% from 2013 to 2014

98 Domestic & General Warranty provider Mar 14 *633 *74 575 Sales growth of 10% from 2013 to 2014

100 Dhamecha FoodsCash and carry wholesaler Mar 14 628 16 586 Sales growth of 7% from 2013 to 2014

New entrants

Heathrow Airport (No 16) is the highest ranking new entrant, with sales of £2.7bn

* Supplied by the company



Departures from last year's league table

Making way for this year’s new entrants, 12 companies lost their places on the Top Track 100.

Three have floated on the stock market: SSP, DFS and Spire Healthcare. Another, conglomerate Hanover Acceptances, merged its largest entity Gerber Emig with Dutch juice maker, Refresco, and the combined entity was listed on the Amsterdam stock market.

Corporate activity brought about the departure of five companies: retailer and pharmaceutical wholesaler Alliance Boots, No 1 on 2014 Top Track 100, was sold to Walgreens, in a deal totalling £9bn. Frozen food producer Iglo Group was sold to Nomad Holdings for €2.6bn (£1.9bn), and United Biscuits was sold to Turkish biscuit maker Yildiz for £2bn. Foreign exchange operator Travelex was acquired by UAE Exchange, in a deal that finalised in January 2015, and aerospace manufacturer Firth Rixson was sold to America’s Alcoa for a reported £1.7bn.

Phones 4u fell into administration and The Miller Group sold off a division, leading to a drop in sales. AMC Group did not generate sales high enough to qualify.

Rank 2014

Company Activity FYE Sales

£m Reason for departure

1 Alliance BootsRetailer & pharmaceutical wholesaler Mar 14 23,367 Walgreens exercised option to buy remaining 55% stake in 2014

24 SSP Travel foodservice provider Sep 13 1,827 Floated on LSE in July 2014, valued at £997m

37 Iglo Group Frozen food producer Dec 13 1,278 Bought by Nomad Holdings in April 2015

42 Phones 4u Mobile phone retailer Dec 13 1,158 Collapsed into administration in September 2015

47 United Biscuits Branded snack manufacturer Dec 13 *1,096 Sold to Turkish biscuit maker Yildiz for £2bn in November 2014

79 Spire HealthcarePrivate hospital operator Dec 13 *764 Floated on LSE in July 2014, valued at £842m

81 The Miller Group Housebuilder & construction services Dec 14 *611 Sales dropped due to the disposal of its construction business

82 AMC Group Metal processor and trader Dec 14 *624 Sales not high enough for inclusion in 2015

90 Hanover Acceptances Conglomerate Dec 14 66 Merged its largest entity Gerber Emig with Dutch juice maker, Refresco; the

combined entity floated in March 2015

93 DFS Upholstered furniture retailer Oct 13 671 Floated on LSE in March 2015, valued at £543m

99 Travelex Foreign exchange operator Dec 13 640 Acquired by UAE Exchange, in a deal finalised in January 2015

100 Firth Rixson Aerospace manufacturer Sep 13 *636 Sold to US-based mining giant Alcoa for a reported £1.7bn in June 2014

The company ranked No 100 in this year’s table had sales of £628m

DFS was one of three companies to leave the table due to stock market flotations

Departures




FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Biggest profits (ebitda)

INEOS (No 1) is the company with the biggest profits, makingebitda of £1.7bn in 2014, followed by Heathrow Airport (No 16), which made ebitda of £1.6bn in 2014.

Of the ten companies with the highest ebitda profits, six have debt in excess of £4bn. Four are not owned by private equity. They are Ineos (No 1), John Lewis (No 3), Swire (No 4), and Dyson (No 38). In total, the ten companies with the highest ebitda profits hold combined debts of £58bn. They paid £4bn of their combined £9.5bn ebitda profits in interest.

Thames Water (No 22) is one of the ten companies with the highest ebitda profits on the league table

10 companies with the biggest profits

Rank 2015

Company Activity

FYE Profits £m

Sales £m

1 INEOSChemicals manufacturer Dec 14 *1,679 *17,981

16 Heathrow Airport Airport Dec 14 1,613 2,691

4 Swire Conglomerate Dec 14 *1,471 *6,927

22 Thames Water Water services provider Mar 14 1,166 1,952

3 John Lewis Partnership Food & general retailer Jan 15 *797 *9,536

39 Anglian Water Group Water services provider Mar 14 754 1,266

49 Kelda Group Water services provider Mar 14 609 1,063

69 Arqiva Communications services provider Jun 14 407 826

70 Southern Water Water services provider Mar 14 563 806

38 Dyson Appliance manufacturer Dec 13 392 1,276




Biggest ebitda margin

The companies with the highest profit margins on the league table are the water utilities, as well as Heathrow Airport (No 16), with margins of 60%. Southern Water (No 70) has the highest margins at 70%. Thames Water (No 22) and Anglian Water (No 39) both have margins of 60% and Kelda Group (No 49), the holding company for Yorkshire Water, has margins of 57%.

Each of these companies is a highly leveraged private equity investment, so a substantial portion of these profits goes to lenders in interest.

Overall, 61 companies in the Top Track 100 improved their ebitda profit margins in their latest filed accounts compared with the previous year, while 36 saw a decline (three did not disclose ebitda for one or both years).

Rank 2015

Rank 2014

Company Activity

FYE Profit margin

Profits £m

Sales £m

70 75 Southern Water Water services provider Mar 14 69.8% 563 806

16 Heathrow Airport Airport Dec 14 59.9% 1,613 2,691

22 21 Thames Water Water services provider Mar 14 59.7% 1,166 1,952

39 33 Anglian Water Group Water services provider Mar 14 59.5% 754 1,266

49 52 Kelda Group Water services provider Mar 14 57.3% 609 1,063

69 72 ArqivaCommunications services provider Jun 14 49.2% 407 826

86 88 Telereal Trillium Property investor & manager Mar 14 31.7% 215 676

38 36 Dyson Vacuum cleaner maker Dec 13 30.7% 392 1,276

28 54 bet365 Online bookmaker Mar 15 30.3% *478 *1,575

64 63 Expro International Oilfield services provider Mar 14 26.8% 234 875


Dyson (No 38), which has recently launched a robot vacuum cleaner, grew its margins from 29% to 31%



Willmott Dixon (No 40) was the fastest-growing construction company on the table, with sales up 23%

Sales growth by sector

Combined sales for the Top Track 100 rose from £173bn to £178bn year-on-year, an uplift of 2%, after rising 6% the previous year. All sectors apart from wholesale grew sales, with construction seeing the biggest increase, up 8.1%. Retail grew 5.3%, and saw the greatest sales growth in absolute terms, up £2.1bn. A £860m absolute decline in wholesale sector sales was primarily due to a £1.6bn decline in sales at fuel supplier Greenergy (No 2).

