Stuart Anderson introduces the North West's Fast 100

The North West should concentrate its efforts on the "knowledge economy", with "advanced manufacturing" and high-tech business clusters at the heart of its plans for the future, according to study after study and the strategies put forward by the North West Development Agency and local regeneration bodies.

A scan through this year's Fast 100, however, reveals a more complex picture. While the high-tech industries are there, including a healthy number of R&D-intensive firms that have yet to turn a profit, silicon and pharmaceuticals aren't the only games in town. Some of the best performers in the IT market are very much at the "applied" end of the market. Rob Crossland's Parasol, for instance, is a provider of "umbrella company" services to contractors which uses the internet to increase its efficiency and keep costs down.

Its neighbour on the same Warrington business park, Latitude, is making a mint out of making sure its clients come top of the list when anyone searches for a related subject on the web – clever, but primarily application rather than development of technology. Showing again, meanwhile, that it's commercial nous rather than intellectual property that makes you the real money, Roger Butterworth's PDA dealer, Mobile & Wireless (trading as eXpansys) secured both our Most Entrepreneurial Company 2006 award and a place in the Fast 100 by the rather old-fashioned method of selling an awful lot of other people’s kit.

2ERGO (GOLD STAR) Rawtenstall T/o: £23.1m. Ptp: £1.2m.
This Rossendale business, launched by joint MDs Barry Sharples and Neale Graham in 1999, is a specialist in “convergent media”, which has got something to do with mobile phones and the internet. Whatever, it is doing it well. SALES GROWTH: 406%

AWS ELECTRONICS Newcastle-under-Lyme T/o: £12.3m. Ptp: £826k.
Outsourced manufacturer of electronic components for a range of industries. Its position in the Fast 100 reflects its recovery from a recent sales slump, when turnover fell from almost £8.5 million to £5.7 million. SALES GROWTH: 102%

ALFRED JONES (WARRINGTON) Warrington T/o: £105.3m. Ptp: £735k.
Operator of retail grocery franchises and garage forecourts, established in 1945. SALES GROWTH: 106%

AMSTONE DEVELOPMENTS Altrincham T/o: £4.7m. Ptp: £2.1m.
Property developer which started out in the early 1990s as a housebuilder and has since taken on numerous developments around Greater Manchester. Current projects include the £80 million Times Square retail scheme in Warrington. SALES GROWTH: 123%

APPSENSE Warrington T/o: £8.5m. Ptp: £265k.
The rest of us may curse those pesky hackers that force us to spend a fortune on IT security, but they’ve helped Appsense build a lucrative transatlantic security software business . SALES GROWTH: 602%

AQUILO Northwich T/o: £19.7m. Ptp: (£1.4m).
Insurance claims management firm Aquilo had been pootling around in the area of £2.5 million turnover until it floated on Aim in 2004 and sales rose by more than £1 million. However, it was the acquisition of ABS Bodyshop Services in January 2005 that catapulted the group into the upper reaches of our Fast 100. ABS now contributes some 80 per cent of total turnover. SALES GROWTH: 686%

ARMSTRONG BROOKS Altrincham T/o: £10.7m. Ptp: £6.5m.
Cheshire-based property development business incorporateded in 1988 and wholly-owned by Robert Cory and his family. In 2003, it acquired online advertising firm Venturia. SALES GROWTH: 182%

ARRK FOOTWEAR Salford T/o: £24.6m. Ptp: £33k.
Founded as a manufacturer of ladies’ shoes, things really started to take off when it diversified into importing footwear. Trading under the “No doubt Shoes” brand it has seen impressive sales growth, although pre-tax profits have fallen somewhat from almost £600,000 in the year to January 2003. SALES GROWTH: 118%

B&H POLYMERS Leigh T/o: £75m. Ptp: (£805k).
One of the veterans of EN’s Fast 100 lists. Founded in 1992 by Peter Hutchinson, it is engaged in the production of plastic bottles for a range of uses. In 2004, it won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise and now markets its products under the “Elixir” brand. SALES GROWTH: 101%

BEECHWAYS DEVELOPMENTS Warrington T/o: £2.3m. Ptp: £39k.
Fast-growing building contractor owned by David Mannering which has just achieved profitability. SALES GROWTH: 110%

