Countdown to Top 250 annual review

Jul 9 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

ONE week today The Journal will publish our annual review of the region’s top 250 companies. This is the 31st list of the region’s top companies and there promises to be some changes at the top of the order following the seismic changes that have taken place in the North East business landscape over the last year.

Last year’s top company Northern Rock is now owned by the Government and last year’s third placed company Barratt Developments has seen its value plummet as the Stock Market takes flight from housing shares.

The annual list of the region’s top 250 companies, which is organised by The Journal and compiled by Durham Business School, will be published with the newspaper on Wednesday, July 16.

And this year we have a new sponsor of the publication, which is firmly established as the most authoritative in the North East.

Vehicle hire business Northgate, which has been near the top end of the North East Top 250 list almost continuously since entering at 20th in 1998, will sponsor the annual list.

The Darlington company, which is a member of the FTSE Mid-250, is the market-leading hirer of vans and other light commercial vehicles in the UK, Ireland and Spain.

Phil Moorhouse, UK managing director of Northgate, said the company was pleased to be involved. “We are delighted to be strongly associated with such an important North East benchmark,” he said.

“We are an oak covering several countries, and our acorn was planted here in this region.”

Northgate is a prime example of the type of large, fast-growing businesses with roots firmly in the North East which are seen as key to the region’s economic growth.

Alan Noble launched the firm at his Darlington home in 1981, when he was 29. It was then known as Alan Noble Self Drive Ltd.

Eighteen years on, he won North East Business Executive of the Year after growing the company vastly. He is now executive deputy chairman of the company.

It will be the 31st year that The Journal has published the Top 250 supplement and this year it promises to be bigger and better than ever.

What started out as the Top 100 in the 1970s has grown steadily over the years and became the Top 250 for the first time in 2007.

As usual, the listing will be researched and compiled by the experts at Durham University Business School.

Journal editor Brian Aitken said: “Once again, the publication of the Top 250 is much anticipated and we look forward to it being a major talking point in the business community and beyond.”