The 2017 edition is the fourth edition of the annual review, which identifies the UK’s most dynamic and fast-growing enterprises with incomes between £6m and £250m.
Four of the printing companies that made the list fall into the £10m-£20m income band: Glasgow-based printer and bookbinder Bell & Bain; Bluetree Design & Print, parent of Route One Print and Instantprint; direct mail specialist PMweb, and signage and wide-format printer ASAP UK.
Of the remaining two inclusions, Xerox reseller and managed print services provider Xeretec falls within the £50m-£75m band, while Slough-based commercial printer Vario Press has turnover of between £6m and £10m.
The 1,000 firms in the report are growing exceptionally fast – by 70% on average – and the selection criteria also requires them to have outperformed their sector peers.
In his introduction to the report, LSEG chief executive Xavier Rolet said it was important to highlight companies with the potential to scale up, pointing out that the CBI has previously reported that just 3,000 scale-up medium-sized businesses contributed £59bn to the UK economy over three years as the UK was fighting to stave off recession.
“A mere 1% increase in the number of high-growth businesses would create 230,000 new jobs and add £38bn to UK GDP,” he said.
“The overwhelming majority of fast-growing companies in this report are micro-companies, with annual revenues between £6m and £50m. We need to help more of these smaller companies to scale up to the next level and beyond.”
Bell & Bain was profiled for the report, in the Scottish section, because it was picked out as one of the top 50 entrants. This profile stated that while the Glasgow-based printer and bookbinder has been around since 1831, it has been quick to move with the times.
In the past few years it has poured £8m into the business, buying new technology such as Fujifilm’s full-colour Jet Press 540W, which delivers a finished book in a single pass, and the latest generation of KBA presses, which can print almost a million sheets a week.
The company has invested in personnel, too: managing director Stephen Docherty said: “Over the last seven years the workforce has grown from 60 employees to 120. We now have two plants and I expect a third over the next five years, with a 50% staff increase.”
Now Bell & Bain is looking to grow its client base by expanding overseas, particularly into the US.
Docherty said that the accolade was “great news for print” and “a true reward for hard work”.
“We’ve won awards before but this one felt a bit special,” he said. “We were invited down to London on Wednesday for the launch of the book at the London Stock Exchange and then to 10 Downing Street to meet the minister for industry.”
Asked what was the secret of their success, he replied: “Stick to what you do best; don’t do things that slow you down. The company’s just going from strength to strength and we’re not doing anything different, just working hard and trying to produce top-quality products.”
The report outlines the ongoing importance of manufacturing to the UK economy: 45% of all UK exports are from the manufacturing sector and the average annual wage is £31,489 - 14% higher than the national average.
