The Fastest-Growing Companies in Wales | 2024
Last week, we highlighted the fastest-growing companies in Scotland. Now, we’re turning our focus to Wales.
Previously, we introduced you to the top 23 Welsh companies to watch in 2022. As Wales’ economy continues to flourish, it’s time to update our list and spotlight the latest success stories.
In this second article of our series, we explore Wales’ dynamic business landscape where Iceland Foods Ltd was founded in 1970, moneysupermarket.com rose to fame, and Coffee #1 first opened its doors.
How to find the fastest-growing companies in Wales
To identify the fastest-growing companies in Wales, we’ve calculated turnover growth between each company’s two most recent financial statements.
To be included in the analysis, a company must have had comparable statements for the last two financial years, reported at least £100k in turnover during their most recent financial statement, and hit one of our Growth Signals.
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Exploring high-growth companies in Wales
The number of active companies in Wales has soared in recent years, tripling from 60k in 2005 to almost 180k in 2024. However, the country only made up 2.9% of all the high-growth companies in the UK (441), coming in third place behind England and Scotland.
According to an article by Dylan Jones-Evans, professor and newspaper columnist at the University of South Wales, the percentage of innovation-active businesses was highest in England at 37%, followed by Scotland and Northern Ireland, both at 32%. Wales, with only 31% of businesses engaged in innovation, had the lowest rate among all UK regions, making it the least innovative part of the UK.
But this could be a UK-wide trend in general, with Jones-Evans writing that: “According to the survey, the UK economy is becoming less innovative, with only 36% of UK businesses being innovation-active between 2020 and 2022 as compared to 45% in 2018-2020.”
Managing Director of Research & Consultancy, Henry Whorwood had this to say, “There is untapped potential in Wales. The Development Bank of Wales and other investors in the region kick-start growth journeys by helping companies to secure funding and bring innovative technology and practices to the market or by supporting companies making a transition to the next generation of leaders.”
“Investors need to be pragmatic and look beyond London and the South to find opportunities in sectors as diverse and advanced as agritech, medical devices, fintech, and cleantech. Wales has a lot to offer in terms of innovation—and return on capital."
No surprises with Cardiff coming out on top, with the highest total turnover (£2.5b) of any local authority in Wales, and home to 99 out of the 441 high-growth companies in Wales (22%).
But when assessing the number of high-growth companies versus total turnover, we have two different Welsh locations in the second spot.
Swansea has the second highest number of high-growth companies with 29 (and a total turnover of £1.1b). In third place for the number of high-growth companies is Carmarthenshire with 26 located here.
But in second place for total turnover was Bridgend with £1.9b. And although the Isle of Anglesey only has four high-growth companies based there, it came in third highest for total turnover — £1.6b.
We also took a look at the industries coming out on top. Similar to Scotland, distribution and wholesale was the top industry for Wales with 15.2% of all high-growth companies falling under this umbrella. Property development and construction came in second with 13.4%, followed by manufacturing and repair, maintenance and servicing both at 8.8%.
We’ve seen similar patterns in the top industries across our analysis of the UK but you’ll have to come back next week to see which industries came out on top for Northern Ireland. Sign up to our newsletter to get the article sent straight to your inbox.
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Wales' Top 10 Fastest-Growing Companies
Here are the top 10 companies in Wales seeing the fastest-growth in turnover.
10.
Trakcel
Local authority: Cardiff
Employee count: 50-99
Turnover growth: 108%
Trakcel has developed a data management service that matches patients, based on their biometric data, to their specific treatment in large-scale regenerative therapies.
Trakcel hit the most growth signals on our list. It has featured on five high-growth lists since 2017, including Wales Tech 25 and the Wales Fast Growth 50 three times. It also attended The Scaleup Programme accelerator in 2018.
09.
BCB International
Local authority: Cardiff
Employee count: 50-99
Turnover growth: 112%
BCB International designs and manufactures survival tools, clothing, and equipment for the military, police and marines. As the longest-established company on our list, BCB International has operated since 1854, though was officially incorporated in 1979.
This military clothing specialist reported a turnover increase of 112%. It hit two of our Innovation Signals, one for having a patent, and the other for receiving an R&D grant. The R&D grant was for £222k and it was issued in April 2014.
08.
Just Go Travel
Local authority: Wrexham
Employee count: 100-249
Turnover growth: 113%
Just Go Travel previously operated as a franchise of Hays Travel, providing a comprehensive range of travel agent services. It caters to various customer needs, offering tailor-made package holidays, all-inclusive vacations, and last-minute trip options.
From its most recently filed accounts, Just Go Travel reported a 113% increase in turnover from 2022 to 2023.
