The Sunday Times HSBC Top Track 100 league table ranks Britain’s 100 private companies with the biggest sales. It is compiled by Fast Track and published in The Sunday Times each July. The 19th annual Top Track 100 supplement was published on 5 July as a special Covid-19 edition, sponsored by HSBC and Linklaters. It highlighted how the UK’s biggest private companies have supported the country during the crisis, how it has impacted their industries, and how they are adapting. The closing date for nominations for the 20th anniversary league table is 28 May 2021, with publication in July 2021.
Entry criteria
Sales £750m – £25bn
UK registered, unquoted, and not subsidiaries, Sales are taken as total turnover, net of VAT,
Companies are not required to be in profit, Trading weeks in the latest year have to exceed 25, Companies must have at least 100 staff (average full-time equivalents for the year), Bookmakers, betting and gaming companies should provide net revenue, Companies may have their ultimate holding company offshore, Sales are typically between £750m and £25bn
Exclusions
Companies that are equal joint ventures, or majority-owned by quoted or other companies
Pure trading companies and companies with fewer than 100 staff (average full-time equivalents for the year)
Not-for-profit companies, including co-operative societies, mutual societies, provident associations, and member-owned buying groups
Asian companies vying to be nominated
2 Sisters Food Group
The biggest chicken supplier to UK supermarkets has been recruiting during the lockdown to meet unprecedented demand. The West Midlands group also owns Fox’s Biscuits and Holland’s Pies, which donated snacks to NHS and frontline workers. It shut down production at its plant in Anglesey for two weeks in June after more than 200 employees there tested positive for Covid-19. The group is led by founder Ranjit Boparan, 53, and chief executive Ronald Kers, 51.
Dhamecha
Family-owned Dhamecha has reduced opening hours at its nine cash-and-carry outlets to protect staff and allow time to restock for unprecedented demand during the pandemic. Cousins Pradip and Manish Dhamecha, both 61, and Pradip’s brother-in-law Mukesh Vithlani, 67, lead the northwest London-based business, which sells groceries, tobacco, confectionery, drinks and household goods. It has expanded operations into the Midlands and also exports its range of 12,000-plus products to wholesalers across Europe, Africa and Asia.
Bestway
Britain’s largest privately owned cash and-carry group has played a crucial role in maintaining the country’s food supply chain throughout the pandemic. It normally supplies more than 70,000 independent retailers and 40,000 caterers and pubs. Bestway also owns the Well Pharmacy chain, which has invested in PPE for its staff, remote working and online sales. Founded as a grocery store in 1963 by chairman Sir Anwar Pervez, 85, the group also owns a listed bank and a cement manufacturer in his native Pakistan, where it donated £3m to a coronavirus relief fund.
Issa brothers
Zuber Issa is a British billionaire, businessman and founder of Euro Garages, a chain of petrol filling stations that operate in the United Kingdom and Europe. Born in Blackburn, Issa's father originally came to the United Kingdom to work in the textile industry from Gujarat, India. Before founding Euro Garages, Zuber Issa and his brother, Mohsin, took out a lease on a garage, and saved up the money to buy their first petrol station. Issa founded Euro Garages with his brother, Mohsin, in 2001, with the acquisition of a single petrol station in Bury, Greater Manchester. The original site cost £150,000. Issa is responsible for strategy and acquisitions while his brother, Mohsin, runs the business day to day. The company grew through a series of acquisitions. In February 2018, it was announced that Euro Garages would acquired 762 convenience stores in the United States from Kroger.
