prabhuThe UK Fast Growth Awards start once again before the close of the year. It’s an occasion that honours 350 businesses with a combined £12 billion turnover, a figure that’s “transformative” to the British economy, according to the evening’s official write-up.
Companies from across the country are eligible to feature in the Awards, but not everyone needs to reach an enormous financial milestone to get a mention. Hosts, the UK Fast Growth Index, keeps a separate list of the fastest-growing firms per county, including the “Midlands and the East of England”.
Growth Champion
In the latter case, the most recent list comes from 2024 and accounts for performance in the previous three years. It’s a mishmash of businesses from every sector, including pet care, energy, cosmetics, health and fitness, and marketing. It draws quite a broad line from Wales to the East Coast, as we’ll see shortly.
The most productive company on the 2024 UK Fast Growth Index was GivEnergy from Newcastle-Under-Lyme. It achieved growth of 2556.8% creating “battery storage systems” for cars and houses. GivEnergy has the mission of granting Brits independence from the traditional power grid. This growth champion is a bit of an anomaly, as no other business posted a figure of more than 793.8%.
In fact, by third place, growth is down to a much more sustainable 584.6%, from Droitwich’s Chãmpo Haircare. Chãmpo borrows traditional techniques from India to produce novel beauty items. Fourth place goes to Strongway Gym Supplies, a small (£1.5 million turnover) business from Coventry that achieved growth of 470.6%.
Pop Culture
The vast majority of the entries on the Fastest Growth Index for the Midlands and the East are privately held – with a single exception, the Cambridge-based geospatial firm IQGeo, traded as IQG on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
Listing a company is always a potentially seismic move for a business, which has earned the markets a place in pop culture, thanks to movies like The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and Wall Street (1987). The market’s characteristic ups and downs even spawned a game at the live casino UK arm of the Hippodrome Casino in London – Stock Market. Players must choose when to check out before the market crashes.
This seemingly gamified world of the (real) markets has already had an impact on the 23-year-old IQGeo. Trading is currently suspended due to a takeover bid. IQGeo lands at 15th place on the 2024 UK Fast Growth Index.
A Cross-Section
What’s interesting about the listing for the Midlands and the East of England is that significant growth doesn’t necessarily correlate with high turnover. For instance, places five and six, which go to iCARE24 and Trinity House Group in Birmingham, both experienced a similar rate of growth. Yet, there’s £36 million in turnover between iCARE24 and the smaller Trinity.
Put another way, the UK Fast Growth Index offers a cross-section of businesses at all stages of existence, from skyrocketing start-ups to parts of the city furniture that have secured new investment.
Rounding off the top ten are another company from Birmingham, Love Finance, GRUBBY of Lichfield, and Huntingdon’s Modern World Business Solutions. These all found growth in the region of 3-400%. Finally, number ten goes to Watford’s ScoreApp, a marketing company that expanded 294.7%, earning £2 million.
The UK Fast Growth Awards begin on Wednesday, November 26, at Bloomsbury Big Top, London. Tickets begin at £249.
