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The Business Magazine March 2024
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Solent 250 - 2022

The Solent 250 is an annual listing of the top privately-owned businesses (by annual sales turnover) that are based in the Solent region – defined as most of Hampshire (south of Basingstoke) and parts of Dorset, Wiltshire and West Sussex.

To be included in the listing, businesses need to be independent, privately-owned companies, headquartered in the region.

The listing is compiled by The Business Magazine and sponsored by HSBC UK, Irwin Mitchell, RSM, Vail Williams, University of Southampton Business School and CMA Recruitment Group.

Private dinner

A private dinner and award ceremony as held at the Harbour Hotel & Spa in Southampton on 10th May 2023.

Ranking

Published: 12 October 2022
2022 Company Name Town Description Turnover (£m) Previous Employee Numbers Year-end
1 Utilita Chandlers Ford Smart energy experts 815.9 856.5 1384 31/03/21
2 Hendy Group Eastleigh Car dealership 732.8 835.1 1722 31/12/20
3 Arqiva Winchester Communication infrastucture 647.2 677.5 1528 30/06/21
4 Abri (prev. Radian & Yarlington)) Eastleigh Housebuilder/manager 643.7 223.4 1225 31/07/21
5 Southern Co-operative Portsmouth Food stores & funeralcare 494.1 490.3 3982 27/01/22
6 Lush Cosmetics Poole Cosmetic manufacturer/retailer 408.7 437.8 8638 30/06/21
7 Snows Group Southampton Car dealership 372.8 414.4 902 31/12/20
8 Richmond Group Bournemouth Business investment/support 343.2 308.3 557 31/03/20
9 Heritage Automotive Salisbury Car dealership 305.6 285.5 552 31/12/21
10 Stannah Andover Lift/stairlift design & installation 261.5 279.5 2175 31/12/20
11 Euronics Andover A network of local independent electrical specialists 236.3 179.1 - 31/03/21
12 Innovation Group Whiteley IT services and consulting 228.1 206.4 2268 31/12/20
13 Hobbycraft Group Christchurch Arts & crafts retailer 203.1 179.2 1430 21/02/22
14 Simplyhealth Andover Private health insurance 198.2 210.9 1001 31/12/21
15 Barfoots of Botley Bognor Regis The importation, packing and distribution of semi exotic produce 190.3 193.1 549 31/12/21
16 Natures Way Foods Chichester Manufacture & wholesale of fresh food 183.1 193.4 1249 29/03/21
17 Ordnance Survey Southampton Mapping agency 182.3 173.3 1296 31/03/22
18 Partridge of Hampshire Southampton Car dealership 181.5 128.9 163 31/12/21
19 Foray Motor Group Salisbury Car dealership 163.9 130.3 384 31/12/21
20 Southampton FC Southampton Football club 157.1 126.5 385 30/06/21
21 Churchill Retirement Living Ringwood Retirement home developer 156.1 88.1 276 30/06/21
22 Ocean Automotive Poole Car dealership 153.6 127.9 242 31/12/21
23 Fat Face Havant Clothing brand 151.3 198.1 2081 29/05/21
24 Sunseeker Poole Yacht manufacturer 144.5 302.1 2011 31/12/20
25 Minerva Global Alton Nut trade/import 140.5 143.9 15 31/12/21
26 Millbrook Healthcare Southampton Disability aid provider 137.9 116.5 1233 30/06/21
27 Trant Holding Southampton Construction & engineering 136.9 103.2 760 30/09/21
28 CLC Group Southampton Maintenance provider 129.8 154.4 1046 31/12/20
29 Richmond Cars Portsmouth Car dealership 129.8 174.4 226 31/03/20
30 Oil Spill Response Southampton Oil spills advisers/responders 129.0 129.0 271 31/12/21
31 Supreme Freight Southampton Freight services 125.6 87.6 40 31/07/21
32 The National Lighting Co (Poole Lighting) Poole Lighting specialist 122.5 119.1 534 31/12/20