BIGBLUE PRODUCT DESIGN Chester T/o: £2.6m. Ptp: £177k.
Hoole-based firm which offers “modular” product design services, on a fixed-fee, fixed-term basis. Commodities designed range from stoves to computer peripherals. Founded in 2003, the company is owned jointly by Andrew Longfield and Christopher Parker. SALES GROWTH: 191%

BLACKBURN TEXTILE MANUFACTURE Blackburn T/o: £3.8m. Ptp: £107k.
Khalid Dalal’s jeans manufacturer the Blackburn Clothing Company changed its name to the rather less snappy sounding Blackburn Textile Manufacture at the end of 2004 – but this doesn’t seem to have harmed its growth, which really started to pick up about a year previously.
SALES GROWTH: 357%

BUCKLES HOLDINGS Rhyl T/o: £3.1m. Ptp: £265k.
Buckles, now North Wales’s largest independent financial advisor, saw sales leap by £3 million during 2003-4 thanks to a programme of acquisitions and the launch of its “Snowdonia”-branded range of collective investment “funds of funds”. SALES GROWTH: 420%

CALDWELLS Warrington T/o: £30.6m. Ptp: £1.3m.
The 113 year-old Caldwells Group is still 100 per cent owned by its founding family, and still growing. This supplier of engineering tools to manufacturers has managed to double turnover in the past couple of years, mainly due to a series of contract wins through its Integrated Engineering Stores Associates division. SALES GROWTH: 116%

CARDPOINT Blackpool T/o: £61m. Ptp: (£11.5m).
Punters may moan about having to pay £1.50 a pop to take cash out of one of Cardpoint’s machines but, if they had any idea of its losses, they’d probably stop whining and set up a hardship fund . Its turnover has been swelled by acquisitions including that of rival Moneybox in 2005, but margins have yet to turn positive. Founder Mark Mills parted company with the Aim-listed business in October, and the latest in a string of takeover bids has just been rejected by the board. SALES GROWTH: 402%

CHAS. KENDALL (TURF ACCOUNTANT) Barrow-in-Furness T/o: £42.9m. Ptp: £540k.
Bookmaker established in 1925 which was growing steadily until 2003, when its turnover began heading decisively northwards. It is now looking for betting shops in the area to add to its estate. SALES GROWTH: 97%

CHEMICARE HEALTH St Helens T/o: £15.6m. Ptp: £1.1m.
Pharmacy chain built by Pete Burrows, Martin Molyneaux, Gary Sawbridge and David Turner under the Knights Pharmacy brand using a £10 million facility from RBS. It snapped up 18 other independents, but when prices in the sector began to rocket it sold out to German-owned L Rowland for an undisclosed sum, believed to be over £20 million. SALES GROWTH: 96%

CHESS (GOLD STAR) Alderley Edge T/o: £17.7m. Ptp: £3m.
Company which initially provided utilities advice to corporate customers when set up in 1993, but it was only when founder David Pollock moved into telecoms in1998 that it began to take off. It has since grown both organically and through a fiercely acquisitive policy, and now provides broadband, mobile and BlackBerry services to SMEs and the public sector. Its 2006 profit was almost equal to its total 2004 turnover. SALES GROWTH 452%

CLEARYS Manchester T/o: £5.1m. Ptp: £99k.
Family-owned operator of six Spar convenience store franchises in north Manchester. SALES GROWTH: 110%

CRANAGE CONSULTANCY SERVICES (GOLD STAR) Warrington T/o: £11.6m. Ptp: £181k.
Guy Weaver and Peter Brazier formed Cranage Consultancy Services in 2002 to provide PR and marketing advice to the white goods industry. However, the lion’s share of its revenues come from its Premium Appliance Brands subsidiary – a “virtual manufacturer” of kitchen appliances which are built overseas for trade customers and then marketed under swish-sounding brand names. SALES GROWTH: 345%

CYGNET FOODS Warrington T/o: £12.7m. Ptp: £334k.
Swan twizzler, anyone? Founded in 1996, Cygnet Foods is a caterer with two divisions – one operating smaller business and nursing home canteens and the other supplying schools and colleges. It employs more than 1,000 people and is owned by the Cartwright family. SALES GROWTH: 98%

