The annual survey, produced in association with business advisory group Grant Thornton and Lloyds Banking Group, ranks Britain’s privately owned mid-market growth firms with sales of up to £700m.

The top-ranking industry name, in a good year for marketing services specialists, was Paragon Group, which placed ninth with sales of £594.6m in the year to June 2018, up from number 13 last year.

HH Global, meanwhile, rose from number 74 last year to number 44, with a turnover of £377m in the year ended March 2019.

Group chief executive Robert MacMillan said the company was “honoured” to be recognised by the survey again.

“We continue to deliver record-setting financial results, with no signs of growth slowing. This listing helps reaffirm that our client-focused approach and strategy for growth is continuing to deliver.”

New to the list this year were APS Group, which achieved sales of £160.9m in the year to January 2019, and paper and board merchant Elliott Baxter (EBB), with a turnover of £149.3m in the year ended December 2018.

Additionally, The Little Group, which owns book wholesaler Gardners and is also big in CDs, DVDs, vinyl and associated promo merchandise, was at number 52 in the list, with sales of £338.1m in the year to February 2018.

And Mediaforce, which is an ad sales agent for some of the newspaper groups and also owns The Leaflet Company, ranked at number 195, with sales of £147.2m in the year ended March 2018.

Topping the survey on sales of £697.3m in the year to September 2018 was health food retailer Holland & Barrett. Budget hotel operator Travelodge and car distributor IM Group completed the top three on sales of £693.3m and £661.8m respectively, in their financial years to December 2018.

Grant Thornton works with Printweek on the long-standing Top 500 survey, the definitive annual list of the UK’s largest printing businesses.