33 Williams & Co  (Williams Trade) Fareham Plumbing & heating supplies 118.9 93.4 358 30/11/21
34 Bartholomews Chichester Agri-food services 118.3 103.2 170 31/12/21
35 Platinum Components Bounremouth Computer hardware manufacturing 118.2 74.5 10 31/05/21
36 Thesis Unit Trust Management (Tutman) Chichester Investment managment/insight 117.8 96.6 22 30/04/22
37 Spire Technology Verwood Trade-only IT distributor 116.2 77.3 66 30/04/21
38 Nasstar Group Poole IT services and consulting 113.9 93.3 700 31/12/20
39 Peter Cooper Motor Group Southampton Car dealership 111.0 94.0 236 31/12/21
40 CG Fry & Son Dorchester Housebuilder 108.4 96.0 183 31/12/21
41 Farrow & Ball Wimborne Internal décor manufacturer 107.4 76.6 578 28/03/21
42 Liquid Friday Portsmouth Contractor umbrella company 107.3 75.5 1434 31/07/21
43 Siva Group Southampton Packaging specialists 106.7 76.8 317 31/10/21
44 Hunt Forest Group (R.Hunt) Stockbridge, Agricultural equipment 102.7 57.6 174 31/01/22
45 Breeze Motor Company Poole Car dealership 99.0 77.4 187 31/12/21
46 Workdry International (Selwood) Eastleigh Pump manufacture/plant hire 97.2 88.3 584 31/12/21
47 DB Foods Poole Meat wholesaler 97.0 171.5 439 03/07/21
48 Clipper Contracting Group Dorchester Financial solutions 94.8 84.5 1215 04/07/21
49 Kinto Portsmouth Fleet Management Specialists 94.5 61.0 213 31/03/21
50 Covers Timber & Builders Merchants Chichester Timber and building materials 92.2 64.1 458 31/12/21
51 Tradmet Petersfield Metal recycling 89.4 90.7 13 31/12/21
52 Onecom Fareham Telecoms solutions 89.3 89.9 421 31/12/20
53 Cleansing Service Group (CSG) Fareham Waste management 89.2 77.9 561 31/12/21
54 Knights Brown  Ringwood Construction 88.8 71.3 291 31/03/22
55 4Com Bournemouth Telecoms solutions 85.6 97.6 415 30/06/21
56 xel group (xelgh) Petersfield Specialst vendor of memory & silicon storage products 84.3 0.0 13 31/08/21
57 R&M Electrical Southampton Electrical distributor 83.9 108.3 233 30/04/21
58 Hall & Woodhouse Blandford Forum Beer manufacturer 83.4 71.5 1352 29/01/22
59 Athena Racing / Ineos Britannia Sailing 83.3 30.1 73 30/06/21
60 Sydenhams Bournemouth Timber & builders merchants 83.3 82.7 471 31/03/21
61 Ceuta Group Bournemouth Consumer brand services 80.8 77.5 353 31/03/21
62 Ahmad Tea Eastleigh Tea producer & distributor 80.5 76.5 347 31/12/20
63 Hunt's Foodservice Sherborne Food wholesaler 77.6 89.4 466 31/03/21
64 Fusion People Whiteley Recruitment agency 75.7 68.0 399 31/12/21
65 The Quarr Group Portsmouth Maintenance, construction,catering, cleaning 74.8 78.4 2822 30/04/21
66 Metal Interests Limited Chichester Metal sorting, trading & recycling 74.2 54.4 11 30/06/21
67 AFC Bournemouth Bournemouth Football club 71.7 95.4 339 30/06/21
68 Vohkus Fareham IT solutions 70.1 85.1 164 30/06/21
69 Elliotts Southampton Builders merchants 67.9 75.1 297 31/12/20
70 Reilly JDM Eastleigh Civil engineering 67.8 60.2 252 31/08/21
71 Draper Tools Eastleigh Macinery/tool wholesaler 67.5 55.9 316 31/08/21
72 National Oceanography Centre Southampton Ocean research 67.1 80.9 638 30/09/21
73 Colten Care Ringwood Residential care & nursing homes 67.1 69.3 1829 12/02/21
74 23.5 Degrees Southampton Starbucks coffee shop 66.7 35.7 1377 31/08/21
75 Dextra Group Gillingham Lighting manufacturer 66.7 62.6 442 31/12/21
76 Marchwood Power Marchwood Electricity supplier 66.1 62.9 47 31/12/21