CYPROTEX Macclesfield T/o: £2.7m. Ptp: (£1.2m).
A firm made more famous for the controversial circumstances surrounding a spread bet on its float than what it actually does. Ex-majority shareholder Paul “The Plumber” Davidson may have won his subsequent three-year battle with the Financial Services Authority, but in the meantime this company, which provides software and analytical services to the pharmaceutical sector, has stemmed most of its losses by cutting administrative expenses and increasing sales both here and in the US. SALES GROWTH: 157%

DEBTMATTERS (GOLD STAR) Manchester T/o: £7.8m. Ptp: £2.8m.
Debtmatters’ individual voluntary arrangements have proved irresistible to overspenders looking to exorcise a few financial ghosts. Its speedy growth to March 2006, reflected in these figures, was purely achieved organically. The subsequent acquisition of Loanmakers in June should increase its sales still further. SALES GROWTH: 1,477%

DESTINOLOGY Bolton T/o: £6.6m. Ptp: (£61k).
Internet travel agency set up by Dominic Speakman, scion of the Travel Counsellors dynasty and former MD of that firm, in 2002 – though it really started to take off after he left the family business to focus on his new company in late 2003. SALES GROWTH: 324%

DUKEFIELD Bolton T/o: £11.7m. Ptp: £241k.
Operating through a number of subsidiaries, Dukefield specialises in the provision of procurement services for local authorities (including Lancashire County Council). Its Thomas Witter carpet manufacturing subsidiary also makes a significant contribution to revenue. SALES GROWTH: 105%

EDIRECTORY.CO.UK Barrow-in-Furness T/o: £2.4m. Ptp: (£318k).
Founded by Dominic Allonby ten years ago, and floated in 2000, edirectory.co.uk is an ecommerce site, with offshoots in Ireland and Spain, which offers a broad range of goods at discounted prices. It has also designed similar sites for third parties such as national newspapers. SALES GROWTH: 98%

ELITE HOMES Newton-le-Willows T/o: £46.3m. Ptp: £7.6m.
Housebuilder founded in 1993, which has developments across the North West and Yorkshire. SALES GROWTH: 152%

ELITE TELECOM St Helens T/o: £4.9m. Ptp: £365k.
Established in 2000 by managing director Matt Newing, Elite provides telecoms services and develops telecoms software for a growing portfolio of national and international clients, including Kwik Fit, the Tussauds Group and Interflora. SALES GROWTH: 100%

ENVIROTECH PROJECT MANAGEMENT Lymm T/o: £2.1m. Ptp: £386k.
Founded by Peter Harrison, Envirotech provides consultancy services to businesses on waste minimisation and recycling, as well as supplying recycling and waste management machinery. SALES GROWTH: 96%

EVOLUTION STUDIOS Runcorn T/o: £5.8m. Ptp: £742k
Developer of computer/console games, which has great hopes for its new Playstation3 game, Motorstorm. Its chief executive is Martin Kenwright, son of Everton FC chairman Bill. SALES GROWTH: 103%

EXCEL SECURITIES Manchester T/o: £6.2m. Ptp: £2.1m.
Bridging loan business targeting commercial customers. The company is backed by a consortium of banks. SALES GROWTH: 158%

FAISALTEX Preston T/o: £192.3m. Ptp: £3m.
Brothers Arif, Faisal and Munaf Patel own and run a variety of textile manufacturing and import/export companies based in Preston, the flagship being branded sock manufacturer Faisaltex. Here we aggregate the figures for four of these companies: Faisaltex; Faisaltex Manufacturing; Faisal Imports and Morville Trading. Their recent massive growth has been achieved organically, through new contract wins. SALES GROWTH: 847%

FAST & FRESH (RESTAURANTS) Preston T/o: £2.6m. Ptp: £100k.
We’re a bit intimidated by the whole DIY butty thing, but even we can’t deny that Subway has been the high street success of the Noughties - and northern franchisee Fast & Fresh has certainly been taking its bite of the sandwich. SALES GROWTH: 693%

FRANKLYN Kirkby Stephen T/o: £2.2m. Ptp: £215k.
Group of companies which develops and operates care homes which, following a couple of loss-making years, is now earning a tidy margin on its rapidlyincreasing turnover. SALES GROWTH: 274%

