Five firms from the Bristol area have been included in a prestigious league table of the UK’s fastest-growing privately owned businesses.
Dental group Oasis Dental Care, catering equipment supplier Nisbets, recruitment consultancy Resource Solutions Group (RSG), building products supplier Taylor Maxwell and Yeo Valley, the yoghurt and dairy group, will appear in the 12th annual Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250 this weekend. 
The league table ranks Britain’s private mid-market growth companies with the biggest sales. But it is also viewed as a key measurement of the strength of the UK economy.
The five Bristol firms on the table rub shoulders with iconic brand names such as Arsenal, Barbour, Dr Martens, Nando’s, Skyscanner and Wagamama.
Oasis, a leading provider of NHS and private dental treatment throughout the UK, has shot up the rankings from 119 last year to 61 this time.
The firm, 50% owned by its management and 50% by private equity firm Bridgepoint, employs 5,500 people, including 1,600 dentists, across 360 sites. In the year this March it clocked up sales of £275m on which it made a profit of £13m.
In April it was ranked 18th on the Sunday Times Profit Track 100 after having achieved 99% profit growth between 2014 and 2015, and expanding its practice by 65% through the acquisitions of Apex Dental Care and Smiles Dental.
Since the investment by Bridgepoint in 2013, the management team led by Justin Ash has created a national brand with a commitment to growth, excellence and a strong company culture.
Avonmouth-based Nisbets, which has also leapt up the table from 128 to 66, achieved the biggest profits in the South West last year at £28m on sales of £255m.
The firm, which employs 1,186 people, is Europe’s largest supplier of catering equipment and has international operations in Ireland, France, Spain, the Netherlands, China and Australia. In April it acquired a controlling stake in Gloucester-based Space Catering.
Andrew Nisbet, who started up the company 30 years ago, owns 96%, with its management holding the other 4%.
Rapid growth and international expansion at Resource Solutions Group (RSG) meant it has jumped 100 places to 82 in this year’s table.
The firm, whose brands include Sanderson Recruitment, had sales of £239m in the year to June 2015 on which it made a £12m profit. It employs 216 people and has just opened its seventh UK outlet in Southampton.
The firm is majority owned by its founder Keith Dawe (89%), with Sanderson Computer Recruitment Executive Scheme holding 10% and Joanna Dawe 1%.
Taylor Maxwell, which has risen up the rankings from 171 to 137, is 100% owned by its 164 managers and staff.
It had sales of £183m and profits of £6m in the year to March 2015.
Blagdon-based Yeo Valley makes its debut on the table at number 57 with sales of £284m and profits of £7m. The firm, wholly owned by the Mead family, employs 1,821 people.
Also on the table is Dick Lovett, the Swindon car dealership group with a number of showrooms in the Bristol area, has appeared in the table almost every year for the past 12 years.
This year its continued strong growth has accelerated it up the rankings from 58 last time to 28. Last year the business, which employs 619 staff, clocked up sales of £402m on which made profits of £10m.
The group is led by chairman and 100% shareholder Peter Lovett – son of its founder.
The league table and awards programme is sponsored by Grant Thornton, and compiled for the 12th year by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events company.
Grant Thornton UK partner Tim Lincoln said: “In the wake of the EU referendum it is more important than ever that businesses, and the public and the third sectors work together to help the UK to build on its strengths and ensure that the economy continues to grow.
“I am heartened to see how these businesses are embracing a collaborative approach to drive prosperity throughout the UK and wider society.”
The full league table will be published as an eight-page broadsheet supplement with the business section of The Sunday Times this weekend, both in print and in the digital edition, and on www.fasttrack.co.uk
