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 dinners 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
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
@Arm in talks over sale by @SoftBank to @nvidia in £24bn+ deal. The chip designer featured on our inaugural #VirginAtlanticFastTrack100 in 1997 with sales of £17m. Noms are open for our 24th annual league table, published with @ST_Business on 6 Dec. https://t.co/4p4lePG8lc https://t.co/h7nK9D2XxA
@INEOS, the UK’s biggest private company, launches global consumer healthcare business – @INEOSHygienics – which will sponsor @MercedesAMGF1 @britgrandprix. #HSBCTopTrack100 https://t.co/WlA0Wkdg7B https://t.co/ITHwmh88aB
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