FRASER EAGLE (GOLD STAR) Padiham T/o: £41m. Ptp: £630k.
East Lancs coach operator, founded in 1919, whose big recent growth has come through the provision of replacement bus services for cancelled or re-routed trains. It has also diversified – adding an interior design business , a travel agency (Worldchoice) and a corporate travel firm. However, its big new venture is Grand Central Trains, which from May will run new services between Yorkshire and London. Fraser Eagle is the majority stakeholder. SALES GROWTH: 581%

FRESHFIELD DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENTS Southport T/o: £3.6m. Ptp: £241k.
Developer of executive homes around Merseyside’s more desirable neighbourhoods, founded in mid-2001. SALES GROWTH: 587%

GLISTEN Blackburn T/o: £55.6m. Ptp: £3.2m.
Chief executive Paul Simmonds has overseen a number of major transactions since Blackburn-based Glisten listed on Aim in 2002, raising £5.5 million to gorge on sweets firms. Since then, it has made several acquisitions and branched out into the healthier cereal bar business. SALES GROWTH: 168%

GLOBAL WORLDWIDE ENTERPRISES Manchester T/o: £62.2m. Ptp: £920k.
Import/export outfit which has undergone stellar growth thanks to a policy of responding to market demands rather than focusing on any particular product line. SALES GROWTH: 932%

HEYROD CONSTRUCTION Oldham T/o: £67.9m. Ptp: £7.5m.
Founded as a specialist formwork and steel fixing service by current MD Frank Gillespie in 1978, the company has since diversified into new build, refurbishment, civil engineering and design and build projects. Developments in which it has been involved include the City of Manchester Stadium and the current refurbishment of the stately home at Dunham Massey. SALES GROWTH: 129%

HIMA SELLA Stockport T/o: £10.3m. Ptp: £1.1m.
Supplier of electronic products for safety, control and automation applications to a variety of industries. Founded in 1974, the company underwent a management buyout in 1994. More impressive even than its sales growth is the fourfold leap in profitability it experienced in fiscal
2005. SALES GROWTH: 101%

INDEPENDENT PHARMACY CARE CENTRES (GOLD STAR) Stockport T/o: £14.7m. Ptp: £568k.
A newish entrant to a consolidating market, IPCC is a three year-old “community pharmacy” operator with 23 chemists shops around the north of England. Has recently announced plans to raise £4.5 million through a private placing with business angels, with a view to purchasing outright another 8-15 outlets. SALES GROWTH: 186%

ITIS HOLDINGS Altrincham T/o: £14.2m. Ptp: £2m.
Floated on Aim by chief executive Stuart Marks in 2000, Itis provides traffic flow data to in-car satellite navigation systems and road traffic information providers. It reported a profit for the first time in 2006, as well as signing contracts with a number of prestige car manufacturers to provide data to their built-in sat navs. It also owns some nifty technology. SALES GROWTH: 101%

J ARMOR Liverpool T/o: £6.5m. Ptp: £108k.
Family-owned contractor that has been involved in a number of local building schemes around Merseyside, including residential developments in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle. SALES GROWTH: 104%

JERROLD HOLDINGS Manchester T/o: £76.3m. Ptp: £37.3m.
Founded in 1973 by Henry Moser and (now retired) Barrie Pollock, Jerrold is the parent of secured lender Blemain Finance. The group has a residential and commercial loan book in excess of £600 million and, in September of this year, Barclays Private Equity took a “significant minority” stake in the business for £113.5 million. With figures like these, you can see why. SALES GROWTH: 101%

JOHNSTON RECRUITMENT Barrow-in-Furness T/o: £6.4m. Ptp: £882k.
Cumbria-headquartered recruitment firm providing skilled engineers for the construction, oil and gas, pharmaceutical, nuclear, rail and shipbuilding sectors. SALES GROWTH: 168%

K3 BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY Colne T/o: £22m. Ptp: £279k.
Consultant and computer software supplier. Its growth has been driven by two acquisitions, K3 Landsteinar and K3 Elucid. SALES GROWTH: 214%