Profit growth by sector

The Top Track 100 companies grew profits to £17.9bn from £16.7bn, a 7.1% rise. This was driven by an increase of £694m in services companies’ profits in their latest year to a total of £10.2bn, 7.3% higher than the previous year. Construction sector profits fell 12.1% to £434m, largely due to a £101m decline for Sir Robert Mcalpine (No 66) to an ebitda loss of £84m.

Services

Retail

Manufacturing

Wholesale

Construction

+5.3%

+0.1%

+8.1%

latest sales

previous sales

£41,060m

£39,015m

£58,200m

£58,164m

+3.3%£34,741m

£33,633m

-2.7%£30,519m

£31,379m

£13,074m

£12,092m

+7.3%

+4.2%

+12.3%

latest ebitda

previous ebitda

+17.8%

-12.1%

Services

Retail

Manufacturing

Wholesale

Construction

£10,193m

£9,568m

£3,054m

£2,931m

£3,638m

£3,240m

£625m

£531m

£434m

£494m



Farmfoods (No 73), which runs 320 frozen-food stores, grew sales by 16% to an annualised £796m

Biggest rises & falls in sales

Nearly three quarters (71) of the Top Track 100 companies reported increased sales in their latest accounts, with Euro Garages (No 96) seeing the biggest percentage rise, up 47%, from £439m in 2013 to £646m in 2014, after acquiring 48 petrol forecourts in the Midlands and East of England.

The biggest absolute sales rise was generated by INEOS (No 1), which grew £793m in sales, from £17.2bn to £18.0bn, a 5% increase. The biggest percentage decline in sales was suffered by Stemcor (No 6), from £5.1bn to £3.8bn, a 26% drop, which it attributed partly to its ongoing restructuring. The biggest absolute decline in sales was suffered by Greenergy (No 2), from £15.7bn to £14.1bn in 2015, in part due to the fall in petrol prices.

Biggest percentage sales rises

Rank Company Activity FYE

Latest sales (£m)

Sales increase

96 Euro GaragesFuel forecourt operator Jul 14 646 47.4%

31 MaceConstruction project manager Dec 14 1,486 25.9%

40 Willmott DixonConstruction contractor Dec 14 1,259 23.0%

32 WestcoastElectronic products distributor Dec 14 1,467 22.3%

37 TJ MorrisDiscount retailer Jun 14 1,277 20.7%

Biggest percentage sales falls

Rank Company Activity FYE

Latest sales (£m)

Sales increase

6 StemcorSteel trader Dec 13 3,807 -25.5%

24 Rigby GroupIT infrastructure integrator Mar 14 1,783 -19.0%

89 Northgate Information SolutionsSoftware & services provider Apr 14 666 -16.9%

59 River IslandFashion retailer Dec 13 918 -13.9%

77 Caparo GroupMetal engineer Dec 13 *749 -11.9%



Reed Specialist Recruitment (No 61) grew its profits from £1.6m to £11.9m

Biggest rises & falls in profits (ebitda)

Reed Specialist Recruitment (No 61) grew its profits eight-fold in 2014 to £11.9m, up from £1.6m the previous year. This was the largest percentage increase on the table, coming after cost-cutting at the group and as it benefited from an improved economy. Thames Water (No 22) managed the greatest absolute increase in profits, up £138m to £1.2bn, an increase of 13%.

Among the fallers, Matalan (No 47), the value retailer, reported a 8% fall in profits to £92m after it was negatively impacted by bad weather. Care UK (No 80) attributed a 14% decline in profits to £46m to increased staffing costs, administrative expenses and acquisitions.

Of the 100 companies, 65 increased profits in the latest year, 32 saw a decline and the remaining three did not disclose ebitda. Only two companies made a loss at ebitda level: Stemcor (No 6), which is restructuring, made a loss of £40.3m, and Sir Robert Mcalpine (No 66) made a loss of £84m. At least 15 announced a pre-tax loss.

Biggest profits increase in percentage terms

Rank Company Activity

FYE Latest profit (£m)

Profits increase

61 Reed Specialist Recruitment Recruitment consultancy Jun 14 12 664.3%

12 Virgin AtlanticAirline & tour operator Dec 14 68 137.1%

56 Rontec/SNAX 24Fuel forecourt operator Sep 14 14 105.8%

25 Shop DirectInternet & catalogue retailer Jun 14 116 97.6%

40 Willmott Dixon GroupConstruction contractor Dec 14 27 79.1%

Biggest profits falls in percentage terms


FYE Latest profit (£m)

Profits increase

66 Sir Robert McAlpineConstruction contractor Mar 14 -84 -595.0%

6 Stemcor Steel trader Dec 13 -40 -360.1%

55 Virgin TrainsTrain operator Mar 14 6 -67.0%

90 Murphy Group Civil engineering contractor Dec 13 17 -38.3%

68 Formula One Motor racing administrator Dec 13 184 -34.4%



Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group (No 92) is one of the most indebted companies on the table, when measured by debt as a multiple of ebitda

Biggest absolute debt


FYE Debt (£m)

Ebitda £m

Debt multiple

16 Heathrow Airport Airport Dec 14 14,649 1,613 9.1

22 Thames Water Water services provider Mar 14 11,058 1,166 9.5

39 Anglian Water Group Water services provider Mar 14 7,952 754 10.6

49 Kelda Group Water services provider Mar 14 5,768 609 9.5

69 Arqiva Communications services provider Jun 14 4,177 407 10.3

Biggest debt as multiple of ebitda


FYE Debt (£m)

Ebitda £m

Debt multiple

92 Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group Cinema operator Dec 13 935 52 17.9

5 Palmer and Harvey Wholesale distributor Apr 14 421 30 14.1

11 Brakes Group Food distributor Dec 14 1,915 150 12.7

39 Anglian Water Group Water services provider Mar 14 7,952 754 10.6

44 Healthcare at Home Home healthcare provider Oct 13 208 20 10.5

Biggest debts

Heathrow Airport (No 16) has the largest absolute debts at £14.6bn of any Top Track 100 company, a legacy of its privatisation by investors including Spain’s Ferrovial in 2006, when it was formerly known as BAA. Thames Water (No 22) is second with £11.1bn in debts.

