A Fast Track Decade - Analysing ten years of high performance

Since 1996, the Fast Track 100 published by The Sunday Times, has been the definitive guide to those small and medium sized businesses that have excelled in their first phase of commercial growth.  Using this sample of 900 businesses as the basis for further analysis, SAP commissioned Delta Economics to assess Fast Track company performance over the past 10 years.  Key findings of the survey released today, are:

• Short term growth does not always link to long term success – 1 in 5 businesses that have featured over the last 10 years in the Fast Track rankings, no longer trade.  Nearly half (44%) of these have been liquidated and a third (33%) have been acquired.  Only 47% of the 100 businesses in the 2000-2001 Fast Track are still in existence.

• High growth companies are growing slower over time – Average growth rate of businesses that featured from 2001-2005 is 29.2% versus average growth rate of businesses from 2006-2010 is 25.5%.

• Manufacturing gradually disappearing – Whilst seven manufacturing businesses were in the 2000-2001 Fast Track, 2008 saw only two, with zero the following year.

• IT has never recovered from dot com boom heyday while retail has endured throughout – 22 IT / Telco businesses featured in the 2000-2001 entries, whilst the highest presence since 2005 has been only four entries.  With 13 retailers in 2000/2001 and 21 retailers in 2009/2010.  Retail peaked in 2005 with 26 (over 1 in 4) entries.

• A nation of recruiters? – In 2009/10 one in five of the Fast Track 100 were recruitment businesses, significantly skewing this sectors contribution to national GDP, and suggesting that there is still a dynamic jobs market.