Thursday 30th June 2016
SIR RICHARD BRANSON HOSTS AWARDS EVENT
FOR BRITAIN’S FAST TRACK 100 ENTREPRENEURS

CHARITY AUCTION RAISES OVER £120,000
The founders and directors of Britain’s 100 private companies with the fastest-growing sales were
recognised yesterday (29th June) at the 19th annual Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 awards,
held at Sam and Holly Branson’s family home in Oxfordshire, and hosted by Sir Richard Branson.
Sir Richard congratulated the companies on their success, and said that “many great British companies started
off at Fast Track 100”, before adding “British entrepreneurs are what powers our nation”.
The Fast Track 100 annual conference and awards dinner celebrates the best of British entrepreneurship,
bringing together the founders and directors of the UK’s private companies with the fastest-growing sales. Over
the last three years they have grown their sales by an average of 65% a year to a total of £3.7bn, and employ
19,000 people, having added 13,500 jobs over the period.
The prestigious award for the fastest-growing company went to High Wycombe-based mobile phone recycler and
distributor GreenTech Distribution, which grew sales from £1m to almost £50m in just three years. Other award
winners ranged from gourmet pet food firm Lily’s Kitchen to home appliance manufacturer Gtech, with awards
sponsored by Barclays, BDO, BGF, BMW, The Sunday Times and Virgin (see below for details of awards).
The annual after-dinner charity auction benefitted young people in Britain through Virgin Strive’s support of the
Big Change charitable trust and budding entrepreneurs at the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship in South
Africa supported by Virgin Unite. The evening raised over £120,000 – taking the total raised by Fast Track 100
entrepreneurs over the last 11 years to £2.3m.
Guest speeches
The event began with an afternoon conference where over 300 guests heard from a range of inspirational
speakers and panellists.
Rosemary Squire OBE, co-founder of Ambassador Theatre Group, told how she has turned the business she
started in 1992 in the back of her red BMW into the world’s largest theatre group, after spotting an opportunity
in the “highly fragmented” theatre industry. “Theatre operators tended to specialise in one sector – venues,
ticketing, or production. Nobody had properly integrated all three areas of activity under one banner,” she said.
David Buttress, group chief executive officer of take-away food website JUST EAT, which floated in London in
2014 and is now worth £2.8bn, told how he had global ambitions for the business when he first launched it in
the UK in 2006. “We were incredibly naïve, we wanted to build a global business to tell our grandchildren
about”, he said.
Simon Duke, deputy business editor of The Sunday Times, chaired a panel exploring the challenges and
opportunities created by “doing business differently”. He interviewed James McClure, Airbnb’s general
manager for Northern Europe, James Timpson, chief executive of Timpson, and James Watt, co-founder of
Brewdog. Topics ranged from the sharing economy to employing ex-offenders and harnessing customer
advocates for brand promotion and crowdfunding.
Fast Track 100 award winners
Fast Track 100 sponsors presented seven special awards for excellence in the following areas:
Sir Richard Branson presented the top award, sponsored by Virgin, to co-founders Richard Crawley and Lucky
Anand of the fastest-growing company, GreenTech Distribution. The mobile phone recycling business reached
the No 1 spot after sales grew from £1m to almost £50m in just three years.
The Fast Track ones to watch award, sponsored by Virgin, was presented by Holly Branson, chair of Virgin Unite
& special projects, to chief executive Roz Cuschieri of gluten-free food manufacturer Genius. The company sells
its products in all the main supermarkets, and is targeting £65m sales this year as it expands in Europe.
There were joint winners of the Fast Track 100 outstanding achievement award, which is sponsored by
Barclays and was presented by Jane Galvin, a managing director of Barclays corporate banking. Founder Jason
Bannister collected the award for Oak Furniture Land, and founder Shaun Pulfrey collected the award for hair
products supplier Tangle Teezer.
The Fast Track 100 best management team award, sponsored by BDO, was presented by Stuart Lisle, a senior
tax partner, to founder Clive Nation, finance director Roy Dodd and COO Nick Cockett of Cennox. The team have
made a string of acquisitions to grow rapidly in America.
The Fast Track 100 effective use of capital award, sponsored by BGF, was presented by chief executive Stephen
Welton to co-founder James Buckle of online household products retailer Andrew James, which has recently
invested £10m in new distribution and office space in County Durham.
The Fast Track 100 innovation award, sponsored by BMW, was presented by Talita Ferreira, chief financial
officer. Founder Nick Grey collected the award for Gtech, which is taking on established brands such as Dyson
with its innovative cordless vacuum cleaners, garden tools and electric bikes.