LA RONDINELLA Lancaster T/o: £2.6m. Ptp: (£12k).
It might have a posh Italian name, but Derek and Haydn Hicks’s fast-growing business actually operates as a Bargain Booze franchisee. SALES GROWTH: 271%

LABMEDICS Salford T/o: £3m. Ptp: £79k.
20 year-old business engaged in distribution and maintenance of chemical analysers. Comprised of two divisions which supply systems to hospitals and healthcare laboratories, industrial, environmental laboratories and water companies. SALES GROWTH: 135%

LACY ROOFING Liverpool T/o: £6m. Ptp: £1.5m.
Family-owned roofing company founded in 1971. Has worked on buildings including Cavern Walks and St George’s Hall but has lately got involved with newbuild apartment blocks around Liverpool. SALES GROWTH: 114%

LANCASTER PROPERTY NETWORK Lancaster T/o: £2m. Ptp: £342k.
Business founded in 2000 to develop, manage and let student properties around Lancaster. Properties are currently concentrated on a development around Cable Street, but it also has a pipeline of commercial projects under development. SALES GROWTH: 505%

LATITUDE Warrington T/o: £18.8m. Ptp: £3.6m.
Search optimisation firm bought as part of a group of five companies by Dylan Thwaites and his ex-father-in-law (building entrepreneur David Ashton) in 2000. It has since become a huge business, and although there have been rumours of a sale, Thwaites insists he is keen to ride the wave and build Latitude into a £100 million+ empire. SALES GROWTH: 422%

LINDEN TEXTILES Salford T/o: £4.6m. Ptp: £12k.
Textile manufacturer formerly known as Delan Ltd. SALES GROWTH: 132%

LIVING VENTURES Knutsford T/o: £27.6m. Ptp: £108k.
Tim Bacon and Jeremy Roberts always planned to grow Living Ventures (operator of bar/restaurants like Living Room and Prohibition) quickly – taking on £5 million of venture capital from Sagitta in 2001. Last year, however, it bought Est Est Est from The Restaurant Group for £16.4 million in loan notes while, simultaneously, Restaurant Group took a 40 per cent stake in Living Ventures. The plan is to transform Est Est Est’s fortunes before, in 2008, the Restaurant Group exercises an option to buy out the whole business for up to £47.5 million. SALES GROWTH: 128%

M3 PROPERTIES Liverpool T/o: £2.5m. Ptp: £174k.
Established in 2001 by the three partners of building consultancy Muir Associates, this Sefton Park-based developer specialises in restoring character buildings in Liverpool as residential properties. Majority shareholder Jim Beal is described as the firm’s “driving force”. SALES GROWTH: 354%

MANSELL FINISHES Cheadle T/o: £9.9m. Ptp: £1m.
When founded by Edward Mansell in 1992 the business was purely involved in plastering but has since developed capabilities in a broad range of finishing techniques for modern buildings. SALES GROWTH: 136%

MEADE-KING ROBINSON Liverpool T/o: £18.6m. Ptp: £373k.
Meade-King Robinson has been providing industrial oils, fats, waxes, solvents and the like since 1867 but it’s still managed to make a healthy showing in our Fast 100, both increasing turnover and returning to profit after the leaner, loss-making years at the beginning of the decade. SALES GROWTH: 174%

MERCURY RECYCLING Manchester T/o: £2.1m. Ptp: (£193k).
There has never been a better time to be a recycling business. Mercury Recycling specialises in lamps, fluorescent tubes, halogen and mercury vapour lights. Mercury-contaminated products are also, unsurprisingly, a strong suit. Sadly, making a profit wasn’t until this year, although it has seemingly turned things around by reducing costs. SALES GROWTH: 127%

MEREPARK (GOLD STAR) Altrincham T/o: £2.5m. Ptp: £1.6m.
Property developer owned by Richard Peel and Robert Ross which is involved in the the £160 million Central Village development in Liverpool’s bsiness district longside Irish-owned developer allymore. It also has an ongoing nterest in Inacity – the firm charged ith developing the 60-storey
residential tower in Manchester. SALES GROWTH: 176%

MERIDIAN MARINE ANAGEMENT Liverpool T/o: £2.6m. Ptp: £97k.
Provider of “marine management” services including selection and appointment of crews for ships and offshore platforms, training, repairs and maintenance, and consultancy on the growing area of risk management. SALES GROWTH: 157%

