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 May, and alumni dinners during the year.

The closing date for nominations for the 2019 league table is 27 September, with publication on 1 December 2019.

View Criteria Nominate

Fast Track 100 entry criteria

The closing date for nominations for the 2019 league table is 27 September, with publication on 1 December.

  • UK registered, unquoted, and not subsidiaries
  • Sales of at least £250,000 in the base year (2015 or 2016)
  • Sales of at least £5m in the latest year (2018 or 2019)
  • Ten or more employees in the latest year (2018 or 2019)
  • Operating profit of at least £500k in the latest year (2018 or 2019)
  • Year-on-year sales growth in the latest year from 2017 to 2018, or 2018 to 2019, plus forecast (or actual) sales growth
  • 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

 

Types of company

Total sales

£5m - £100m

Profits

up to £10m

Average 3 year sales growth

45% - 200% pa

Staff

10 - 2,000
League Table
Nominate
Over 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, founding partner & executive chairman, 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 £2.6bn with £237m turnover in 2018