When debt is expressed as a multiple of ebitda, the most indebted company on the league table is Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group (No 92), with an ebitda profit of £52m to debts of £935m.

Sixteen of the Top Track 100 companies have debt of more than £1bn. This totals £69.4bn, over three quarters (79%) of the total debt held by the 95 companies for which figures are available. Loan figures are not available from five companies which may have significant debts. They are Specsavers (No 21), Lycamobile (No 48), Virgin Trains (No 55), Formula One (No 68), and Caparo (No 77), whose holding companies are based abroad, do not file consolidated accounts, or debts are held by other group entities.



Examples of companies faring well

As the following examples illustrate, Top Track 100 companies have capitalised on improved economic conditions, with a number, including TJ Morris (No 37) and Bloor Investments (No 60), showing impressive growth in their latest financial year.

28 bet365Online bookmaker

Growth in mobile phone betting and “in-play” gambling helped Bet365 grow sales by 15%

Sales *£1.6bnEbitda *£478mStaff 3,101FYE Mar 15 Location Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke's largest employer, bet365 recorded revenue of more than £1.5bn to March – up 15%. The rise helped its profits increase 32% to £478m. As well as having a flutter on a variety of sports, customers can also bet on the financial markets and play casino games or watch one of 60,000 live sports events shown annually. Owned by the Coates family, and with customers in more than 100 countries, bet365 is also the majority shareholder of Stoke City Football Club.

52 Wates Construction contractor

Big contract wins in the wake of the economic downturn helped Wates grow sales by 17%

Sales £994mEbitda £17mStaff 2,106FYE Dec 14Location Surrey

This construction firm is chaired by James Wates, 55, the fourth generation of the founding Wates family, and run by Andrew Davies, 51, who joined as chief executive in 2014. Having grown sales to nearly £1bn in 2014, it plans to double in size, partly helped by acquisitions; in November, Wates acquired maintenance specialist Purchase Group for an undisclosed sum. Recent projects include the £30m Aerospace Research Centre in Coventry, which Wates completed in January.

96 Euro Garages Fuel forecourt operator

The acquisition of 48 petrol forecourts helped Euro Garages grew sales by 47%

Sales £646mEbitda £27mStaff 1,980FYE Jul 14Location Blackburn

This fuel retailer grew sales by 47% last year to £646.3m after acquiring 48 petrol forecourts in the Midlands and East of England. Having added 43 Esso forecourts in the previous year, the Blackburn company now has a total of nearly 200 sites across the UK. Founded in 2001 by entrepreneurs Zuber Issa, 42, and his brother Mohsin, 43, its petrol stations feature Spar convenience stores and food outlets including Subway, Starbucks, Burger King and Greggs.

Euro Grarages (No 96), led by founders and brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa, grew sales by 47% after acquiring 48 petrol forecourts



Examples of companies showing a drop in sales

Despite Britain’s improving economy, over a quarter (29) of the league table companies showed a drop in sales. Wilko (No 33) attributed a 4% decline in sales to a challenging year for the retail market. Sales at Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group (No 92) fell 7% in a year of low cinema attendance due to a lack of major film releases.

2 GreenergyFuel supplier

Greenergy suffered a 10% decline in sales amid falling fuel prices

Sales *£14.1bnEbitda *£30mStaff 604FYE Apr 15Location Central London

Greenergy supplied 15.5bn litres of petrol, diesel and biofuel last year, and claims to provide more than a quarter of all road fuel sold in Britain. Under chief executive Andrew Owens, 52, in January it acquired a biodiesel plant on Teesside for an undisclosed sum. Last year it struck a deal to supply fuel to Esso dealerships nationally. The company is also part of a joint venture building a fuel import terminal in the Thames estuary. Its 2015 sales of £14.1bn include fuel duty.

84 Shepherd GroupBuilder, manufacturer & engineer

The decline of its construction business contributed to an 8% fall in sales. It has since sold part of the division to Wates Group (No 52)

Sales £686mEbitda £32mStaff 3,235FYE Jun 14Location York

The Shepherd family business has provided construction and engineering know-how since the late 19th century. Its best-known products are its Portakabins. The decline of its construction business contributed to an 8% fall in sales to £686m in 2014. It has since sold part of the division, alongside its engineering services and facilities management businesses, to Wates Group (No 52), for an undisclosed sum. It also sold its home-building division in May to Galliford Try for an undisclosed sum. David Williams, 61, became chairman of the family-owned firm last July.

89Northgate Information Solutions Software & services provider

Sales declined 17%, having topped £1bn in the past two years, as its pipeline of work slowed

Sales £666mEbitda £123mStaff 9,771FYE Apr 14Location Hertfordshire

Northgate's decision to focus on its global HR services saw it sell its public services division in December, for an undisclosed sum, just nine months after selling its managed services division for £65m. Chief executive Adel Al-Saleh, 51, is now investing in its HR services division, which operates in more than 100 countries and accounts for nearly three quarters of Northgate’s revenues. The company was delisted from the stock market by the private equity house KKR for a reported £593m in 2008.

Sales at Greenergy (No 2) fell 10% as fuel prices dropped



Boardroom changes

A number of companies on the Top Track 100 have changed their main directors during the last year. In October Andy Duncan was appointed as the new chief executive of Camelot UK Lotteries (No 95), replacing Dianne Thompson, who retired after a 14 year stint; ASCO (No 81) appointed former Rentokil Initial chief executive Alan Brown as its new group chief executive in December; and last June Healthcare at Home (No 44) appointed Natalie Douglas as chief executive and Mike Gordon became non-executive chairman.

4 Swire Conglomerate

Barnaby Swire became chairman in 2014, while his cousin Merlin Swire became deputy chairman and chief executive

Sales £6.9bnEbitda £1.5bnStaff 88,179FYE Dec 14Location Central London

Swire has interests across many sectors including shipping, airlines, property, agriculture and cold storage, including a minority stake in Cathay Pacific. The group was founded in 1816 and is based in London but operates across the Asia-Pacific region, as well as in America, where it runs two Coca-Cola bottling plants. Barnaby Swire, 51, became chairman of the family-owned business late last year, while his cousin Merlin Swire, 41, became deputy chairman and chief executive.