77 Portchester Equity Winchester Investment services 64.6 70.4 635 30/09/21
78 Alpha Laboratories Eastleigh Medical equipment manufacturer 63.8 17.8 63 30/09/21
79 Bourne Group Poole Constructional innovators 62.9 61.6 187 31/10/21
80 Robin Appel Southampton Grain merchants 62.6 49.5 22 31/03/22
81 Blake Morgan Southampton Legal services 60.6 68.3 695 30/04/21
82 Chantacre t/a R&W Southampton Civil engineering 60.0 69.8 310 31/03/21
83 Geest Line Fareham Freight & storage 59.4 51.9 27 01/01/22
84 Harbour Hotels Christchurch Hotel operator 58.2 38.1 1486 31/12/21
85 HL Partnership Chichester Mortgage & protection advisers network 57.1 40.7 62 31/12/21
86 Petty Wood & Co Andover Food & drink branding/marketing 56.9 50.1 80 02/04/21
87 Polystar Plastics Southampton Polythene packaging manufacturer 56.1 49.7 289 31/07/21
88 Highwood Group of Companies Romsey Housebuilder 55.2 68.8 78 30/06/21
89 Braeforge (Pensworth) Eastleigh Dairy distributor & producer 52.3 55.4 206 29/06/21
90 Hillier Nurseries Romsey Garden centres 50.8 37.5 674 31/08/21
91 Meridien Modena Lyndhurst Car dealership 50.5 41.8 55 31/12/20
92 PMC Construction & Development Services Portsmouth Construction 50.3 50.7 45 31/10/21
93 Mildren Construction Christchurch Building contractor/civil engineering 50.2 37.5 115 30/06/21
94 Carrington West Portsmouth Recruitment agency 50.1 36.8 194 31/12/21
95 Midhurst Child Care (Five Rivers) Salisbury Childcare 49.3 44.0 480 30/09/21
96 Foreman Homes Group Southampton Housebuilder 49.2 30.4 30 31/03/21
97 Pennyfarthing New Milton Housebuilder 49.1 32.4 74 31/01/21
98 Outright Games Lee on Solent Publishing of computer games 48.7 28.1 32 31/03/21
99 CBL (Clive Barford) Eastleigh Equipment hire & sales 48.2 39.8 149 30/06/21
100 Hoburne Christchurch Holiday park operator 48.0 36.8 536 31/01/22
101 Beyond Retail Christchurch Retail sale via mail order or internet 47.9 40.7 162 30/11/21
102 J&B Hopkins Fareham Mechanical/electrical engineering 47.8 30.7 186 30/09/21
103 Care South Poole Residential & home care 47.8 45.8 1128 31/03/21
104 R.J. & K.D. Mclean (Tractors and Plant) Dorset Tractors and plant 47.4 43.2 10 31/12/21
105 J Chandler & Co (Buckfast) Andover Buckfast tonic wine 46.4 52.0 28 31/03/21
106 Peters and May Group Eastleigh Specilaist logistics 45.6 41.4 95 31/12/21
107 Neals Yard Remedies Gillingham Natural and organic health and beauty 45.1 65.4 492 30/09/21
108 Humphrey Farms Winchester Poultry feed and pullet supplier 44.7 45.8 74 29/2/21
109 Concept Building Services Chichester Specialist contractors & building services 44.3 40.0 102 31/08/21
110 Cobweb Solutions Fareham IT support & services 43.9 32.9 109 30/04/21
111 288 Group Bournemouth Collectable coin & stamp distribution 43.8 42.8 231 30/04/21
112 AT Jones Holdings Fareham Building contractors 43.6 36.8 103 30/09/21
113 Porton Biopharma Salisbury Biopharmaceuticals 43.6 42.9 427 31/03/21
114 CLF Distribution Southampton Health/nutrition/supplement wholesaler 43.0 45.5 191 31/12/21
115 Portsmouth Water Havant Supply/service of drinking water 42.7 42.0 254 31/03/22
116 Lionel Hitchen (Essential Oils) Andover Sourcing & supply of flavour ingredients 42.2 36.4 124 30/09/21
117 Paultons Park Romsey Leisure park 40.4 19.5 721 29/11/21
118 CCN Communications (Verevo) Lee on Solent Telecommunications and utilities contractors 40.2 26.9 130 30/04/21
119 Novatech Portsmouth Tech design, supply & support 39.5 30.7 109 30/05/21