The Fast Track 100 emerging brand award, sponsored by The Sunday Times, was presented by deputy business
editor Simon Duke to founder Henrietta Morrison of Lily’s Kitchen. The company has created a premium natural
pet food brand, now sold through 700 stockists.
Profiles and financial information for each of the winning companies are available on the Fast Track website:
www.fasttrack.co.uk.
Charity auction raises over £120,000
The evening ended with a charity auction for Virgin Unite, kindly conducted by Charlie Thomas of Bonhams.
Two guests bid £95,000 to accompany Sir Richard Branson to the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship in South
Africa and to his private game reserve, Ulusaba.
Over the last eleven years, entrepreneurs at the Fast Track 100 event have generously raised £2.3m for the
centre, which helps young South Africans develop the skills needed to start and run their own businesses.
Two guests also bid to join Richard, Holly, Sam Branson and others on the Virgin Strive Challenge, raising
£26,000 for the Big Change charitable trust to pay for young people in Britain to obtain crucial life skills.
ENDS
WHEN USING THIS INFORMATION PLEASE CREDIT: THE SUNDAY TIMES VIRGIN FAST TRACK 100
For further information please contact: Richard Tyler, Fast Track, 01865 297011, or
[email protected]
Follow us on Twitter @ST_FastTrack #FastTrack100
Notes for editors
Fast Track has published league tables of top-performing private companies with The Sunday Times for the past
19 years. Its invitation-only dinners provide a valuable opportunity for entrepreneurs to network and meet its
sponsors. The company was founded and is run by Dr Hamish Stevenson, who also holds an associate fellowship
at Green Templeton College, Oxford University.
About the league table
The 19th annual Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 league table was published on 6 December, 2015. It is
compiled by Fast Track, the UK’s leading research and networking events company focusing on topperforming private companies and entrepreneurs.
In addition to title sponsor Virgin, the league table is co-sponsored by Barclays, BDO and BGF. The awards
dinner car partner is BMW.
League table criteria: Companies had to be registered in the UK and be independent, unquoted and ultimate
holding companies. Sales growth was measured by compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the latest three
financial years. Annualised sales had to exceed £250,000 in the base year and not show a drop from the
penultimate to the latest year, where total sales had to exceed £5m. Firms had to have 10 or more employees
and be making an operating profit of at least £500,000 in their latest available accounts. Excluded companies
include technology firms (covered by our sister league table the Tech Track 100), LLPs, pure property and
financial trading companies, and companies with turnover of £500m or greater. For additional criteria see the
Fast Track website.
The research was carried out by Fast Track between August and November 2015. The majority of companies
were interviewed by telephone or in person by the Fast Track team.
About our sponsors
About Virgin
Virgin is a leading international investment group and one of the world's most recognised and respected
brands. Conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has gone on to grow successful businesses
in sectors including mobile telephony, travel & transportation, financial services, leisure & entertainment and
health & wellness.
Today, Virgin companies employ more than 70,000 people, in 35 countries. Its global branded revenues in 2014
exceeded £17bn (approx. $24bn).
www.virgin.com
@Virgin
About Barclays
Barclays is a transatlantic consumer, corporate and investment bank offering products and services across
personal, corporate and investment banking, credit cards and wealth management, with a strong presence in
our two home markets of the UK and the US.
With over 325 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 40 countries and employs
approximately 130,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for customers and clients
worldwide.
www.home.barclays
@BarCorp_News
@barclayswealth
About BDO
BDO LLP is a leading national accountancy and business advisory firm committed to providing exceptional
services to ambitious businesses across the UK and internationally.
With more than 3,500 talented people, across 18 offices, generating close to £400m in UK revenues, we
have our finger on the pulse of the mid-market.
We have a clear ambition to be known in the market for exceptional service delivered by empowered
people. The Mid-Market Monitor shows that BDO is the market leader for client satisfaction for the fourth
year running – outperforming all major competitors.
Whether you're a private client, an owner-managed business, an ambitious AIM company or an established
member of the FTSE 350, we have the right people and experience to deliver tangible value.
www.bdo.co.uk
@bdoaccountant
About BGF
This year, BGF is celebrating five years of growth and investment. Set up in May 2011 to fill a funding gap for
Britain’s smaller and medium sized businesses, BGF has since invested in excess of £850m across more than 125
companies, making it the UK’s most active provider of growth capital. In the last 12 months, BGF has expanded
its reach with the launch of BGF Ventures, the UK’s largest-ever venture capital fund focused on earlier stage UK
tech companies, and BGF Quoted, which offers a new and additional source of capital for smaller UK companies
listed on AIM.
www.bgf.co.uk
@BGF_team