Shropshire trio win places on league table of fastest-growing international sales stars
Three businesses in Shropshire have been named in a league table which ranks Britain’s mid-market private companies with the fastest-growing international sales.
Telford-based pair Rebound Returns and Evolution Foods as well as Shrewsbury-based Scott & Newman have been named in the 12th annual Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 league table.
Rebound Returns, ranked 19th, provides software that handles returns and logistics for retailers.
It has reported £5.4 million of international sales with £27.3 million in the year ending December 2019 and an average annual international sales growth of 104 per cent over two years.
Potato merchants Scott & Newman, ranked 90th, has reported £6.5 million of international sales in the year ending June 2019 and an average annual international sales growth of 43 per cent over two years.
Health foods retailer Evolution Foods, ranked 158th, has reported £7 million of international sales in the year ending June 2020 and an average annual international sales growth of 26 per cent over two years.
A total of 27 companies headquartered in the Midlands have won places on the league table, including 17 new entrants. These regional stars have grown their international sales by an average of 59 per cent a year over the last two years to a total of £892 million, all are profitable and together they employ more than 18,000 people. The figures largely relate to financial periods before Covid-19 struck.
The region’s top-ranked company is new entrant BullionByPost, based in Birmingham, which sells gold and silver bullion bars and coins online to customers across the UK, Europe and America. Global trade tensions helped drive international sales up an average of 205 per cent per year over its last two years, to reach £36.7 million in the year to April 2020, on gross total sales of £209.5 million.
The league table programme is sponsored by HSBC and DHL Express, and compiled by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events firm.
Amanda Murphy, head of commercial banking at HSBC UK, said: “After a challenging start to 2021, all eyes are on the companies that will drive a return to growth in 2021. We are confident that the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of businesses such as those in the Midlands listed on International Track 200 will carry them forward. These companies show the strength, ambition and resilience of businesses across the UK and are the sort of businesses we are proud to support every day.”
The average international sales growth for the 200 companies was 55 per cent a year, to a total of £8.7 billion on combined total sales of £19.2 billion. Together they employ 107,000 staff, having added 32,000 employees to their workforce over the period, some as a result of acquisitions.