120 Canford Healthcare Bournemouth Residential care for the elderly 39.3 42.6 900 31/06/21
121 3D Personnel Group Southampton Recruitment agency 38.8 48.6 408 31/12/20
122 Wightlink Portsmouth Ferry services 38.4 68.4 261 27/03/21
123 Haskins Garden Centres Ferndown Garden centres 38.4 31.4 793 23/02/21
124 Bargate Homes Portsmouth Housebuilder 38.4 46.7 57 31/03/22
125 STR Group Portsmouth Recruitment agency 38.3 43.2 146 31/12/20
126 TJ Transport Fareham Waste management 38.0 33.3 209 31/12/21
127 Seaward Properties Chichester Property developer 38.0 16.6 26 31/03/21
128 Superior Group Wimborne Precision moulding 37.6 32.5 193 31/05/21
129 Winchester Motor Company Winchester Car dealership 37.6 36.5 86 30/04/21
130 MSP Capital Poole Property finance 37.5 28.8 26 31/12/21
131 Churches Fire Southampton The supply and maintenance of fire protection equipment 36.9 28.5 400 30/04/21
132 Shuttercraft Winchester Shutter and blind installation 36.8 23.2 45 31/10/21
133 Royale Parks Fareham Bungalow development 36.7 43.5 30/09/21
134 Gracelands Eastleigh Civil engineering 36.3 45.4 140 30/04/21
135 Morrish Builders Poole Housebuilder 36.3 31.0 67 30/09/21
136 Ancasta Group Southampton Boat sales & brokerage 36.3 19.3 72 31/08/21
137 The Environmental & Process Engineering Group Southampton Engineering consultants 36.3 40.6 75 30/09/21
138 Moore Barlow Southampton Legal services 36.0 24.7 471 30/04/21
139 Goodwood Estate Company Chichester Land & leisure management 35.7 106.5 1028 31/12/20
140 Meachers Global Logistics Southampton Freight forwarding & warehousing 35.7 31.5 160 31/05/21
141 Home Grown Hotels (The Pig Hotels) Brockenhurst Hotel operator 35.4 21.5 788 31/12/21
142 Shorefield Holidays Milford on Sea Holiday park operator 34.9 24.9 266 31/10/21
143 Blaze Construction Eastleigh Civil engineering/groundwork 34.4 20.8 91 31/10/21
144 JDT Utilities Dorchester Civil engineering and utilities 34.0 17.0 75 30/09/22
145 Blueprint Recruitment Solutions Fareham Recruitment agency 34.0 34.4 82 31/07/21
146 SCIS (South Coast Insulation Services) Fareham Insulation services 33.9 19.1 87 31/03/22
147 Penton Securities (Motor Group) Bournemouth Car dealership 33.8 37.0 77 31/03/21
148 Blakell Europlacer Poole Electronic manufacturing 33.4 25.3 193 31/12/21
149 C Smart Agricultural Services Stockbridge, Agricultural machinery/parts/service 33.2 44.6 58 31/01/22
150 Cambridge Garage (Portsmouth) Havant Car dealership 32.9 32.6 93 31/12/20
151 Amiri Construction Fareham Building contractor 32.9 29.2 47 31/12/21
152 REIDsteel (John Reid &Sons) Christchurch Steelwork construction & cladding 32.4 24.3 130 31/03/21
153 Red Funnel Southampton Ferry services 32.3 56.1 498 31/12/20
154 Horizon Motor Company Poole Car dealership 32.1 34.8 114 30/04/21
155 Airsys (Unicom) Romsey Mobile communications 32.1 25.4 40 30/06/21
156 Blanchard Wells Portsmouth Civil engineering 32.1 28.3 95 31/12/21
157 Harwin Portsmouth Design/manufacture of electrical components 31.9 28.5 198 31/03/21
158 Portsmouth Aviation Portsmouth Mechanical engineering 31.7 36.1 169 31/12/21
159 Double H Wimborne Indoor plant production 31.6 26.4 223 07/07/21
160 Acheson Construction Dorchester Building construction and development 31.5 38.7 82 31/12/21
161 Whitport Eastleigh Package/freight delivery 31.2 24.6 449 31/01/22
162 Leslies Motors Cowes, Isle of Wight Car dealership 31.1 27.0 81 31/12/21