69 ArqivaCommunications services provider

Mike Parton, a former CEO of Marconi, was appointed chairman in April

Sales £826mEbitda £407mStaff 2,002FYE Jun 14Location Central London

Arqiva is part of a consortium that earlier this year won a bid to run the UK’s second digital radio platform, offering listeners 14 stations, including Virgin Radio. Led by chief executive John Cresswell, 54, Arqiva provides the infrastructure behind television, radio, satellite and wireless communications in the UK and overseas. Its customers include the BBC, ITV and BSkyB.

90 Murphy GroupCivil engineering contractor

Steve Hollingshead was appointed CEO of the family-owned firm in April

Sales £666mEbitda £17mStaff 3,951FYE Dec 13Location Central London

Set up by John Murphy in 1945 to clear bomb sites left in London by the Blitz, family-owned Murphy undertakes civil and mechanical engineering projects in Britain and overseas. Recent projects include the redevelopment of Kings Cross rail station and the £200m construction of the Crossrail Thames tunnel. The company appointed Steve Hollingshead as its new chief executive officer in April.

In 2014 family-owned Swire (No 4) named Barnaby Swire (top right) as chairman and his cousin Merlin Swire (top middle) as deputy chairman and CEO



CORPORATE ACTIVITY

Public-to-private takeovers

Morson (No 82) joins the league table after its de-listing from AIM in 2012 in a £23m management buyout led by chief executive Ged Mason. It is one of 12 companies on the league table that have been taken private since 2000, eight of them by private equity houses or investment funds. Among these 12 companies, seven increased sales in their latest year, and nine improved profits.

Founder John Hargreaves took Matalan (No 47) private again in 2006 after eight years on the stock market

Year taken private Company Activity Main shareholders Rank

2002 Arcadia Fashion retailer Lady Tina Green & family, Lloyds Banking Group 15

2002 Brakes Group Food distributor Bain Capital, management 11

2003 New Look Fashion retailer Brait (90%), Tom Singh (10%) 35

2003 Reed Specialist Recruitment Recruiter Reed family (100%) 61

2006 Anglian Water Group Water services provider CPPIB (33%), CFSGAM (32%), IFM Investors (20%), 3i Infrastructure (15%) 39

2006 Matalan Value retailer Hargreaves family (100%) 47

2008 Biffa Integrated waste manager Angelo Gordon, Avenue Capital Group, Sankaty Advisors 63

2008 KCA Deutag Group Drilling contractor Pamplona Capital, other investment funds 36

2008 Kelda Group Water services provider Consortium comprising Citigroup, GIC, RREEF Infrastructure & Infracapital 49

2008 Northgate Information Solutions Software and services provider KKR (80%), management (10%), other institutional investors (10%) 89

2010 Care UK Care services provider Bridgepoint (79%), management (20%), other (1%) 80

2012 Morson Recruiter Gerry & Ged Mason (90%), Kevin Gorton (5%), Paul Gilmour (5%) 82



Buyouts of subsidiaries or divisions

For the second year in a row, no companies joined the league table in 2015 as a result of a buyout from another entity, unlike in 2013 when Rontec/Snax 24 (No 56) and Worldpay (No 7) were both added to the ranking. Another nine companies on the Top Track 100 were formed in this way before 2010. For eight of these 11 companies, sales increased in the latest year, and six saw profits rise.

Welcome Break (No 88) was part of Grenada until 1997, when it was bought by Investcorp and then by Appia Group in 2008

Buyout date Comment Company

Activity Main shareholders Rank

1987 Bought out of British Leyland Unipart Group Logistics consultancy 3i, Electra (27%), staff (52%), others (21%) 91

1997 Bought out of Granada Welcome Break Motorway services operator Appia Group 88

1998 Bought out of Inspec Group INEOS Chemicals manufacturer Jim Ratcliffe (75%), staff (25%) 1

2001 De-merged from Smiths Group TI Automotive Car parts maker

More than 20 shareholders, each with less than 15%, including Oaktree and Pointstate Capital 20

2004 Bought out of Rank Organisation Odeon & UCI Cinemas Cinema operator

Terra Firma (more than 99%), Management (less than 1%) 92

2005 Bought out of NTL Arqiva Communications services provider

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (48%), Macquarie (25%), other investors (27%) 69

2005 Bought out of Big Food Group Iceland Frozen food retailer

Landmark Group and others (57%), Malcolm Walker and management (43%) 14

2006 Bought out of Compass Moto Motorway services operator

Macquarie, Equity Partners Infrastructure, Australian funds, management 72

2009 Bought out of Land Securities Telereal Trillium Property investor & manager Pears family and management (100%) 86

2010 Bought out of RBS WorldPay Payment services provider

Advent International (43%), Bain Capital (43%), staff (10%), other (4%) 7

2011 Bought out of Total Rontec/Snax 24 Fuel forecourt operator Ronson Family Trusts / Charitable Foundation (100%) 56



Acquisitions & disposals

The Top Track 100 companies are continually restructuring as opportunities arise, and as markets and economic conditions change.

AcquisitionsExamples of recent acquisitions among the Top Track 100 companies include:

Rank Company Activity Main shareholders Comment

17 Bestway Group Cash-and-carry operator

Sir Anwar Pervez & family (70%), management (30%)

In July 2014 added drugs wholesale and retail when it acquired the Co-Op's pharmacy business for £620m

24 Rigby Group IT infrastructue integrator Sir Peter Rigby & family (100%) In April 2015 paid an undisclosed sum to buy a stake in internet

services provider Fluidata

38 DysonAppliance manufacturer Sir James Dyson & family (100%) In March 2015 took its first stake in an external business,

investing $15m in American battery technology start-up Sakti3

45 William Grant & Sons Spirits distiller Grant & Gordon families In September 2014 bought the company behind the Drambuie

brand for a reported £100m

46 Findus Group Food producer

Lion Capital (33%), Highbridge (33%), Sankaty (30%), others (4%)

In January 2015 paid an undisclosed sum to acquire Spanish frozen ready meals brand La Cocinera from Nestlé

52 Wates Construction contractor Wates family (100%) In November 2014 acquired maintenance specialist Purchase

Group for an undisclosed sum

87 R&R Ice Cream Ice cream manufacturer PAI Partners (93%), management (7%) In March 2015 bought Nestlé South Africa’s ice cream business

for an undisclosed sum

DisposalsRecent disposals made by companies on the league table:

Rank Company Activity Main shareholders Comment

6 Stemcor Steel trader

Oppenheimer family (71%), management & staff (29%)

