Profit Track 100

The Sunday Times Profit Track 100 is an annual league table published in association with The Sunday Times newspaper in the UK. It ranks Britain’s 100 private companies with the fastest-growing profits over their last three years. It is published in The Sunday Times each April, with an awards event typically held in June[1], and alumni dinners during the year. The league table is researched and produced by Fast Track, an Oxford based research and networking events business[2].

Sunday Times Profit Track 100 logo

About Fast Track

Fast Track is a leading research and events company that has built a network of the UK’s top-performing private companies, from the fastest-growing to the biggest, through its rankings in The Sunday Times. Founded in 1997[2] by Hamish Stevenson[3][4], it now publishes seven annual league tables and brings company founders and directors together at invitation-only networking awards events and alumni dinners.[5]

Entry criteria

Companies have to meet the criteria below to be able to qualify for the Profit Track 100 league table:

  • UK registered, unquoted, and not subsidiaries
  • Profits of at least £500,000 in the base year trading (latest year minus 3 years)
  • Profits of at least £3m in the latest year
  • Profits are defined as operating profits before exceptional items
  • Profits must increase in the latest year
  • Trading weeks in the base and latest years have to exceed 25

Companies that do not meet the criteria can still be considered for the Ones to Watch programme[6]. This is a selection of companies that have either achieved, or predict, good profit growth.

Exclusions

Excluded companies include pure property and financial trading companies, and those with restricted accounts; companies that are equal joint ventures, or majority-owned by quoted or other companies

Notable alumni companies

Profit Track 100 was launched in 2000 to recognise Britain’s private companies with the fastest growing profits. Since then, 1,500 companies have appeared on the league table, including:

  • Dyson first featured in 2000 having grown profits from £4.3m to profits of £24.3m[7]. In 2018, profits exceeded £1bn on global sales of £4.4bn[8].
  • EG Group, the fuel forecourt operator, made its debut in 2008 with profits of £4.9m[9]. It was valued at £1.3bn in 2015[10] and has since expanded across America and Australia, reporting profits of £264.5m in 2018.
  • Travel search engine Skyscanner, featured in 2015 with profits of £17.7m[11] and was acquired for £1.4bn by Chinese travel group Ctrip in 2016[12].
  • King.com, the gaming website operator behind the Candy Crush Saga, featured in 2010 with profits of £4.7m[13]. It floated on the NYSE in 2014 valued at $7.1bn[14], and was acquired by Activision Blizzard in 2015 for $5.9bn[15].

Latest Profit Track 100 league table

The 21st annual Sunday Times Profit Track 100 league table supplement was due to be published on 5th April, 2020. However, given the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Fast Track delayed publication in order to liaise with the featured companies[16]. Out of the original 100 companies, 70 explicitly asked to feature, and 30 did not want to be included[17]. In addition to the league table ranking, the supplement highlighted the positive actions that some companies took to support their staff, local communities, the NHS and key workers during the initial stages of the pandemic[18][19]. The number one ranked company was fitness clothing retailer Gymshark, which grew its operating profits from £1.1m in 2016 to £18.6m in 2019[20].

Yearly Winners
YearCompany NameCategoryProfit Growth (3 year average)Latest Profits (£000s)
2000JobServeInternet Recruitment publisher124.14%7,250
2001Hazell CarrActuarial Services Provider114.24%14,472
2002Complete CommunicationsTV and Film Producer177.50%15,359
2003Apple CorpsMusic Rights Owner194.06%18,234
2004The Entertainment GroupFilm Distributor196.85%61,558
2005BinomialInsurance Underwriter159.30%13,556
2006HESCO BastionDefence Barrier Maker236.04%35,598
2007Virgin MoneyBank147.00%9,117
2008AFI UpliftConstruction equipment supplier114.24%5,402
2009Merlin EntertainmentVisitor Attraction operator129.66%127,400
2010Mayday HealthcareRecruitment Consultancy166.54%9,704
2011R&R Ice CreamIce Cream Manufacturer210.22%43,439
2012Partnership AssuranceLife Assurance Specialist210.53%37,701
2013Partnership AssuranceLife Assurance Specialist176.36%66,970
2014The Hut GroupOnline Retailer178.03%10,853
2015The Hut GroupOnline Retailer216.58%15,959
2016AnescoEnergy Efficiency Consultancy179.15%20,706
2017 Paymentsense Payment processing services 203% 14,000
2018 Dreams Bed manufacturer and retailer 166.89% 34,505
2019 Loveholidays Online travel agency 190.96% 13,350
2020 Gymshark Fitness clothing retailer 156.20% 18,565

Other Fast Track publications

Profit Track 100 is one of seven league tables of private companies produced by Fast Track and published in The Sunday Times:

  • Fast Track 100 – ranks the UK’s fastest-growing private companies based on sales (excluding TMT companies, which appear in Tech Track 100 (see below)
  • SME Export Track 100 – ranks the UK's SMEs with the fastest-growing international sales
  • Tech Track 100 – ranks the UK’s fastest-growing private technology companies based on sales (the sister table to Fast Track 100)
  • International Track 200 – ranks the UK’s private mid-market companies with the fastest-growing overseas sales
  • Profit Track 100 – ranks the UK’s private companies with the fastest-growing profits
  • Top Track 250 – ranks the UK’s leading mid-market private companies based on sales and/or profits growth
  • Top Track 100 – ranks the UK’s biggest private companies based on sales
gollark: And you can't limit per-second output because of Sybil attacks.
gollark: Firstly, time synchronization is a somewhat hard problem so I think cryptocurrencies allow some level of fuzziness with time in case of issues. Secondly, it would not be possible to delete everything it had mined without really weird and exploitable design.
gollark: I mean impractical to actually implement and have it work as intended.
gollark: I'm pretty sure that's also impractical.
gollark: On what? There are devices without real time clocks.

References
  1. "Stars such as sir Lloyd Dorfman out on Profit track". The Sunday Times. 16 June 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  2. "Business: British companies 'inspiring'". The Independent. 8 December 1997. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  3. "Fast Track Ltd". Fast Track. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  4. "Branson helps open new Fast Track office". Oxford Mail. 16 July 2001. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  5. "The Fast Track". Peoplevox. 9 August 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  6. "Profit Track Ones to Watch programme". Fast Track. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  7. https://www.fasttrack.co.uk/company_profile/dyson-7/
  8. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jan/22/dyson-to-move-company-hq-to-singapore
  9. https://www.fasttrack.co.uk/company_profile/euro-garages-3/
  10. https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/business-news/tdr-capital-takes-bite-euro-10298713
  11. https://www.fasttrack.co.uk/company_profile/skyscanner-3/
  12. https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/23/ctrip-skyscanner/
  13. https://www.fasttrack.co.uk/company_profile/king-com/
  14. https://techcrunch.com/2014/03/26/king-ipo-2/
  15. https://www.cnbc.com/riccardo-zacconi-hitting-the-sweet-spot/
  16. "Profit Track Covid-19 Edition". Fast Track. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  17. "The Sunday Times Profit Track Covid-19 Edition" (PDF). 26 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  18. "Anglia ranked in the 21st annual Sunday Times Profit Track Covid-19 edition". www.cambridgewireless.co.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  19. "Laings secures spot in fastest-growing profits league table for private firms". www.professionaljeweller.com. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  20. "2020 Profit Track Covid-19 Edition". Fast Track. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
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