The list ranks the top 100 private companies with the fastest-growing sales over the last three years. Liverpool-based Milexa Group was one of ten North West-based firms to be included in the rankings, thanks to a three-year annual sales growth of 65%.
Milexa Group’s products have been used by many global brands including IKEA, Google, YouTube and Microsoft. Via its brand Murals Wallpaper it supplied unique murals for Netflix's headquarters in Silicon Valley this year.
The 45-staff company sells to customers in the UK and abroad, and last year exported products to 57 countries. Earlier this year it developed a new off-the-shelf wallpaper product that integrates a traditional wallpaper roll with custom-sized mural products.
All of its products are designed and printed in-house, the majority on a Xeikon digital wallpaper line with in-line cutting, though it also operates two HP Latex printers and a Zünd flatbed cutter.
The business is currently in the process of moving into a larger 1,860sqm warehouse, which it is turning into a purpose-built factory and office space. While many staff are still working at home, the company is hoping – restrictions pending – that the majority will be back to some kind of office-based work from January.
Milexa Group managing director and founder Richard Wilde said the company was “absolutely delighted” to have been included in the league table.
He told Printweek: “This is the culmination of the work we’ve done over the past three years – a lot of the growth is driven through e-commerce, we sell a lot of our products online.
“International growth was the big thing underlying that – we expanded to North America and Europe [through exporting] a few years ago and that’s been a big driver for us. We’re now pretty established in five or six big markets including North America, Canada, Germany and France.”
He added: “Thankfully we’ve been quite lucky because with the e-commerce element we’ve been able to continue trading [through the coronavirus pandemic] without any difficulties.
“We’ve put social distancing and PPE measures in the factory to account for that but we’ve managed to operate throughout which has been really beneficial to us thankfully.
“And because we print wallpaper and flooring, that home décor market has been quite buoyant over lockdown with people spending more time in their houses, so we’ve benefitted from that as well.”
Wilde said the company, which recorded sales of £5.3m last year, is on track for £6.6m this year and is aiming for £8m turnover next year.
Elsewhere in the league table, Edinburgh-based compostable packaging maker Vegware was ranked 75th after seeing three-year annual sales growth of 45%.
And Caerphilly-based sustainable packaging manufacturer Transcend Packaging was featured in the 10 Fast Track Ones to Watch list, which features 10 promising companies that did not meet the criteria of the league table but have either achieved or are forecasting strong sales growth.
Transcend started making face visors during the pandemic and has now supplied more than 15 million to the NHS.
The list was topped by St Albans-based construction contractor Glencar Construction, which has experienced three-year annual sales growth of 441%.
Its rapid growth has been driven by building warehouses for online retailers such as Ocado; and the company is currently building the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovations Centre in Oxfordshire, which aims to be capable of producing 70 million Covid-19 vaccines by the summer.
The Fast Track 100 is sponsored by Virgin Atlantic, BDO, DHL Express and N+1 Singer, and is compiled by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events firm.