In March 2015, sold its steel stockholding business for an undisclosed sum

15 Arcadia Fashion retailer

Lady Tina Green & family, Lloyds Banking Group

In March 2015, sold loss-making department store chain BHS to Retail Acquisitions for a reported £1

27Bakkavor Fresh prepared foods producer

Gudmundsson brothers (39%), Arion Bank (26%), other institutions & investors (35%)

In April 2015, announced its intention to sell its 60% stake in Italian subsidiary Italpizza to Dreamfood

80 Care UK Care services provider

Bridgepoint (79%), management (20%), other (1%)

In February 2015, raised £49m by selling three care homes to investment company TIAA Henderson Real Estate in a sale and leaseback deal

89Northgate Information Solutions Software & services provider

KKR (80%), management (10%), other institutional investors (10%)

In December 2014, sold its public services division for an undisclosed sum, just nine months after selling its managed services division for £65m

William Grant & Sons (No 45) bought Drambuie for £100m in September



Possible future exits

The following companies on this year’s Top Track 100 are reported to have plans to sell all or parts of their businesses, either through a flotation or a sale:

• Dubai International Capital, owners of Doncasters (No 85) since 2006, is reportedly considering a sale of the engineering components maker.

• Findus Group (No 46), the food producer owned by investors Lion Capital, Highbridge and Sankaty since a financial restructuring in 2012, is reportedly preparing to sell its UK business.

• Gala Coral (No 41), which is owned by a consortium of private equity houses, is reportedly considering a stock market flotation or sale, dependent on market conditions.

• Citigroup has put its stake in water services provider Kelda Group (No 49) up for sale; the investment group is one of a consortium of owners.

• Terra Firma, the private equity owner of Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group (No 92), has said it is planning to put the company up for sale this year or list it on the stock market.

• Stemcor (No 6) could reportedly be taken over by American distressed investment fund Apollo, as part of a $2bn (£1.3bn) debt restructuring.

• WorldPay (No 7), which was spun out of Royal Bank of Scotland in 2010 when Bain Capital and Advent International acquired a majority stake for more than £2bn, is reportedly considering a £6bn stock market float.

Findus Group (No 46), owner of brands including Young's, is reportedly planning to sell its UK business



* Supplied by the company † Annualised figure § Company has been acquired but deal not yet completed

2015 TOP TRACK 100 LEAGUE TABLE

1 2 INEOS Chemicals manufacturer UK/Switzerland Dec 14 *17,981 4.6 *1,679 14,319 Jim Ratcliffe (60%), John Reece (20%),

Andrew Currie (20%)

2 3 Greenergy Fuel supplier Central London Apr 15 *14,109 -10.1 *30 604 Tesco Pension Trustees Ltd (35%),

Owens family (32%), Seerave (24%)

3 4 John Lewis Partnership Food and general retailer Central London Jan 15 *9,536 5.6 *797 92,100 Employees (100%)

4 5 Swire Conglomerate Central London Dec 14 *6,927 10.8 *1,471 88,179 Swire family (67%), others (33%)

5 7 Palmer and Harvey Wholesale distributor East Sussex Apr 14 4,197 -0.6 30 3,706 Management & employees (54%), former

employees (46%)

6 6 Stemcor Steel trader Central London Dec 13 3,807 -25.5 -40 1,733 Oppenheimer family (71%), management

& staff (29%)

7 8 Worldpay Payment processor Central London Dec 13 3,394 9.9 346 4,142 Advent International (43%), Bain Capital

(43%), management & staff (10%), other (4%)

8 14 2 Sisters Food Group Food producer Birmingham Jul 14 †3,355 16.3 †176 23,767 Baljinder & Ranjit Boparan (100%)

9 9 Laing O'Rourke Engineering & construction group Dartford Mar 14 3,327 -0.3 115 15,312 Ray O’Rourke & Des O’Rourke through

Suffolk Partners Corporation

10 13 Arnold Clark Automobiles Car dealer Glasgow Dec 14 *3,265 11.9 *261 9,184 Clark family & trusts (100%)

11 11 Brakes Group Food distributor Kent Dec 14 *3,094 2.5 *150 10,359 Bain Capital, management

12 12 Virgin Atlantic Airline and tour operator Crawley Dec 14 2,928 -1.6 68 9,231 Virgin Group (51%), Delta Air Lines (49%)

13 10 European Metal Recycling Metal recycler Warrington Dec 13 2,810 -11.8 158 2,927 Sheppard family (100%)

14 16 Iceland Frozen food retailer North Wales Mar 14 2,711 2.7 206 14,404 Landmark Group & others (57%),

Malcolm Walker & management (43%)

15 15 Arcadia Fashion retailer Central London Aug 14 *2,706 -1.1 *296 40,730 Lady Tina Green & family, Lloyds Banking

Group

16 Heathrow Airport Airport Heathrow Dec 14 2,691 8.8 1,613 8,001 Ferrovial (25%), Qatar Holdings (20%) Québec Pension

Fund (13%), Singapore Investment Corp (11%), other (31%)

17 18 Bestway Group Conglomerate West London Jun 14 *2,548 1.2 *305 10,347 Sir Anwar Pervez & family (70%),

management (30%)

18 17 JCB Construction equipment manufacturer Staffordshire Dec 14 *2,510 -6.5 *303 8,610 Bamford family (100%)

19 23 Pentland Group Brand manager and retailer Central London Dec 14 *2,186 14.4 *202 19,823 Rubin family (100%)

20 20 TI Automotive§ Car parts maker Oxford/US Dec 14 *2,173 1.8 *268 21,450 More than 20 shareholders, each holding less

than 15%, inc. Oaktree & Pointstate Capital

21 22 Specsavers Optical and hearing aid retailer Guernsey Feb 14 *2,060 7.5 n/a 30,000 Perkins family

22 21 Thames Water Water services provider Reading Mar 14 1,952 8.2 1,166 4,690 Consortium led by Macquarie European

Infrastructure Funds

23 28 MRH (GB) Fuel retailer and distributor Essex Sep 14 *1,789 13.3 *51 340 Management (62%), Equistone Partners

Europe (38%)

24 19 Rigby Group IT infrastructure integrator

Stratford upon Avon Mar 14 1,783 -19.0 31 5,573 Sir Peter Rigby & family (100%)

25 25 Shop Direct Internet retailer Liverpool Jun 14 1,738 2.3 116 3,794 Sir David Barclay & Sir Frederick Barclay

(100%)

