County firm in top 100 sales table

Shropshire car dealership Greenhous has made it into the top 100 companies in the country, according to a new league table.

The group, which has its headquarters at the Oxon Business Park in Shrewsbury, is ranked at 67 in the latest Sunday Times Deloitte Top Track 100 which will be published this weekend.

The company had sales of £703 million last year, making £6 million profit. It is owned by 50 per cent shareholders Derek Passant and Kerry Finnon and employs 698 staff.

There are 16 of Britain’s biggest private companies in the Midland’s region, including Phones 4U, the mobile phone retailer sold by Shropshire entrepreneur John Caudwell for £1.46 billion in 2006.Mr Caudwell, who has a home near Market Drayton, still holds 25 per cent of the company which is ranked 58th in the table, with sales of £782 million and latest profits of £104 million. JCB is the top ranked Midlands firm in ninth place.

Now in its seventh year, the table ranks Britain’s 100 biggest private companies by latest sales. Richard Edwards, senior partner in the Midlands at Deloitte, the title sponsor of the league table, said: “Privately owned companies are a crucial part of the UK’s economy and it is great to see the Midlands represented in the Top Track 100.

“I am delighted to see successful firms such as JCB and Phones 4U claiming their place among the cream of the UK’s private companies.”