Since filing its accounts on 30/04/2023, this company has been acquired by Hays Travel.
07.
Wynne Construction
Local authority: Denbighshire
Employee count: 50-99
Turnover growth: 117%
Wynne Construction is a construction company which works primarily with the health, education and leisure industries. The company was officially incorporated in 1959 but has ties all the way back to 1936 when founder Charles Wynne started C Wynne Builder & Contractor.
This impressive Denbighshire company has been running for almost 100 years, and has hit three of our Growth Signals, including being featured on 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain in 2019.
06.
CastAlum
Local authority: Powys
Employee count: 100-249
Turnover growth: 120%
CastAlum produces aluminium parts for road vehicles using moulding processes. It’s best known as a die casting and machining centre, and ships its materials all around the world.
CastAlum featured on the Wales Fast Growth 50 list in 2012, also most recently, received an R&D grant for £504k in April 2018.
05.
Bryn Meadows
Local authority: Caerphilly
Employee count: 100-249
Turnover growth: 175%
Bryn Meadows runs a hotel which caters for weddings, conferences and events, offering a number of facilities including a golf course, spa and restaurant — located in Caerphilly. The company was incorporated in 1986 and now hosts conferences and weddings among its usual offerings.
This hotel company boasted a massive 175% increase in turnover.
04.
Avantis
Local authority: Bridgend
Employee count: 100-249
Turnover growth: 177%
Avantis provides engineering and installation services for marine solutions, specialising in environmentally friendly technology and integrating it into businesses. It’s since expanded worldwide, with locations in the UK, UAE, Singapore, and Brazil.
This Bridgend-based company has hit three of our Growth Signals, including having undergone an MBO/MBI. As well as our Growth Signals, it hit one of our ESG Signals for having an age diversity in the company directors. It had an increase of 177% in turnover from 2022 to 2023.
03.
Huws Gray
Local authority: Isle of Anglesey
Employee count: >1000
Turnover growth: 215%
Huws Gray runs a builder’s merchant, providing a wide range of services such as flooring, roofing and landscaping. It has branches all across Great Britain, opening its first store in 1990.
Huws Gray has hit four of our Growth Signals, including featuring on a high-growth list. The company appeared on the Fast Track Top Track 25 in 2020 — and hit our Social & Governance Signal for gender pay equality. It’s seen a huge increase in turnover, at 215%.
02.
Les Croupiers Casino
Local authority: Cardiff
Employee count: 50-99
Turnover growth: 240%
Les Croupiers Casino operates a casino and sports lounge just outside of Cardiff city centre. It’s been open since 1968 and is better known as ‘The Croups’ to local gamblers.
From its filed accounts in 2021 to 2022, the company saw a huge turnover increase of 240%. The casino company also hit our Social & Governance Signal for age diversity in directors.
01.
Sydney & London Properties
Local authority: Cardiff
Employee count: 10-24
Turnover growth: 434%
Sydney & London Properties manages a portfolio of commercial properties. Its extensive investments span multiple regions, including the British Isles, France, and the Middle East, positioning them as a significant player in the global property market — and the top of our fastest growing companies in Wales list.
The Cardiff-based company had a 434% increase in turnover, and again, hit our Social & Governance Signal for age diversity in directors.
What are Growth Signals and how do we calculate them?
We know that just having data isn’t the answer — you also need to be able to interpret it.
That’s why we created Signals as a way to make our data easier to understand. Beauhurst Signals mean that our clients don’t need to be data analysts to do sophisticated work, they just need to hit a few buttons.
To determine Scotland’s fastest growing companies, we utilised Growth Signals. These are:
- Equity fundraising
- Debt fundraising
- MBO/MBI (Management buy out/buy in)
- Accelerators
- 10% scaleup
- 20% scaleup
- High growth lists
If a company is associated with any of these indicators, it will be assigned a Growth Signal.
Methods of growth
We used the same methods of growth to produce this list as we did in our first article of the series: Fastest Growing Companies in Scotland.
Out of the 441 Welsh companies that hit one or more of our Growth Signals, 17% have received equity funding, in line with the UK-wide average of 16.6%.
Interestingly Wales came out in the lead with the proportion of companies appearing on high-growth lists. A significant 41.5% of the Welsh high-growth companies featured on a list, compared to 37.9% of companies in England which came in second place.
Wales also had the highest proportion of high-growth companies located in the capital. Cardiff hosts 22% of Welsh high-growth companies, compared to Northern Ireland at 20%, England at 16% and Scotland with just 12% of high-growth companies based in their respective capitals.
Find this data for yourself
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