Here is the third part of our 2022 BusinessLive list of the 500 biggest businesses in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire – taking us from 200 down to number 21.
Over the past few days we have been counting down from 500 in anticipation of a Top 20 reveal at a breakfast event this morning at the Radisson Blu Hotel at East Midlands Airport. Straight after the live announcement the Top 20 will be published on BusinessLive.
Looking at the below 179 companies – covering businesses with sales of £66 million to £841 million – it is interesting how many car dealers there are, due to the inevitable high values of the products they sell.
In the past couple of years, though, the sector has had a roller-coaster ride, first with sales hit by Covid, then by supply shortages. Despite that many have benefitted from vehicle price inflation even though actual car sales are now slowing – recently suffering the second worst May in three decades.
There are also a number of big fashion businesses in the region featuring in our Top 200, including the likes of Shoe Zone, Joules, Deichmann Shoes and Paul Smith.
Leicester’s Watches of Switzerland sits just outside the Top 20, bolstered by its high value products and helped by the fact that the people who can afford to buy them continue to have more disposable income while the rest of us are struggling.
Housebuilders feature prominently, including Leicestershire’s Davidsons, Jelson and William Davis, and Miller Homes in Derbyshire. Two more huge homebuilders make it into the Top 20 – to find out who they are you will need to hold on for that list to go up.
New Derby County owner Clowes Developments features at 130, and chairman David Clowes will be hoping County are soon competing with Leicester City on and off the field, who are in 88th position.
As well as listing the Top 20 later today we will also be listing the full Top 200 on BusinessLive in the next couple of days, as a handy guide to see who’s doing what and where in the region.
The 2022 list has been compiled by researchers from the Business Schools at De Montfort, Derby and Nottingham Trent Universities, supported by East Midlands Chamber, and sponsored by Leicester property developer Bradgate Estates.
Because of the way the list is compiled it does not use the latest accounting figures published on Companies House. That means that some of the figures relate to the start of the pandemic.
However they still provide an indicator of the range and strength of businesses across the three counties.
Alexandra Charles, college head of Executive Education and Enterprise Development at the University of Derby said manufacturing in its many forms – from brickmaker Ibstock to Samworth Brothers foods and electrical component maker Otter Controls – remains a dominant force across the region.
And as it cleaned up its environmental act, she believed the sector would maintain that position.
She said: “Here in the East Midlands, we see first-hand the considerable contribution made by our manufacturing companies – the 2022 Top 500 East Midlands Business Listing identifies the manufacturing sector as employing 115,263 people, across 158 of the top 500 businesses, and generating over £20 billion in revenue.
“Manufacturing in 2022 was the largest of the six sectors in the region, contributing 22 per cent of the regions total revenue.
“With this presence comes significant responsibility. But manufacturing sector businesses are facing complex multiple challenges.
“These include: recovery from Covid; soaring energy prices, fluctuations in raw materials, the need for daily risk management, the uplift in National Insurance, the lack of skilled staff, and the effects of Brexit on trading relationships.
“However, the sector is responding energetically in these four interconnected ways: First, the sector is adopting a collaborative approach, through the launch of the expanded ‘East Midlands Manufacturing Network’ supported by East Midlands Chamber.
“Collaboration is also in abundance at the 155-acre Derby SmartParc SEGRO food manufacturing, distribution and incubation hub.
“Second, through diversification, in driving low carbon hydrogen technologies, and delivering new and advanced nuclear power as part of the Green Industrial revolution.
“The Midlands Engine Green Growth ‘Hydrogen Technologies Strategy’ shows the way to develop low-carbon hydrogen production capacity and accompanying employment.
“Rolls-Royce is developing a new Nuclear Engineering Academy alongside its plans for small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs).
“Third, accelerating digital transformation, enabling both sustainability and enhanced productivity. This is seen in the announcement of £13 million funding for the East Midlands Institute of Technology (IoT).
“Academic partners will join forces to develop the highly advanced workforce needed to lead the UK’s green and digital revolution, to support post-pandemic recovery, and its journey to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
“The Digital Transformation Accelerator project will also create and enhance skills to fill the digital skills gap, switch from manual to digital processes, and increasing long-term productivity and efficiency.
“Finally, to grow the return on investment from sustainable business practices.
“The East Midlands has the highest per capita CO2 emissions in England, a legacy from the high proportion of regional extractive and manufacturing companies.”
She said action was finally being taken to cut carbon emissions within industry which would “improve efficiency, increase resilience and reduce risks….. lower costs, drive sales and increase profits for the manufacturing companies in our region”.
She said: “These four responses – collaboration, net-zero diversification, digital and sustainable transformation, and return on sustainability investment – evidence our pride in our regional manufacturing companies and the enormous contribution they make locally, nationally and globally.
“Confronted by society’s biggest challenges, these companies continue to strengthen the UK’s industrial base, deliver sustained stable growth, transition to a net-zero economy, and build resilient workplaces and workforces for the future.”
