It's anybody's guess who will be this year's top firms
May 13 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal
One thing sure about these difficult business times – they are going to make the new North East Top 250, coming soon, very unpredictable indeed. Brian Nicholls explains.
THE starter’s flag is up for this year’s North East Top 250 – and the outcome of The Journal’s celebrated roll of achievement this time is at its most unpredictable perhaps since the first of these annual tables of leading companies of the region was compiled in 1978.
In the atmosphere of a Grand National almost, the country’s current downturn is upsetting the usual going and the normal form, and casting uncertainties over forecasts of the finish.
It’s not just a burning question of who will get into the list – but who will be where, also, in the heady heights of the top placings.
Northern Rock, which led the table for three years in a row until last year, will be out of the reckoning again this time, being still partly nationalised for the foreseeable future.
Nissan, which replaced it last year, so reclaiming top spot for the first time since 2000, has had its similarly well publicised difficulties because of the credit crunch, believed to have caused a 30% drop in the sale of new cars throughout the industry, though business is now picking up.
Amec, Arriva, Go Ahead, Huntsman Petrochemicals, Bellway and Sage which filled the other top spots last year are all in sectors where financial pain has been evident to greater or lesser extent in the current financial crisis.
However, it is not possible to draw any firm conclusions. Arriva has been reporting rising revenues and profits, Go Ahead some revenue rises but more slowly than before, Bellway a 45% fall in turnover in its most recent six months, and Sage showing sales 17% up during its latest six months.
Huntsman’s Teesside activities meanwhile have passed into the hands of Saudi Arabia’s Sabic, the largest public company in the Middle East, whose eligibility to replace Huntsman will be only one of many considerations in compiling the new table.
