The Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 league table ranks Britain’s 100 private companies with the fastest-growing sales over their latest three years. It is compiled by Fast Track and published in The Sunday Times each December, with an awards event the following September, and alumni dinners during the year.
The closing date for nominations for the 2020 league table is 25 September, with publication on 6 December 2020.
Fast Track 100 entry criteria
The closing date for nominations for the 2020 league table is 25 September, with publication on 6 December.
- UK registered, unquoted, and not subsidiaries
- Sales of at least £250,000 in the base year (2016 or 2017)
- Sales of at least £5m in the latest year (2019 or 2020)
- Ten or more employees in the latest year (2019 or 2020)
- Operating profit of at least £500k in the latest year (2019 or 2020)
- Trading weeks in the base and latest years have to exceed 25
- Recruitment firms, payroll services providers, energy firms and media agencies are required to have gross profits of at least £5m. Sales for recruitment and payroll firms are the total amount invoiced to clients; media agencies’ sales are net of advertising spend on behalf of clients
- Companies that do not meet all the criteria can still be considered for our Ones to Watch programme, particularly if they forecast good sales growth
Exclusions
- Technology companies (which appear on Tech Track 100), LLPs, pure property and financial trading companies, and companies with sales of over £500m
- Companies that are equal joint ventures, or majority-owned by quoted or other companies
- We reserve the right to change the qualification criteria set out above and to make exceptions. This is not a competition; the compiler’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into
.@Gymshark set for £1bn valuation as founder @BenFrancis1992 prepares to sell minority stake to US private equity firm @generalatlantic. It was No 1 on our #VirginAtlanticFastTrack100 in 2016 and has since gone global under chief exec Steve Hewitt. https://t.co/EqnVPzPJUP https://t.co/RimHLh5eiD
“We feel it’s wrong to take the money when we know we can survive and grow on our own right,” says Dr Martens chief exec Kenny Wilson as the #PwCTopTrack250 alumnus repays furlough cash
Revolut sales rocket 180% to hit £163m, though losses widen to £107m as our #SageTechTrack100 No 1 acquired 6.5m customers and added nearly 2,000 staff in 2019. CEO Nik Storonsky said the focus is now on profitability at the $5.5bn fintech https://t.co/EQZdx5Vkyx
.@goustocooking to create 400 jobs with new Warrington distribution site after reporting online sales of its recipe boxes up 115% during #Covid19. Our 20th #SageTechTrack100 is published with @ST_Business on 6 Sept. @sabbygill7 https://t.co/d5IQ3cy8Bq https://t.co/F9oNoHehhT
@FrancoMancaPizz boss David Page – who floated @PizzaExpress – hails success of Eat Out to Help Out. Page grew our 2016 #VirginAtlanticFastTrack100 ‘One to Watch’ @MEATLiquor from a burger van into a chain of 12 restaurants, with sales of £15m in 2019. https://t.co/f2tcbjRqlE https://t.co/AYkAgvPhnj
@OVOEnergy appoints @Ofwat chairman Jonson Cox as non-exec director. A #VirginAtlanticFastTrack100 ‘One to Watch’ in 2013, OVO now has 5m customers with sales of £1bn in 2018. Noms are open for our 2020 Ones to Watch, published with @ST_Business on 6 Dec. https://t.co/1al4LNKqZW https://t.co/5RuOCokUd7
@Deliveroo – a ‘One to Watch’ in 2017 – has its sale of a 16% stake to @amazon approved. Our 16th annual #PwCTopTrack250 is published with @ST_Business on 27 Sept. https://t.co/lTqwzwecVY https://t.co/5IY5mSE1a8
#SageTechTrack100 alumnus @RateSetter acquired by @MetroBank_Help for £12m. Our 20th anniversary league table supplement is published with @ST_Business on 6 Sept. https://t.co/kHto45zw6Z https://t.co/5b3W3r6IJ2
@bdoaccountant supports #ExportAcademy launched by @tradegovuk to help UK #tech companies recover from #Covid19. BDO has sponsored our Tech Track 100 for 12 years and the 20th anniversary #SageTechTrack100 is published with @ST_Business on 6 Sept https://t.co/ZPcUZAkwFW
#SageTechTrack100 alumnus @oxfordnanopore providing 450,000 #COVID19 testing kits – with results in 90 mins – to UK govt next week, with millions more ready for winter. Our 20th anniversary league table is published with @ST_Business on 6 Sept. https://t.co/6B1KKuzNZF https://t.co/6brfuSeUUD
Types of company
Total sales
£5m - £100mProfits
up to £10mAverage 3 year sales growth
45% - 200% paStaff
10 - 2,000Over the past 23 years our sponsorship has produced great results introducing Virgin to many inspiring entrepreneurs Sir Richard Branson, Virgin
The best of the best entrepreneurs celebrated, which inspires and powers British business Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE DL, co-founder & chairman, Cobra Beer
Fast Track have given Wattbike a new level of credibility and risen our profile Richard Baker, managing director, Wattbike
Being part of Fast Track turbo charges your business Cecile Reinaud, founder & managing director, Séraphine
Fast Track brought us to the attention of the market and since then we've gone from a private business to private equity-backed and on to a successful float Tom Joule, founder & chief brand officer, Joules
Fast Track celebrates the very best of Britain's entrepreneurial businesses and helps promote and propel them to new levels Matt Isaacs, co-founder, Essence
Fast Track has been instrumental in developing brand kudos for our business Steven Ades, finance director, AerFin
Alumni success stories
Featured in 1997 with sales of £17m; floated in 1998 and sold in 2016 to SoftBank for £24bn
First featured in 1997 with sales of £65m; agreed a £3.8bn merger with Dixons in 2014
First featured on Fast Track 100 in 2011 with sales of £6.7m; floated in 2014 and is now worth £2.3bn
Sponsors
