South East: Companies feature in International Track 200

Published this weekend, the 11^th annual Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 league table ranks Britain’s mid-market private companies with the fastest-growing international sales.

The 36 companies headquartered in the South East include 10 new entrants to the league table. These regional stars have grown their international sales by an average of 58% a year over the last two years to a total of £1.4 billion. Together they employ more than 20,000 people.

The region’s top-ranked company is Kingsbury (No.9), which supplies the manufacturing sector with cleaning equipment and machine tools. Its international sales grew an average of 173% per year over two years to £5.4m in 2018, on total sales of £86.8m.

Havant, in Hampshire, is home to clothing retailer FatFace – which features for the first time with international sales of £15.7m in 2019, growing an average of 44% over two years, on total sales of £241.5m. The company has more than 240 shops across Britain, and is expanding in America where it now has 22 stores.

West Sussex-based books and media reseller World of Books features on the league table for the fourth time. The circular economy company recycles or resells more than 85m used books bought from charities or consumers every year. Its international sales grew an average of 41% per year over its last two years.

The companies in the Southeast appear alongside well-known British brands based across the UK including Mountain Warehouse, which opened 21 shops abroad last year; BrewDog, which was valued at £1b in 2017 and now has nearly 100 bars worldwide; and Charlotte Tilbury Beauty, the London-based cosmetics and skincare brand, which ships to 76 markets.

International Track 200 star alumni include Skyscanner, Specsavers, Lush and Endava – which first featured on the league table in 2012 with exports of £3.6m, floated on the NYSE in 2018 and is now valued at more than $2.5b.

The league table programme is sponsored by HSBC, DHL Express and Oracle NetSuite, and compiled by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events firm.

Amanda Murphy, head of commercial banking, HSBC UK, commented: “The Sunday Times International Track 200 shows the strength, ambition and resilience of companies across the UK and we are delighted to be sponsoring again this year. At HSBC UK, we take great pride in recognising the contribution these businesses are making to driving growth across the UK. The 10 new entrants in Southeast are making a significant contribution to employment, driving prosperity and growth and are the sort of businesses we are pleased to support every day.” 

Private companies in the Southeast with the fastest-growing international sales – ordered by county then rank

*Supplied by company            † Annualised figure

The national picture

The average international sales growth for the 200 companies was 64% a year, to a total of £10.3b on combined total sales of £22.1b. Together they employ 124,000 staff, having added 38,000 employees to their workforce over the period.

London is the most popular location for company headquarters with 79, followed by the southeast (36). There are 19 companies in the northwest, and 18 in the northeast (including Yorkshire). Of the remainder, 15 companies are based in the Midlands, 11 in the southwest, eight in Scotland, seven in the East of England, four in Northern Ireland and three in Wales.