Forewords

Following the official release of the information – which was revealed at an invitation-only breakfast event that took place on February 22 at Winstanley House – this issue of Niche Magazine, Leicestershire’s leading business publication and official print sponsor of the Top 200, showcases the full list for our readers. It’s the first comprehensive list to be drawn up and published by academics at the university’s Leicester Castle Business School in two years and aims to reflect the vital role and scope of the county’s businesses. Professor David Rae of DMU’s Centre for Enterprise and Innovation, said: “We are delighted to be bringing back the renowned Leicestershire Top 200 Businesses after a two-year break and to report on the fortunes of our county’s leading businesses.” The listing is sponsored by local firm Pattersons Commercial Law. Rik Pancholi, managing director of the company, said: “As a corporate and commercial law firm, we’ve always been about supporting businesses, their owners and their management teams. When the opportunity came up to sponsor the Top 200 list, we realised that many of our clients are on the list and the recognition these great local businesses deserve should be celebrated in the best possible way. We want to celebrate their success. “The list really does recognise the efforts of those entrepreneurs and fantastic executives for their efforts in creating employment, supporting local businesses and strengthening the economy. It also provides a great source of inspiration to those entrepreneurs looking to create or grow their businesses, because every large business started as just an idea.” The team at Leicester Castle Business School also compiles the annual East Midlands Top 500 Businesses index which returns this spring and will be published in Real Entrepreneurs Magazine.

FOREWORD GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS

PROFESSOR DAVID RAE

EDITOR, EAST MIDLANDS TOP 500 COMPANIES

It’s good to be back! The Leicestershire Top 200 Companies index took a break in 2021 because of the pandemic and lockdown (though the list was produced, as it is essential for the East Midlands Top 500 Companies, it was not published). So it is good to see it returning in 2022 and showing the fortunes of the best of Leicestershire-based businesses in the year to June 2020.

This year, we said congratulations and farewell to Dr Rachel English who has taken up a new post at the University of Leicester. We thank Rachel for her many wise contributions to both the Top 200 and Top 500, which we developed together. From this year, Linda Hickson, Head of Department of Accounting and Finance at Leicester Castle Business School, now leads on the Leicestershire Top 200 Companies and you can read her report in this issue.

And you are also reading this in Niche Magazine! We are very pleased to welcome Niche Magazine and Cross Productions as a complementary media partner to Reach Media and BusinessLive. Publishing in Niche Magazine brings the Leicestershire Top 200 report to a wider readership in a high-quality printed magazine for a longer period. Cross Productions is keen to support the Top 200 in this way, and we can also reveal that their new periodical, Real Entrepreneurs Magazine, will be carrying the East Midlands Top 500 Companies 2022 report this summer.

So its back to business, only better. Iam delighted to have contributed to the annual list of the Top 200 companies in Leicestershire having taken over the privilege from a colleague, Rachel English, who has been involved for many years. It is an honour to be associated with this and to be involved in its first partnership with Niche Magazine and Cross Productions. Leicestershire is an exciting region and I know that the Top 200 will continue to be seen as a celebration of local businesses and their successes for many years to come.

The list is compiled using data that is comparable with that of previous years. The 2021 rankings are composed using the total turnover for the year-end falling between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020. The pandemic and Brexit will have affected many of the companies included in this list, and will no doubt have contributed to many of the changes in ranking, but it is a positive sign that our region’s businesses are continuing to thrive and grow. This is rightly celebrated in the publication of this list.

There was little movement amongst the top 20 companies with only one company, Drive Holdings 2015 Limited, breaking into this section of the list in 19th position. Ten of the top 20 ranked companies increased their turnover, with eleven of them increasing employees. This is extremely promising in a highly unpredictable business environment.

This is just a snapshot of the fascinating data available and I hope that the partnership between Leicester Castle Business School and Niche Magazine and Cross Productions will be able to develop much greater insight into our regional industries, and the companies contributing to them, in future years.

LINDA HICKSON

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE, LEICESTER CASTLE BUSINESS SCHOOL

95 of the 164 companies that have remained in the list from last year have shown an increase in revenue with a number of companies increasing their revenue by 50%