MILLION 2 1 (GOLD STAR) Manchester T/o: £2.6m. Ptp: £169k.
The company behind the reverse auction concept and the Manchester Lottery moved into profit in 2005. Its focus on mobile phone “gaming” as opposed to “gambling” and on markets other than the US should protect it from problems dogging the other firms in the industry. In the UK, meanwhile, the new Gambling Act promises to usher in a new era of mobile phone lotteries – for which Million-2-1’s co-owners, Chris Sheffield and Scott Davies, have a raft of products in the pipeline. SALES GROWTH: 1,443%

MISS POSH CLOTHING Manchester T/o: £2.1m. Ptp: £34k.
Importer and distributor of ladies apparel from factories in China, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, established in 1997. High street ladies’ and children’s wear retailers in the UK and Europe make up the majority of its client base. SALES GROWTH: 221%

MOBILE & WIRELESS (GOLD STAR) Manchester T/o: £35.7m. Ptp: £558k.
With Roger Butterworth at the helm, Mobile & Wireless is the holding company for brands including eXpansys, which was named Most Entrepreneurial Company at EN’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2006 Awards. It has grown to become one of the largest independent sellers of PDAs and smart phones in Europe. SALES GROWTH: 183%

MONEYSUPERMAKET Chester T/o: £59.7m. Ptp: £15.9m.
Despite the growing profile of “bricks and clicks” financial institutions, online-only financial services portal Moneysupermaket.com has been continuing to build its sales – and make a hefty profit for owners Simon Nixon and Duncan Cameron to boot. SALES GROWTH: 140%

MONSTERMOB Lancaster T/o: £58.1m. Ptp: £8.7m.
Aim-listed mobile phone content provider founded by Martin Higginson, who left the company in July (see Bulletin). Monstermob’s position in the Fast 100 is based on figures to the end of 2005. It has since purchased businesses in China, Singapore and the Philippines, and turnover for the
first six months of 2006 alone grew to £53.5 million. SALES GROWTH: 318%

MOONCREST SOLUTIONS Ashton-Under-Lyne T/o: £2.6m. Ptp: £173k.
Manufacturer of lingerie and nightwear which was set up in 1992. SALES GROWTH: 171%

MORBAINE PROPERTIES Widnes T/o: £16.6m. Ptp: £4m.
Property developer founded in 1963 by John Finlan, who still sits as a director and has a significant shareholding. SALES GROWTH: 176%

NW TRADING Birkenhead T/o: £10.3m. (an) Ptp: £261k. (an)
The last few years have been good for the logistics sector, and this Wirral specialist in dry bulk goods, established in 1999 and majority-owned by Colin Littler, was founded just in time to take advantage of the renaissance of the Mersey Ports. SALES GROWTH: 172%

MUNI-SERV Widnes T/o: £3.8m. Ptp: £273k.
Founded in 1997 as a provider of engineering services for waste disposal vehicles, Muni-Serv soon grew to take on major maintenance contracts. In 2003, however, it got into the motor game properly and started selling vehicles itself, in the shape of Ros Rocca refuse collection
trucks. The company also operates a hire fleet. SALES GROWTH: 117%

NETSERVICES Manchester T/o: £11m. Ptp: (£760k).
Aim-listed business providing voice and data services to customers including internet service providers and systems integrators. The acquisitions in 2005 of Telefonica UK and WAN Services helped boost its revenues, but it has also seen a significant decrease in operating
margins. SALES GROWTH: 300%

NEWSTEAD PROPERTIES Newcastle-under-Lyme T/o: £9.1m. Ptp: £240k.
Developer of, and investor in, residential, commercial and mixed-use properties primarily around North Staffordshire. SALES GROWTH: 390%

NIGHTINGALE Stoke-on-Trent T/o: £4.2m. Ptp: £450k.
Operator of residential nursing homes trading as Guardian Care. Founded in 1987, its turnover was around the £1 million mark in 2001 and 2002, dropping to £615k in 2003 before taking off the following year. SALES GROWTH: 589%

NUNU Cheadle T/o: £3.5m. Ptp: (£251k).
In this supposedly high-tech age of home working and telecommuting, day nurseries are one of the fastest-growing sectors in the UK, and this
Cheadle-based business is no exception. SALES GROWTH: 129%