Rank2015

Rank2014

Sales£m

% annual sales






26 27 Bibby Line Group Conglomerate Liverpool Dec 14 *1,715 7.7 *105 6,684 Sir Michael Bibby & family (88%),

management & others (12%)

27 26 Bakkavor Fresh prepared foods producer Central London Dec 14 1,693 2.6 120 18,022 Gudmundsson brothers (39%), Arion Bank

(26%), other institutions & investors (35%)

28 54 bet365 Online bookmaker Stoke-on-Trent Mar 15 *1,575 14.9 *478 3,101 Coates family (93%), Will Roseff (7%)

29 31 Radius Payment Solutions Fuel card manager Crewe Mar 15 *1,501 10.0 *41 623 Bill Holmes (55%), Roy Sciortino (11%),

others (34%)

30 29 Clarks Shoe retailer and wholesaler Somerset Jan 15 *1,492 -3.2 *167 15,380 Clark family (84%), employees &

institutions (16%)

31 41 Mace Construction project manager Central London Dec 14 *1,486 25.8 *40 4,160 Management (100%)

32 39 Westcoast Electronic products distributor Reading Dec 14 1,467 22.3 18 1,126 Joe Hemani (100%)

33 32 Wilko Value retailer Nottinghamshire Feb 14 1,463 -2.5 63 21,648 Wilkinson family (100%)

34 35 Marshall Group Conglomerate Cambridge Dec 14 *1,426 10.3 *55 4,467 Sir Michael Marshall, Robert Marshall &

family trusts (71%), others (29%)

35 30 New Look§ Fashion retailer Central London Mar 15 *1,415 n/a 212 17,880 Apax Partners (28%), Permira (28%), Tom

Singh (23%), management & others (21%)

36 34 KCA DEUTAG Group Drilling contractor Aberdeen Dec 14 1,284 -7.0 191 7,988 Pamplona Capital, other investment

funds, management

37 50 TJ Morris Discount retailer Liverpool Jun 14 1,277 20.7 147 11,098 Tom Morris & family (100%)

38 36 Dyson Appliance manufacturer Wiltshire Dec 13 1,276 3.0 392 4,442 Sir James Dyson & family (100%)

39 33 Anglian Water Group Water services provider Cambridgeshire Mar 14 1,266 -8.9 754 4,300 CPPIB (33%), CFSGAM (32%), IFM

Investors (20%), 3i (15%)

40 53 Willmott Dixon Group Construction contractor Hertfordshire Dec 14 *1,259 23.0 *27 3,203 Willmott family (60%), Dixon family (20%),

management (20%)

41 40 Gala Coral Betting & gaming operator Central London Sep 14 1,243 5.0 264 15,203 Anchorage (21%), Apollo (21%), cerberus

(21%), Park Square (6%), others (31%)

42 38 Mott MacDonald Management & engineering group Croydon Dec 14 1,231 1.4 82 14,664 Employees (79%), trust (21%)

43 43 AF Blakemore & Son Food distributor West Midlands Apr 14 1,192 5.0 20 7,823 Blakemore family (100%)

44 45 Healthcare at Home Home healthcare provider

Burton upon Trent Oct 13 1,183 6.7 20 1,458 Vitruvian Partners (majority), Hutton

Collins, Management

45 49 William Grant & Sons Spirits distiller Banffshire Dec 13 1,120 5.2 166 1,819 Grant & Gordon families

46 44 Findus Group Food producer Central London Sep 14 1,110 -2.2 88 4,450 Lion Capital (33%), Highbridge (33%),

Sankaty (30%), others (4%)

47 46 Matalan Value retailer Liverpool Mar 14 †1,102 -2.1 †94 15,995 Hargreaves family (100%)

48 58 Lycamobile Prepaid mobile telecoms provider Central London Feb 15 *1,090 20.6 n/a 6,132 Subaskaran Allirajah (98%), others (2%)

49 52 Kelda Group Water services provider Bradford Mar 14 1,063 3.8 609 3,347 Consortium comprising Citigroup, GIC,

RREEF Infrastructure & Infracapital

50 51 Arup Design, engineering consultancy Central London Mar 14 1,048 1.7 90 11,355 Employees, through three trusts


Rank2015

Rank2014

Sales£m

% annual sales






51 57 JCT600 Car dealer Bradford Dec 14 1,025 12.7 33 1,920 Tordoff family (100%)

52 67 Wates Construction contractor Surrey Dec 14 994 16.7 17 2,106 Wates family (100%)

53 55 Monarch Holdings Airline and tour operator Luton Airport Oct 14 *985 2.9 n/a 3,470 Greybull Capital (90%), Pension Protection

Fund (10%)

54 64 Listers Car dealer

Stratford-upon-Avon Mar 15 *963 12.0 *21 1,972 Bradshaw family (50%), Lister family (50%)

55 60 Virgin Trains Train operator Central London Mar 14 953 6.1 6 2,973 Virgin Group Holdings (51%), Stagecoach

(49%)

56 68 Rontec / Snax24 Fuel forecourt operator Watford Sep 14 *946 11.4 *14 803 Ronson Family Trusts / Charitable

Foundation (100%)

57 59 Fircroft Technical HR services provider Warrington Aug 14 *933 3.9 *28 582 Johnson family & management (66%),

Equistone Partners (34%)

58 62 Keepmoat Housing regeneration specialist South Yorkshire Mar 14 931 5.0 58 2,921 Sun Capital & TDR Capital (85%),

management (15%)

59 48 River Island Fashion retailer West London Dec 13 918 -13.9 118 12,053 Bernard Lewis & family (100%)

60 80 Bloor Investments Builder & motorcycle maker Derbyshire Jun 14 900 18.4 95 3,013 John Bloor (100%)

61 Reed Specialist Recruitment Recruiter Central London Jun 14 897 7.6 12 1,999 Reed family (100%)

62 65 Bourne Leisure Caravan park operator Hertfordshire Dec 14 *896 3.9 *202 12,562 Peter Harris, family of the late John Cook,

David Allen, management

63 74 Biffa Integrated waste manager High Wycombe Mar 15 *876 1.9 *102 6,056 Angelo Gordon, Avenue Capital Group,

Sankaty Advisors

64 63 Expro International Oilfield services provider Reading Mar 14 875 15.4 234 5,325 Goldman Sachs (34%), Arle Capital Partners

(32%), Alpinvest (12%), others (22%)