163 Aeropark Developments Eastleigh Construction equipment leasing 31.1 36.7 135 31/05/21
164 Kamm Verwood Civil engineering 31.0 38.1 50 30/11/20
165 FirstPort New Milton Property management 30.8 25.8 400 31/12/21
166 Blackmore Vale Farm Cream Shaftesbury Liquid milk and cream production 30.8 36.2 130 31/03/21
167 Ascenti Fareham Physiotherapy & healthcare 30.7 40.4 694 30/11/20
168 Ford Civil Engineering Wimborne Civil engineering 30.6 21.1 114 31/12/21
169 A 2 C Services Portsmouth Buying and selling of electronic office equipment 30.5 19.2 275 30/09/20
170 Apollo Motor Group Portsmouth Motor accident repairs 30.3 37.1 325 31/05/21
171 Oyster Yachts Southampton Luxury yacht design and manufacture 29.9 24.8 359 31/03/21
172 L&S Waste Management Fareham Waste management 29.4 24.7 142 31/03/21
173 Sparshatts Group Southampton Car dealership 29.1 16.3 45 31/05/21
174 Muc-Off Poole Bike care & maintenance 29.0 14.9 78 31/12/20
175 Mighty Acorn Anglo American Fareham Licensed restaurants 28.4 25.7 840 31/12/20
176 Aerial Direct Fareham Business telecoms 28.1 29.8 231 30/09/21
177 Redwood Global Andover Manufacture of agricultural machinery 27.8 22.8 100 31/03/21
178 Marlborough Sterling Investment Group (Incl. NWM) Bournemouth Payroll specialists 26.6 40.5 1185 31/03/21
179 Charles Trent Poole Vehicle part specialists 26.5 29.4 183 31/01/21
180 Virginia Hayward Shaftesbury Hampers 26.4 17.4 121 31/03/21
181 Captec Fareham Computer hardware 26.2 16.9 162 31/12/21
182 Hospital Metalcraft t/a Bristol Maid Blandford Forum Manu. & dist. of medical equipment 26.1 24.1 159 10/02/21
183 Birchclaim Bournemouth Construction 26.1 34.1 74 28/02/21
184 Merityre Specialists Andover Tyre specialists 26.0 25.0 229 30/06/21
185 Corrigenda Whiteley Facilities management 26.0 24.7 169 31/03/22
186 Salisbury Glass Fordingbridge Glazing specialists 25.9 20.7 93 31/05/21
187 Williams Shipping Southampton Marine services & logistics 25.8 21.2 125 31/12/21
188 Benefex Southampton Workspace technology 25.7 18.2 363 30/04/21
189 PVC Building Supplies Southampton Building supplies 25.6 16.6 94 31/12/21
190 Lead Forensics Portsmouth Marketing agency 25.3 24.2 438 31/12/21
191 Rinkit Limited Chichester Homeware retailer 25.3 30.2 81 28/02/22
192 MJ Abbott Salisbury Golf course, land drainage and irrigation contractors 25.3 21.0 129 31/03/21
193 Pukka Pads Poole Manufact'/supply of pads & notebooks 25.3 29.9 97 30/09/21
194 Clements Technical Recruitment Denmead Recruitment agency 25.1 43.4 29 31/03/21
195 Silverlake Garage Southampton Automotive recycling 25.1 25.1 121 31/03/21
196 Paul Murray Eastleigh Health & beauty wholesaler 25.0 20.9 108 31/12/21
197 M.B. Crocker Sturminster Newton Farming business 25.0 19.0 41 31/03/21
198 Meadens Southsea Car dealership 24.7 23.8 46 31/12/21
199 EIMS Bournemouth Marketing agency 24.5 20.5 334 30/09/20
200 South Coast Port Services (Canute Management) Southampton Port operators 24.4 20.0 485 31/12/21
201 Langham Industries Dorchester Marine & aerospace engineering 24.3 27.5 229 31/12/20
202 Southdowns Motorhome Centre Portsmouth Sale of motor caravans 23.7 20.7 37 31/12/21
203 London Camera Exchange Winchester Photographic retailer 23.7 32.3 150 29/03/21
204 Tangmere Airfield Nurseries Chichester Pepper nursery 23.6 23.8 143 31/12/21
205 Raymond Brown Quarry Products Chandlers Ford Aggregate supplier 23.4 20.4 121 31/03/21
206 South Coast Building Supplies Bournemouth Building supplies 23.2 20.9 85 31/12/21
