The Fastest 50 analysed

Oct 14 2009 By The Journal

Colin Hewitt, partner and head of commercial law at Ward Hadaway.

However, Soil Machine Dynamics also represents the other side of the coin: as Bywell Holdings, the company won the inaugural award for Fastest Growing Large Company in 1998.

In a similar vein, many companies have managed to keep up their outstanding growth and keep pace with other fast-growing businesses to retain their places from last year into 2009.

There is definite continuity in the list, as well as dynamic change, with familiar faces cropping up again and again, such as Bannatyne Fitness, which appears for the third year in a row having also appeared – and won awards – as long ago as 1999 and 2000.

Another former winner, IHC The Engineering Business, also features again, clocking up a successive hat-trick of appearances for the Hexham-based offshore specialist.

New talent combined with continuity is a potent quality for a regional economy and the reappearance of IHC The Engineering Business also reminds us again of the strength of the North East’s marine, offshore and oil and gas industries.

As well as IHC and the aforementioned Soil Machine Dynamics, we have companies including subsea cable specialist CTC Marine Projects and ship repair and marine services company A&P Group.

The kind of specialist skills developed in these and related businesses will stand the region in very good stead when it comes to the renewables sector, which is already making its presence felt in the North East and which will hopefully be the source of several entrants to future editions of the Fastest 50.

Another traditional North East strength, manufacturing and engineering, is very well represented.

Companies such as Analox, Con Mech, Continental Conveyor, Express Engineering, Godfrey-Syrett and The Davy Roll Company show that high-end, high-value manufacturing is very much alive and well in the UK.

These businesses are at the forefront of the drive to spread the influence of the North East around the world, exporting many of their products to a range of different countries.

It is work like this which helps to make the region one of the UK’s only net exporters and, with the help of The Journal and UK Trade and Investment, others are being encouraged to follow their lead, again something which can only bode well for the future.

And while the construction sector has not enjoyed the best of times recently, it still provides a sizeable proportion of companies in this year’s Fastest 50, including Hall Construction Services, Surgo, Cecil M Yuill, LJJ Limited and Wearmouth Construction & Plant.

The region is also not backward in coming forwards when it comes to new technology and the appliance of science.

The Specials Laboratory has carved a lucrative niche in producing unlicensed medicines for the healthcare industry, Merit Merrell – a familiar name in the Fastest 50 – has made a name for itself when it comes to facilities in a range of hi-tech industries and IT company 4Projects’ collaboration software even helped to put a roof over Wimbledon’s Centre Court.

Food and leisure businesses are still thriving despite the recession – witness the apparently unstoppable continued rise of Bannatyne Fitness, soft drinks maker Fentimans recently secured its largest ever order while The Station Hotel is still proving a draw for travellers over 150 years since it was first opened.

Perhaps one other conclusion can be drawn from looking at this year’s Fastest 50 – and another which bodes well for our future.

The even spread of businesses across all areas of the North East from Northumberland to the edge of North Yorkshire shows that trailblazing businesses can be found in every corner of the region and that, together, they form a formidable group.