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.