The Fastest-Growing Companies in Northern Ireland | 2024
Possibly one of Northern Ireland’s most famous businesses is the story of the DeLorean.
Back in 1978, DeLorean struck a deal to set up shop with a factory near the Twinbrook industrial estate in Dunmurry, not far from Belfast. This move not only created a huge number of jobs for the area but also promised to churn out 30,000 DeLorean cars annually. It was a game-changer for the area, especially in the context of Belfast’s declining textile industry.
But back to the future, we’re looking at Northern Ireland’s economic landscape in 2024, in our third in the series of the UK’s fastest-growing companies.
Finding the fastest-growing companies in Northern Ireland
To identify the fastest-growing companies in Northern Ireland, 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.
Learn how Greenaway Scott uses Beauhurst to target some of the UK's most ambitious companies.
Exploring Northern Ireland’s high-growth landscape
As we’ve seen in the other home nations, distribution and wholesale was the number one industry in Northern Ireland. In fact, it took the highest proportion overall at 20.5% of the nation’s high-growth companies. Coming in second place is property development and construction.
In third was tradespeople and trade services, which is the only time it appears in the UK top four industries for high-growth companies. Manufacturing was fourth, with 12% of Northern Ireland’s high-growth industries falling into this category.
Breaking this down into regions, Belfast took the top spot for both number of high-growth companies (84) and total turnover of these companies (£5.4b). Belfast is home to 20% of all high-growth companies in Northern Ireland, the second highest proportion of high-growth companies in the capital of any UK nation (behind Wales).
Mid Ulster and Antrim and Newtownabbey fight for second place, with Mid Ulster coming in second for number of high-growth companies (67), and Antrim and Newtownabbey coming in third (31). Turnover of these companies is vice versa — Mid Ulster came in third with £3.5b, behind Antrim and Newtownabbey which had the second highest turnover at £3.6b.
Unlock insights into all Northern Irish Companies
Northern Ireland's Top 10 Fastest-Growing Companies
Here are the top 10 companies in Northern Ireland seeing the fastest-growth in turnover.
10.
Tullymore House
Local authority: Belfast
Employee count: 500-999
Turnover growth: 98%
Tullymore House manages a hospitality holdings company through its subsidiaries, Galgorm Spa and Resort, and the Fratelli’s group of restaurants.
In 2018, the company featured on the 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain high-growth list. It reported a significant growth in turnover of 98% from 2021 to 2022.
09.
Adman
Local authority: Fermanagh and Omagh
Employee count: 100-249
Turnover growth: 102%
Adman provides a variety of civil engineering solutions tailored to the needs of the clean energy and electrical infrastructure industries. In 2018, the company was honoured at the Road Safety Awards and were announced as overall winners in the business category.
Adman has also hit our clean and renewable energy Environmental Signal.
08.
Cleary Contracting
Local authority: Antrim and Newtownabbey
Employee count: 10-24
Turnover growth: 105%
Cleary Contracting offers a comprehensive array of construction and civil engineering services for both residential and commercial sectors, with a specialisation in building restoration.
The company reported a turnover growth of 105% and hit our Social & Governance Signal for having an age diversity in its company directors.
07.
Abbey Upholsterers
Local authority: Mid and East Antrim
Employee count: 50-99
Turnover growth: 107%
Abbey Upholsterers designs, manufactures, and installs a diverse array of furnishings and fittings. In 2021, the company won the award for Northern Ireland ‘Family Business of the Year’ at the FSB Awards.
It reported a turnover increase of 107% from 2021 to 2022.
06.
Oasis Travel
Local authority: Lisburn and Castlereagh
Employee count: 50-99
Turnover growth: 108%
Oasis Travel operates a consumer travel agency. It has portfolios in Lisburn where it’s headquartered, as well as Belfast, Holywood and Hillsborough.
The company’s filed financial reports shows us that its turnover has increased by a huge 108% from 2022 to 2023.
05.
UK Catering Services
Local authority: Belfast
Employee count: 50-99
Turnover growth: 116%
UK Catering Services offers a comprehensive online directory featuring a wide range of catering providers. It allows you to search all across the UK, not just in Northern Ireland.
The catering service provider reported a turnover increase of 116% from 2022 to 2023.
04.
Birch Village Company
Local authority: Mid Ulster
Employee count: 250-499
Turnover growth: 126%
Birch Village Company, also trading as Downey’s Bar, is a group that runs multiple bars and sports bars. It was originally established in 1997 but officially incorporated in 2016.
The company reported a significant increase in turnover, achieving a remarkable growth of 126% from 2021 to 2022.
03.
McKeever Hotel Group
Local authority: Antrim and Newtownabbey
Employee count: 250-499
Turnover growth: 150%
McKeever Hotel Group manages several hotels equipped with golfing facilities, on-site restaurants, and services tailored for corporate accounts. It has hotels all across Northern Ireland.
The hotel group has hit two of our Social & Governance Signals, for having both gender equality and age diversity in its company directors.
02.
Portview
Local authority: Belfast
Employee count: 100-249
Turnover growth: 168%
Portview provides interior fit-out services, with a specialisation in leisure and retail spaces — and has worked with big brands such as Tiffany & Co, Samsung, and Lush, to name just a few.
The company featured on the Profit Track 100 list in 2020.
01.
Ready Egg Products
Local authority: Fermanagh and Omagh
Employee count: 250-499
Turnover growth: 170%
Ready Egg Products offers a diverse selection of high-quality egg products, catering to various culinary needs. Its range includes hard-boiled eggs, packaged scrambled eggs, even powdered egg (and more).
In 2020, it featured on the high-growth list: 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain. Ready Egg Products has also hit our age diversity of directors Social & Governance Signal.
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.
Looking at 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.
Northern Ireland made up 410 of the 15k high-growth companies in the UK which is 2.7% of the total. Out of those 410 companies, 9% have received equity funding – much lower than the average for the UK (17%). Also only 1.5% of those companies attended an accelerator programme, which is lower than any other UK country.
Following this trend, Northern Ireland had the lowest percentage of companies featured on a high-growth list.
Equalling England, 57% of Northern Ireland’s high-growth companies hit our 20% Scaleup Growth Signal — making these nations joint-highest for the proportion of 20% scaleups in the UK.
Find this data for yourself
You can find all this information for yourself on the Beauhurst platform.
Our platform provides you with easily accessible company information that you can’t find anywhere else. All in one place.
Discover high-growth companies all across the UK with just a few clicks — identify market trends, save valuable research time, and seize every opportunity with our comprehensive data.
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