207 Harts of Stur Sturminster Newton Cook and kitchen ware retailers 23.1 18.9 63 30/06/21
208 Strukta Andover Builders merchants 22.8 19.4 94 31/12/21
209 LeMieux Southampton Equestrian retailer 22.8 14.4 35 30/04/21
210 Larasian Salisbury Electronic modules & measuring instru's 22.7 22.5 207 31/12/20
211 Wyatt Homes Poole Housebuilder 22.3 50.3 49 30/06/21
212 Serocor Portsmouth Recruitment specialist 22.3 103.4 145 28/02/21
213 Magna Motor Company Poole Car dealership 22.2 25.1 67 30/04/21
214 Protect Line Poole Life insurance brokers 22.2 20.4 265 31/12/21
215 Burry and Knight Christchurch Holiday park construction 22.1 16.4 158 31/01/22
216 PDQ Group Fordingbridge Transport spares manufacturing 22.1 18.9 63 31/12/21
217 PHL (Partnering Health) Portsmouth Healthcare company 22.0 18.4 349 30/09/21
218 Baram Southampton Civil engineering/groundwork 21.9 20.9 52 31/12/21
219 Efret New Milton Transport & freight 21.8 19.7 29 31/12/21
220 Rusdene Southampton Property management 21.8 20.8 66 30/09/21
221 HH & DE Drew New Milton Aggregates, concrete and building materials 21.8 16.9 141 30/09/21
222 Mploy Wimborne Recruitment agency 21.7 28.7 929 31/03/21
223 Bishops Printers Portsmouth Printers 21.5 17.6 168 31/01/22
224 U-Drive Poole Vehicle hire 21.5 15.1 130 31/12/21
225 HBS Group Southern Whiteley Mechanical elect' & renewable solutions 21.4 23.6 111 31/03/21
226 R Owton Wholesale Butchers Southampton Wholesale butcher 21.0 24.1 121 30/04/21
227 Powells Group Eastleigh Shopfitting/commercial interiors 21.0 11.5 37 31/12/21
228 Macon Eastleigh Construction 20.9 28.3 31 31/03/21
229 Aviation & Defence Spares Poole Aviation & aerospace component manufacturing 20.7 13.1 16 31/12/21
230 Chewton Glen Hotel New Milton Hotel operator 20.6 13.3 329 31/12/21
231 Lester Aldridge Bournemouth Legal services 20.4 20.1 302 30/04/21
232 Berthon Boat Company Lymington Marine services 20.4 19.9 149 30/09/21
233 Hughes & Salvidge Portsmouth Waste management 20.3 32.0 101 31/03/21
234 Harvest Fine Foods Southampton Wholesale food distribution 20.3 15.6 138 31/12/21
235 Fence Stores (t/a The Fencing Centre) Poole Fencing/decking/cabins/sheds suppliers 20.0 14.9 94 31/10/21
236 GRP Solutions Portsmouth Chemical Manufacturing 19.9 14.1 25 31/07/21
237 TY UK Portsmouth Distribution of soft toys 19.8 22.4 69 31/12/20
238 Hippo (Waste Management Systems) Portsmouth Waste management 19.7 18.4 119 31/12/21
239 Structural Metal Decks (SMD) Poole Structural floor & roof solutions 19.6 18.5 70 31/07/21
240 THE NEW Forest Fruit Company Brockenhurst Specialist fruit growers 19.6 16.8 306 31/12/21
241 ICE (Industrial Cleaning Equipment) Southampton Cleaning machine & service experts 19.5 17.7 123 31/12/21
242 Bistech Group Ferndown IT services provider 19.3 16.4 71 31/07/21
243 Aap3 Holdings Southampton IT recruitment and business and engineering solutions 19.2 22.5 155 31/12/20
244 Caspian One Bournemouth Recruitment agency 19.1 27.7 42 31/03/21
245 R Moulding & Co (Salisbury) Salisbury Building contractor 19.0 19.3 108 31/10/21
246 The West Group Waterlooville Medical equipment manufacturing 19.0 21.7 142 31/08/21
247 Yacht Havens Group Lymington Marina 18.8 19.8 173 31/03/21
248 Cornerstone Healthcare Waterlooville Hospitals and Health Care 18.7 16.2 292 31/03/22
249 Madar Corporation LTD Fordingbridge Retail 18.7 16.1 108 31/07/21
250 Suttles Swanage Civil engineering contractor 18.5 - 64 31/03/21

