The Sunday Times HSBC Top Track 100 league table ranks Britain’s 100 private companies with the biggest sales. It is compiled by Fast Track and published in The Sunday Times each July, with a series of associated events in the autumn.
The 19th annual Top Track 100 supplement was published on 5 July as a special Covid-19 edition, sponsored by HSBC and Linklaters. It highlighted how the UK’s biggest private companies have supported the country during the crisis, how it has impacted their industries, and how they are adapting.
We hope this special edition recognises the impressive past performance of all these companies, their contribution to the economy and role in paying the taxes that help fund vital public services, such as the NHS, as well as their responses to the pandemic.
The closing date for nominations for the 20th anniversary league table is 28 May 2021, with publication in July 2021.
Top Track 100 entry criteria
The closing date for nominations for the 2021 league table is 28 May 2021, with publication in July 2021.
Sales £750m – £25bn
- UK registered, unquoted, and not subsidiaries
- Sales are taken as total turnover, net of VAT
- Companies are not required to be in profit
- Trading weeks in the latest year have to exceed 25
- Companies must have at least 100 staff (average full-time equivalents for the year)
- Bookmakers, betting and gaming companies should provide net revenue
- Companies may have their ultimate holding company offshore
- Sales are typically between £750m and £25bn
Exclusions
- Companies that are equal joint ventures, or majority-owned by quoted or other companies
- Pure trading companies and companies with fewer than 100 staff (average full-time equivalents for the year)
- Not-for-profit companies, including co-operative societies, mutual societies, provident associations, and member-owned buying groups
- 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
Revealed next Sunday: the UK’s 100 private companies with the fastest-growing sales in our 24th annual @ST_Business #VirginAtlanticFastTrack100 – a #Covid19 special edition @VirginAtlantic @bdoaccountant @dhlexpressuk @nplus1singer @Virgin https://t.co/0cvrVKD9ym
Our #VirginAtlanticFastTrack100 alumnus @endclothing reportedly targeting £700m valuation with stake sale. The menswear retailer ships 7,000 products a day worldwide, with ebitda of £33m on sales of £170m in the year to March. https://t.co/nJfrBqfJne https://t.co/qgAbddKpXM
.@Gocompare agrees £594m sale to media group @futureplc. Founded in 2006 by Welsh entrepreneur Hayley Parsons (pictured), the price comparison site featured on our #SageTechTrack100 in 2011 https://t.co/U3Z8cInAuo https://t.co/PZhuAAi5zO
Our #VirginAtlanticFastTrack100 alumnus Ennismore, which owns @Gleneagleshotel and @thehoxton hotel chain, to launch €1bn joint venture with @Accor comprising 73 hotels, with plans to build more than 100 worldwide @SharonPasricha https://t.co/eO5n7AMaL8 https://t.co/UpGkB1YULf
Our #VirginAtlanticFastTrack100 alumnus @ao led by @johnrobertsAO reports pre-tax profits of £18.3m for six months to 30 Sept – compared to a £5.7m loss last year – with H1 sales up 53% to £717m as online shopping surges. https://t.co/ehOQlBW4GD https://t.co/PS2SlfsCEf
Eyewear designer @Inspecs acquires German eyewear firm Eschenbach for £85m. Our 2019 #BDOProfitTrack100 Ones to Watch award winner produces 8m frames annually, including brand products for the likes of @Superdry and @CaterpillarInc https://t.co/pIYvtAeywP https://t.co/eJknXcHe0Y
Watch highlights from our #HSBCTopTrack100 virtual networking event for senior directors, held yesterday, and read our news report. Hostage negotiator Suzanne Williams gave a keynote and took questions from guests. @HSBCUKBusiness @LinklatersLLP
“Virtual working has given us new possibilities” – Sarah Wiggins, senior corporate partner @LinklatersLLP, our main sponsor, welcomes 54 directors running Britain’s biggest private companies to our #TopTrack100 virtual networking event.
“Corporate Britain is starting to breathe again” – Jonathan Graham, head of large corporates @HSBCUKBusiness, our title sponsor, welcomes 54 senior directors running Britain’s biggest private companies to our #HSBCTopTrack100 virtual networking event. https://t.co/auE3mx2BR4
Hostage negotiator Suzanne Williams outlines how to succeed in pressure business negotiations at today’s #HSBCTopTrack100 virtual networking event for more than 65 senior directors running UK's biggest private cos – made possible by our sponsors @HSBCUKBusiness and @LinklatersLLP
Types of company
Total sales
£750m - £25bnProfits
up to £2.5bnStaff
100 - 20,000Top Track 100 is a real kitemark of business excellence. Being part of it makes us all proud Sir Michael Bibby, managing director, Bibby Line Group
A first class example of how to support vibrant, growing businesses Tim Stone CBE, non-executive director, Arup
Opportunity to meet the best private companies in the UK Stefano Pessina, executive chairman, Alliance Boots
We’re very proud of the fact that we’re number 1 Sir Jim Ratcliffe, founder & chairman, INEOS
Excellent mix of very interesting people, motivating and inspiring every time Patrick Lewis, group finance director, John Lewis
Alumni success stories
First featured in 2002 with sales of £1.3bn, it was sold to Turkish biscuit maker Yildiz for £2bn in 2014
First featured with sales of £713m. Floated in 2014 at valuation of £3.4bn
First featured with sales of £3.1bn. Floated in October 2015 at valuation of £6.2bn & was sold to US rival Vantiv in 2017 in £9.3bn deal
Sponsors