OFFICE COMPLETE Stockport T/o: £3.3m. Ptp: £340k.
Supplier of business equipment to retail and trade outlets which was established in 1992. Known as “Fastmaster” until July 2005. SALES GROWTH: 414%

PARASOL Warrington T/o: £227.5m. Ptp: £2.8m.
Umbrella company for IT contractors, locum doctors etc. Much more profitable than it looks, as headline figures include contractors’ wages
paid through the company. The fees it receives for these are closer to £4.5 million. Founder and managing director Rob Crossland recently led a £24 million MBO backed by venture capitalist Inflexion to buy out early-stage investors. SALES GROWTH: 249%

PARETO LAW Wilmslow T/o: £5.1m. Ptp: £399k.
11 year-old recruitment firm that turns raw graduates into polished sales staff, founded by Jonathan Fitchew with a little help from business angel Nils Wager. Fitchew owns around a third of the business, as does co-managing director Andrew Sawer, with the rest held in an executive pension scheme. SALES GROWTH: 102%

PENTAGON FINE CHEMICALS Workington T/o: £32.5m. Ptp: (£2.1m).
Cumbria-headquartered chemicals manufacturer which produces products ranging from agrochemical and pharmaceutical ingredients to corrosion inhibitors. In 2003, it acquired a business in Halebank, Widnes, from Great Lakes Chemical Corporation. SALES GROWTH: 116%

PHOTO THERAPEUTICS Altrincham T/o: £3.3m. Ptp: (£821k).
Headquartered close to the WAGs of Bowden and Hale, Photo Therapeutics researches, develops and manufactures non-laser light sources (LED), used for medical and cosmetic treatments for anything from acne to skin cancer. SALES GROWTH: 317%

PIPELINE AND DRAINAGE SYSTEMS Lymm T/o: £4.1m. Ptp: £786k.
Cheshire-headquartered manufacturer of kerb and bridge drainage systems, including one that, rather niftily, is made out of recycled plastic bottles. SALES GROWTH: 110%

POWER ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS Alderley Edge T/o: £2.8m. Ptp: £468k.
Founded by MD John Sanderson in 1989, Power Engineering Consultants specialises in consultancy services for the electricity generation/supply industry, its core business being power system protection. SALES GROWTH: 258%

PROJEN Northwich T/o: £7.2m. Ptp: £1.2m
Consultant engineers founded in 1978. Also operates a “business improvement” consultancy providing advice on legislative compliance and
energy issues. SALES GROWTH: 145%

REALTY ESTATES Manchester T/o: £11.5m. Ptp: £2.4m.
Property developer/manager whose latest investments, along with Ask Developments, are the former Boddingtons Brewery site and British Telecom building in Manchester. SALES GROWTH: 129%

SCOTT BROTHERS Middlewich T/o: £4.6m. Ptp: £297k.
Wholesale distributor of a variety of his ’n’ hers storage products – resealable freezer bags, compression bags for textiles, etc. SALES GROWTH: 131%

SERVICEPOWER Stockport T/o: £7.9m. Ptp: (£1.6m).
IT hosting and outsourcing business which was formed in 1996 from a business angel-backed MBO of ICL’s artificial intelligence division. In
2004, it acquired various assets from KeyPrestige, a US provider of warranty chain management software. Growth has also come from higher sales. SALES GROWTH: 201%

SOCCERCITY Manchester T/o: £2m. Ptp: (£284k).
Formerly known as Taskcatch, Soccercity is one of those firms that charges a fortune to office workers indulging in weekly kickabouts. SALES GROWTH: 183%

SOREX Widnes T/o: £30.5m. Ptp: £2.5m.
If it crawls, scurries, buzzes around or does anything else to annoy you, Sorex can kill it. In operation since 1949, this producer of pesticides/
rodenticides acquired US-based insecticide firm Micro-Gen in 2004, which has given it greater impetus to grow overseas. SALES GROWTH: 111%

SPARES UK Warrington T/o: £3.5m. Ptp: £403k.
Supplier of spares for quarrying machinery. Its growth has been such that, this autumn, it decided to recruit a new managing director to handle expansion. SALES GROWTH: 99%