Awards Categories

Leadership Team of the Year

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International Business of the Year

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Entrepreneurial Business of the Year

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CEO of the Year

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Business Culture Award

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Growth Story of the Year

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Contact us

Meet the Winners

Leadership Team of the Year

Winner: FatFace

"If you don't have a people-centric organisation you will always struggle. Our management team has to be in tune with that. We are very 'low ego' – we work closely with all our teams, having collaborative conversations, not issuing diktats from the top. Knowing your brand and how it can operate and knowing its limitations and where the opportunities are is essential. If you achieve a balance between these things, then you should get good financial growth. Another of our strategies is to 'fail fast' – we trial and test products with consumers and if they don't work, we learn quickly and move on. Given the recent economic uncertainty, it has not been easy to be flexible in our product development but we are starting to get there again. Sustainability is also at the heart of everything we do. We are always trying to control our impact on the environment and to do business in the right way." 

Will Crumbie, CEO; Nick Stevenson, Trading Director; Kate Brown, Product Director

International Business of the Year

Winner: Neal's Yard Remedies

Winning the award is a true honour and a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone at Neal's Yard Remedies. We are proud to be recognised for the successful integration of our vision of natural and organic health and beauty into multiple global markets, as well as our commitment to sustainable, ethical practices on a global scale. We look forward to continuing to make a positive impact globally." 

Anabel Kindersley, Co-Owner

Entrepreneurial Business of the Year

Winner: PVC Building Supplies

"We have a strong history of listening to everyone in the company and embracing the ideas they come forward with. One example was the suggestion to move to a nightshift system for picking and loading supplies for plumbers at large building sites. To our knowledge, that is unique in our sector. We began with a branch in Southampton and opened another in Kent five years ago. This year, we opened a Huntingdon branch that can do more business than the other two put together, and I am about to sign a lease on a site in Bristol. We are on a faster growth track than I expected and a lot of that is down to our team, where Managing Director Steve Davies plays a key role." 

Spencer Wright, Owner

CEO of the Year

Winner: Joint Winners

Joint winner: Gary Orr – Abri 

"We are a large organisation and a complex business, like any other, but as a housing association, we bridge the dimension between having a commercial head and a social heart. We are careful in the way we steer the business so the next generation of colleagues will be able to continue providing services to our customers. We have a workforce of about 1,600 and a track record of improving our talent. Many have worked their way up through the business and now hold senior positions. The best thing about my job is being able to lead a talented and motivated workforce that does great things and ensures our customers have high quality, affordable housing across the south of England." Gary Orr, Chief Executive

Joint winner: Mark Langford – Breeze Motor Company  

“I think that what makes a good CEO is to be selfless, have humility, listen, accept you have people around you that are far better at certain things than you and never be threatened by that. Learn every day, have fun, be empathetic, make bold decisions, be accountable and – the most important thing for me – have unwavering integrity. The motor trade is a challenging environment and has always been a good barometer for the economy. We have faced many challenges over the past three years with the pandemic, difficult vehicle supply restrictions and challenging economic predictions all at a time when we have diversified and grown our business. All of this puts huge emphasis on the importance of strong leadership and I am fortunate to have a management team that has risen to the challenge. As business leaders, our role is to challenge, push, pull, reward, mentor, encourage and coach but above all else, communicate clearly and listen.” Mark Langford, Managing Director

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FINALISTS

Business Culture Award

Winner: Apollo Motor Group

"Changing the culture of our people has been a long journey for us. As a family-owned business, we don't think of them as employees but as part of that family. We try and do lots of things that make a real difference for them, like giving everyone their birthday off. We have a strong communications ethos, with weekly calls involving all of our 20 sites. These are not just about making sure we are delivering performance but also finding out what we need to do so we can improve together. Attention to staff welfare is another important aspect of our culture. We carry out 2,500 car repairs a month, so our business is very much about selling labour. We have 400 staff and only eight positions are currently open. A key part of our customer focus is to contact every customer to ask how the experience was for them and learn from this to make ourselves better." 

Graham Eyles, CEO

Growth Story of the Year

Winner: Portsmouth Aviation

"Our growth rate has exceeded our expectations. We have achieved this by investing over a number of years in our plant and people, looking at new overseas markets, entering partnerships, moving into sustainability and expanding our engineering skills. We have introduced lean management and supply chain improvement initiatives that help us to focus on delivery, performance and quality. We keep everyone up to speed by communicating with our teams three times a week. We are also diversifying into humanitarian and environmental solutions, particularly in the Middle East." 

Simon Escott, Managing Director

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