1000 1000 COMPANIES TO INSPIRE 1000 COMPANIES TO INSPIRE 2015 BRITAIN BRITAIN AM FM 2015 Media partner Our sponsors www.1000companies.com 1000 COMPANIES TO INSPIRE 2015 BRITAIN London Stock Exchange Group Editorial Board Tom Gilbert (Senior Press Officer); Ed Clark (Press Officer); Alexandra Ritterman (Junior Press Officer) Contents Wardour Led by Managing Director Claire Oldfield and Creative Director Ben Barrett Forewords 74 John Cridland CBE The team included: Art Editor Lynn Jones; Picture Researcher and Photographer Johanna Ward; Director General, Confederation Editor Hannah Stodell; Wardour editorial; Project Director Charlotte Tapp; 5 Xavier Rolet of British Industry CEO, London Stock Exchange Group Production John Faulkner and Jack Morgan 85 Kirstie Donnelly MBE 10 Tim Hinton Managing Director, City & Guilds UK Wardour, Drury House, 34–43 Russell Street, Managing Director, Mid Markets and London WC2B 5HA, United Kingdom SME Banking, Lloyds Bank 93 Tim Ward CEO, The Quoted Companies Alliance +44 (0)20 7010 0999 12 Stephen Welton www.wardour.co.uk CEO, Business Growth Fund 104 Anthony Browne CEO, British Bankers’ Association 14 Jim Durkin CEO, Cenkos 117 Tim Hames Director General, British Private Equity 16 Allister Heath and Venture Capital Association Pictures: Getty Images, iStock, Gallerystock Deputy Director of Content and Deputy Editor, Telegraph Media Group All other pictures used by permission 17 Damian Kimmelman Sections Cover illustration: Sol Linero Co-founder and CEO, DueDil 22 Technology & Digital Printed by Graphius on FSC certified material Featuring Rega, Essence and ATG Media Research findings 36 Manufacturing & Engineering Profiling Formaplex, Wooltex UK 18 Crunching the numbers and Brompton 20 1000 Companies UK snapshot 44 Where are they now? 48 Exports Why Marine Specialised Technology is making waves in the UK and abroad Sponsored features 58 Creative Industries Company information powered by DueDil, March 2015 34 Lloyds Bank How Focusrite has evolved to keep pace 46 Business Growth Fund with innovation in the music industry An official publication of London Stock Exchange Group 76 Cenkos 66 Food & Drink 106 Lloyds Bank Toasting the success of Aspall and other leading industry players Expert commentary 78 Retail © London Stock Exchange Group 2015. All rights reserved 4 The Rt. Hon. George Osborne MP How Rapha is racing ahead in retail, and other firms that are 10 Paternoster Square, London EC4M 7LS Chancellor of the Exchequer enjoying success 8 The Rt. Hon. Vince Cable MP Secretary of State for Business, 86 Knowledge Companies Innovation and Skills Shining a spotlight on innovation-led businesses, including Mecatherm By making this communication, none of London Stock Exchange Group plc and/or its group undertakings (which shall be construed in accordance with section 1161 of the Companies Act 2006) (“LSEG”), Wardour Communications 9 Chuka Umunna MP Limited (“Wardour”), or the individual authors intend to invite or induce you to engage in any investment activity for the purposes of the UK regulatory regime (other than, where relevant, in respect of the London Stock Exchange 94 Financial Services plc’s exempt activities of operating UK regulated investment exchanges and providing clearing services in the UK). 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No part of these trademarks, or any other trademark owned by 119 Directory LSEG can be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form without express written consent by the owner of the trademark. Director General, Institute of Directors 156 Contacts 2 3 LSEG FOREWORD COMMENTARY THE RT. HON. GEORGE OSBORNE MP INSIDE THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER BUILDING A MORE COMPETITIVE ECONOMY REPORT Trust Schemes in 2012, and we introduced the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) to address the difficulties start-up companies can face in getting seed finance. It has already helped more than 2,000 companies raise over £175m, and we have now made the scheme permanent. In 2013, we widened the eligibility of ISA investment to include AIM stocks. The impact has been profound. LSEG estimates that up to £4.4bn of ISA investments have been shifted to support high-growth small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) since we opened ISAs up to AIM shares. That is £4.4bn from individual savers being invested in some of the most exciting and inspirational companies this country has to offer. Last year we went further and abolished stamp duty on AIM transactions. Britain also became the first western country to issue a sovereign elcome to the second edition of London Stock renminbi bond, and the first non-Islamic country to issue WExchange Group’s 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain, a sukuk bond – both landmark achievements that will keep a landmark report identifying the UK’s most exciting and Britain as the undisputed centre of the global financial dynamic small and medium-sized businesses. When we first launched this project in late 2013, our aim “ WE KNOW IT IS ONLY BY was to bring to life what we knew instinctively to be true, that these companies are the driving force behind the UK economy. KEEPING TAXES LOW AND The term SME describes a very broad church of businesses, his is a remarkable list of outstanding companies. BUILDING A MORE COMPETITIVE from the sole trader to the high-end manufacturer, and to TThese businesses have been built by the drive, ECONOMY THAT BUSINESSES discuss them all as a homogeneous group makes little sense. commitment and vision of Britain’s entrepreneurs and Indeed, there are more than four million SMEs in the UK. business leaders. LIKE THESE CAN THRIVE” Within that number is a subset of exciting and promising It is my privilege to be able to congratulate them all, companies of exceptional importance to UK economic and to thank London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) for its system. Every step of the way, LSEG has been championing growth and job creation. work. The Alternative Investment Market (AIM) is the most policies to promote growth and innovation – and its “The 1,000 companies The success of these companies, variously identified as successful growth market in the world. It is why fantastic ELITE programme is a great innovation of its own. ‘gazelles’, ‘the magic 6%’ or ‘scale-ups’, has a remarkably companies like Just Eat choose to float in London, when I am proud of our record. But there is always more to do. disproportionate effect on our national economic output. they could go anywhere in the world. And we need to If government creates the right environment, businesses highlighted in our report The Scale-Up Report, published last year by Sherry Coutu, keep it that way. and investors will rise to the challenge. Some in politics found that boosting this ‘sector’ by just 1% would create as When I became Chancellor in 2010, the economy was want to raise business taxes and intervene in markets. have, on average, more than in chaos. A record budget deficit and a broken banking We know it is only by keeping taxes low and building a doubled their revenue in many as 230,000 new jobs and add £38bn to UK GDP. system had taken Britain to the brink. I set out our long- more competitive economy that businesses like these Those figures are impressively high for two reasons. First, term economic plan and set about delivering it.