SUPERCOVER Bolton T/o: £22.8m. Ptp: £707k.
Not, miraculously, an insurance company but a manufacturer and distributor of accessories for prams and pushchairs and other nursery textiles. SALES GROWTH: 121%

SWIFT FIRE & SECURITY Salford T/o: £14m. Ptp: £863k.
Company which has been installing and maintaining fire safety and security systems for more than 25 years and now has a national network of branches. SALES GROWTH: 143%

TEPNEL LIFE SCIENCES Manchester T/o: £13.6m. Ptp: (£2m).
Biotech firm founded in 1992 which provides, among other things, DNA purification kits for biomedical research firms, food and allergy testing kits and a variety of other analytical tools for the pharmacy and biotech sectors. SALES GROWTH: 259%

THINK MONEY HOLDINGS (GOLD STAR) Salford T/o: £21.1m. Ptp: £3m.
One of the growing (in every sense) band of debt management groups in the region. Subsidiaries include debt consolidation business Gregory
Pennington (in which Eurocall founder Nigel Warr has a stake), a basic bank account operated in conjunction with RBS, lender “Friendly Loans” and, of course, an IVA arm – Freeman Jones. SALES GROWTH: 160%

TOROTRAK Leyland T/o: £2m. Ptp: (£6m).
Quoted engineering firm that makes fuel-efficient drive systems for the car industry. Sadly, despite increasing sales fourfold over the last year, it’s still oozing cash like fluid from a leaky differential. It has just undergone a restructuring that should cut annual costs by £1.1 million, and it still has £7.5 million in the bank. Chairman John Grant says the aim is to break even in the “medium term”. SALES GROWTH: 742%

TURKINGTON INDUSTRIES Burnley T/o: £24.5m. Ptp: £278k.
Engineering firm established 30 years ago by current chairman John Turkington, which specialises in manufacturing a wide range of products for commercial bakeries. It recently bought APV Baker Goldsboro, a North Carolina bread and bun equipment operation, from Invensys. SALES GROWTH: 103%

UFC FUND MANAGEMENT Bolton T/o: £7.8m. Ptp: £83k.
Established in 1986, UFC Fund Management is a unit trust operator which trades via its subsidiary Marlborough Fund Managers. SALES GROWTH: 134%

URBAN SPLASH Manchester T/o: £57.3m. Ptp: £8.8m.
The property development group founded by Tom Bloxham in 1993 continues to grow apace. Its pipeline of developments in the region includes the refurb of Morecambe’s landmark art deco Midland Hotel, and the Will Alsop-designed New Islington project in Miles Platting. SALES GROWTH: 238%

VALE CONTRACT SERVICES Ruthin T/o: £3.6m. Ptp: £69k.
Landscape gardening and grounds maintenance firm whose growth was boosted by the award of a five-year grounds maintenance contract from Chester City Council in 2004. SALES GROWTH 118%

VITAFLO (INTERNATIONAL) Liverpool T/o: £3.9m. Ptp: £1.6m
Originally founded two decades ago in Scotland, Vitaflo is now headquartered in Liverpool. It develops clinical nutritional products (ie food for people with special dietary requirements) – a growth area, reflected in the firm’s healthy profits. SALES GROWTH: 177%

WA DEVELOPMENTS Appleby in Westmorland T/o: £141.4m. Ptp: £3.9m.
Andrew Tinkler’s construction company WA Developments was happily trundling along – then he hooked up with William, brother of Eddie, Stobart to purchase the latter’s family’s haulage firm in 2004, and turnover took something of a consequent leap. Other investments include the
Ukraine’s first chain of Mothercare stores and, earlier this year, Carlisle Airport. SALES GROWTH: 1,399%

WH IRELAND Manchester T/o: £23m. Ptp: £3.2m.
Provider of stockbroking services to individuals, institutions and companies. The company’s increase in turnover is largely attributable to growth in revenues from its private client practice. SALES GROWTH: 148%

WARRINGTON FABRICATIONS Warrington T/o: £5.6m. Ptp: £553k.
Steel fabricator and erector founded in 1978. Owned by Martin Simcock, clients have included Kellogg’s and BNFL, in addition to a variety of commercial premises. SALES GROWTH: 104%

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