Leicestershire is on the up, and that’s official. A new report compiled and released by the BDO claims that the region is one of the fastest-growing in the country. Total Motion is very proud to be a part of that and has been recognised in the report, as one of the many diverse range of companies making positive strides with economic growth, employment rates and innovative discoveries.
Now, a Top 50 table of the fastest-growing mid-sized businesses in Leicestershire, included in the report, highlights some of the organisations that have taken something of an understated approach to the region’s success. While Leicester is not a traditional hotbed of commercial success, it currently sits above London and Manchester as a top city for hiring employees and it has the fastest-growing jobs market in the UK.
Internally, the region knows all about its success, with BDO director Vinod Patel referring to 50,000 trading businesses in the region as evidence, but many of the major success stories in Leicestershire are unheard of outside the region. Names such as Triumph Motorcycles, tech giants IBM and retailers Next and Dunelm, may have found a home in Leicestershire, but it is companies like Cofresh and Geary’s Bakery who have received multi-million pound funding recently, on the back of great success, and yet they are hardly household names, and even they have not quite achieved top 50 status for 2020.
Top 50 fastest-growing medium-sized businesses
The BDO report highlights the top 50 fastest-growing companies in the region, and what is fascinating is the diverse range of business sectors included. The vast contribution to the local economy is coming from a great range of industries, which can only be good for sustainable, ongoing growth. Retailers and wholesalers account for 18 of the top 50 companies (36%) and bring around £1 billion in turnover, while the highest growth sector is real estate and construction which has shown 40% growth in the last two years.
Technology and media showed 25% growth, the leisure and hospitality sector is also showing a healthy 21% growth, financial services and professional services and engineering each showed 18% growth, while even the bottom sector in that particular table, healthcare, showed a reasonably healthy 14% growth. The total turnover of the top 50 companies accounted for a £2.1billion contribution to the local economy, which is up from £1.8billion last year and £1.4billion the year before that, with Market Harborough-based Joules Group PLC representing the highest turnover in the region at £21.8 million.
Top employability at Total Motion
Increased connectivity by road and rail is cited as a big factor in Leicestershire’s improving employability status and flourishing economy, despite the area not having the fashionable attraction of London or big city counterparts Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester or Leeds.
And employability is also where Total Motion comes into its own. We are very proud to be included in the Top 50 fastest-growing companies in Leicestershire, and employee growth of 48% over the last two years – the highest of the top 50 companies in the list – is a big reason for that. This shows how Total Motion is bursting with potential, just as the region itself is.
The next step for Leicestershire is to take this ambition on to a global stage and add some star attraction. Brexit factors are coming into play in 2020, but this shouldn’t stop Leicestershire coming up with a brand that everyone will recognise. Total Motion sits in 21st place in the Top 50, with ambitions to rise higher. This shows the increasing importance of fleet management, of course, but more significantly, our ambitions now match the region’s. Now, there is no reason why Leicestershire can’t claim some more big scalps in the business stakes over the next decade, and turn around some traditional preconceptions about where the real ambition lies.