65 71 OCS Group Facilities services provider Gatwick Mar 14 871 5.3 34 73,294 Goodliffe family (100%)

66 66 Sir Robert McAlpine Construction contractor Hertfordshire Oct 14 863 0.1 -84 2,219 McAlpine family (100%)

67 69 Harrods Group Department store operator Central London Feb 14 843 12.3 190 4,140 Qatar Holding (100%)

68 61 Formula One Motor racing administrator Central London Dec 13 828 -7.8 184 N/a CVC Capital Partners, Waddell & Reed,

Ecclestone family trusts, others

69 72 Arqiva Communications services provider Central London Jun 14 826 0.6 407 2,002 Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

(48%), Macquarie (25%), others (27%)

70 75 Southern Water Water services provider West Sussex Mar 14 806 3.5 563 2,026 UBS Global (39%) & JP Morgan (28%),

others (33%)

71 86 Lamex Food Group Food importer & exporter Hertfordshire Mar 14 806 9.5 17 235 Steve Anderson (23%), Phillip Wallace

(14%), Colin Dicker (13%), others (50%)

72 70 Moto Motorway services operator Bedfordshire Dec 14 *803 -4.4 *91 5,030 Macquarie, Equity Partners Infrastructure,

Australian funds, management

73 Farmfoods Frozen food retailer Birmingham Jan 15 †796 15.6 †26 4,779 Eric Herd & family (94%), William

McCreadie (6%)

74 77 Samworth Brothers Food producer Leicestershire Dec 13 791 3.1 57 7,487 Samworth family trusts (100%)

75 91 Greenhous Group Car dealer Shrewsbury Dec 14 775 15.2 6 784 Derek Passant (52%), Kerry Finnon (47%),

Mike Pawson (1%)

Rank2015

Rank2014

Sales£m

% annual sales



* Supplied by the company † Annualised figure




76 78 Dunbia Red meat processor County Tyrone Mar 14 764 5.8 14 3,256 Jack & James Dobson (100%)

77 83 Caparo Group Metal engineer Central London Dec 13 *749 -11.9 *60 6,393 Lord Paul & family interests (100%)

78 94 Bowmer & Kirkland Construction contractor Derbyshire Aug 14 *732 10.9 *35 1,249 Kirkland family & family trusts

79 Alexander Mann Solutions Recruitment consultancy Central London Dec 14 *728 17.9 *27 2,271 New Mountain Capital (73%),

management (27%)

80 95 Care UK Care services provider Colchester Sep 14 726 10.4 46 22,105 Bridgepoint (79%), management (20%),

other (1%)

81 76 ASCO Oil & gas services provider Aberdeen Dec 14 *712 -7.0 *35 2,511 Doughty Hanson (80%), management (20%)

82 Morson Engineering recruitment consultancy Manchester Dec 14 *706 8.1 *19 1,291 Gerry & Ged Mason (90%), Kevin Gorton

(5%), Paul Gilmour (5%)

83 Benfield Motor Group Car dealer

Newcastle upon Tyne Dec 14 *700 12.5 *13 1,440 John Squires & family (100%)

84 84 Shepherd Group Builder, manufacturer & engineer York Jun 14 686 -8.3 32 3,235 Shepherd family (100%)

85 85 Doncasters Engineering components maker

Burton upon Trent Dec 14 679 -8.3 136 4,162 Dubai International Capital (98%),

management (2%)

86 88 Telereal Trillium Property investor & manager Central London Mar 14 676 -4.8 215 784 Pears family & management (100%)

87 R&R Ice Cream Ice cream manufacturer North Yorkshire Dec 14 *676 16.1 *113 2,787 PAI Partners (93%), management (7%)

88 97 Welcome Break Motorway services operator Milton Keynes Jan 15 *671 3.8 *50 4,436 Appia Group

89 73 Northgate Information Solutions Software & services provider Hertfordshire Apr 14 666 -16.9 123 9,771 KKR (80%), management (10%), other

institutional investors (10%)

90 Murphy Group Civil engineering contractor Central London Dec 13 666 17.1 17 3,951 Murphy family (100%)

91 56 Unipart Group Manufacturing, logistics & consultancy Oxford Dec 14 *659 -28.7 *24 6,053 Management & staff (52%), pension

schemes & others (48%)

92 89 Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group Cinema operator Central London Dec 14 *657 -7.0 *52 8,627 Terra Firma (more than 99%),

Management (less than 1%)

93 96 Virgin Active§ Health club operator Central London Dec 13 653 1.8 125 13,976 CVC Capital Partners (45%), Virgin Group

(43%), management (12%)

94 98 Henderson Group Food wholesaler & retailer County Antrim Dec 14 †*651 1.3 †*30 2,585 Geoffrey Agnew (12%), Martin Agnew

(12%), Ardbarron Trust (76%)

95 92 Camelot UK Lotteries Lottery operator Watford Mar 14 648 -3.7 84 628 Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (100%)

96 Euro Garages Fuel forecourt operator Blackburn Jul 14 646 47.4 27 1,980 Issa family (100%)

97 Trailfinders Travel organiser West London Feb 14 636 6.0 25 1,019 Mike Gooley (100%)

98 Domestic & General Warranty provider Wimbledon Mar 14 *633 10.1 *82 2,785 CVC Capital Partners (>50%),

management (<50%)

99 87 Langley Holdings Engineering equipment maker Nottinghamshire Dec 14 *628 -12.0 *82 4,371 Tony Langley (100%)

100 Dhamecha Foods Cash & carry wholesaler Wembley Mar 14 628 7.3 16 481 Dhamecha family (100%)

Rank2015

Rank2014

Sales£m

% annual sales






METHODOLOGY

Qualification criteria

Sales: Sales are taken as turnover as reported in companies' latest accounts, or more up-to-date figures as provided directly to Fast Track by a chief financial officer, finance director or other company representative. Sales are given net of VAT, and shares from joint ventures and associate companies are excluded. Betting and gaming companies are ranked by net revenue (amounts wagered less winnings paid out) rather than by gross amounts wagered. Fuel duty is included in turnover, in line with common industry practice among oil companies. Exchange rates are as quoted in the accounts or the average for the financial year. For financial years with fewer or more than 52 weeks, the figures are annualised on a simple pro-rata basis.

Profits: Companies are not required to be in profit. Profits are defined as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda). Exceptional items, joint ventures and impairment of assets were excluded.

Data collection: Companies were identified by researching accounts filed at Companies House, as well as financial data provided by Bureau van Dijk's Fame database. Where companies were willing to provide them, Fast Track also reviewed more up-to-date draft accounts, management account extracts, pro-forma accounts, and accounts filed in overseas territories. The table is based on historic information, with latest available accounts ranging from February 2013 to April 2015. Corporate structure: Companies have to be unquoted, registered in the UK and not subsidiaries. They may have their ultimate holding company offshore, as is the case for more than 30 of the companies.

Exclusions: Cooperative societies were excluded, as were mutual societies such as Nationwide Building Society, provident associations such as Bupa, member-owned buying groups such as Nisa, and partnerships such as lawyers, accountants and management consultants. Companies that are majority owned by, or equal joint ventures between, quoted companies are excluded. Companies with fewer than 100 staff are also excluded.

Incomplete data: Private company information can be incomplete and, while every effort is made to include all qualifying companies, as well as up-to-date financial information, there may be omissions. Nominations for next year’s league table would be welcome. Some exceptions were made to the qualification criteria set out above. The compiler’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.



Other assessments

Main ownership: For the purposes of this report, companies were classed as being “owned” by private equity firms where these held more than 50% of the business, and “backed” by private equity where they held 20% to 50%. If the founding entrepreneur still retained control of the company it was categorised as an entrepreneur-owned company. This category also includes companies such as Arcadia, which are owned, although not founded, by an entrepreneur. The family category was used for companies still under the control of the family of a deceased or retired founder. The management and employee category was used for companies where a majority of the company is owned by management or employees.

Research approach

The main research was conducted by Fast Track between March and June 2015.

The top 100 companies are ranked by sales from either their latest audited accounts or on figures provided by the companies.

Forty-two companies provided figures that were not publicly available by 25 May 2015.



Sales ranking

Top Track 100 ranks the UK's 100 privately-owned companies by latest sales, as opposed to other criteria, because:

• other publications such as Forbes and Fortune have compiled similar league tables in the US based on sales

• sales are a relatively simple measure. They are easy to understand and usually unambiguous

• sales are a reasonable indication of size, even if they may not completely reflect the performance of companies

However, a limitation of ranking companies by sales is that they are biased towards 'volume' businesses such as wholesalers and retailers.

Alternative rankings

Other measures by which to rank companies were evaluated, but had a number of limitations, including:

Gross profits: not easily understood and calculated in different ways according to companies’ treatment of cost of sales and related costs.

Operating profits or ebitda: are reported more consistently across companies than gross profit, but are volatile from year-to-year. A league table based on operating profits would exclude many large companies that operate with low margins.

Pre-tax profits: unquoted companies are likely to keep pretax profits to a minimum to reduce tax liabilities.

Staff: a limited indicator of company size, and distorts toward labour-intensive sectors, such as retail and services.



Linklaters is a main sponsor of Top Track 100 for a second year.

Linklaters LLP specialises in advising the world's leading companies, financial institutions and governments on their most challenging transactions and assignments. The firm is a recognised market leader for delivering outstanding service to clients throughout the world on takeovers, mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt capital markets transactions, joint ventures, disposals and other corporate advisory matters.

www.linklaters.com/toptrack100

HSBC is the title sponsor of Top Track 100 for a second year.

For nearly 150 years HSBC has been where the growth is, connecting customers to opportunities. Today, HSBC Commercial Banking serves businesses ranging from small enterprises to large multinationals in almost 60 developed and faster-growing markets around the world. Whether it is working capital, trade finance or payments and cash management solutions, HSBC provides the tools and expertise that businesses need to thrive. With their network covering three quarters of global commerce, HSBC is the world’s leading international trade and business bank.

www.hsbc.co.uk

John LanePartner & global co-head of equities

Dan HowlettHead of Corporate Banking in the UK

SPONSORS & MEDIA PARTNER

Fast Track would particularly like to thank the title sponsor of Top Track 100, HSBC, for sponsoring the league table for the second year; and our main sponsors Linklaters, which is also sponsoring the table for a second year.

The sponsors do not endorse, guarantee or recommend investment in any of the companies.

Sponsors



Media partner

Dominic O'ConnellBusiness editor

The Sunday Times has been Fast Track's media partner for all 19 years.

The Sunday Times is Britain’s No 1 newspaper for business, and the leading broadsheet newspaper attracting over three million readers every week. More than half (54%) of the business elite read The Sunday Times, a greater market share than any other publication, according to the latest Ipsos survey. The Sunday Times business section celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.

www.thesundaytimes.co.uk



ABOUT FAST TRACKCompiler & publisher

Hamish Stevenson owns and runs Fast Track which he founded in 1997 after securing cornerstone sponsorship from Richard Branson.

He is an associate fellow at Green Templeton College, Oxford University, where he completed his masters and doctorate and held the Virgin research fellowship in entrepreneurship.

The authors

Richard Tyler leads Fast Track’s research and editorial, working closely with sponsors and companies within our network.

He was the enterprise editor of The Daily and Sunday Telegraph for nine years, covering private companies and government policy towards business. He trained in journalism at Euromoney, part of The Daily Mail & General Trust, after completing his degree at Manchester University.

Chris Marshall researches companies and is responsible for managing the Top Track 100 research. He was previously a journalist at Citywire for six years, covering investments and global financial markets. He has also worked as a reporter at Financial Times Business. He has a degree in applied biology from Aston University.



CONTACT DETAILS

Fast Track Angel Court 81 St Clements Street Oxford OX4 1AW

Tel: 01865 297 100 Fax: 01865 297 001

Email: [email protected] Web: www.fasttrack.co.uk twitter: @ST_FastTrack

Fast TrackTop Track 100 is compiled by Fast Track, the UK's leading face- to-face networking events and research company, which ranks top-performing private companies and entrepreneurs.

Fast Track has compiled league tables on private companies in partnership with The Sunday Times for the last nineteen years. It publishes six other annual league table awards programmes:

SME Export Track 100 ranks Britain's SMEs with the fastest-growing international sales

Tech Track 100 ranks Britain's private technology (TMT) companies with the fastest-growing sales

Fast Track 100 ranks Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing sales (excluding tech companies)

International Track 200 ranks Britain's mid-market private companies with the fastest-growing international sales

Profit Track 100 ranks Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing profits

Top Track 250 ranks Britain’s leading mid-market private growth companies with the biggest sales (£140m to £620m), with a minimum 10% growth in sales or profit

Fast Track is based in Oxford with 20 staff, and a network of freelance researchers.

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