Brechin recruitment firm tops fastest-growing companies list

Join Talent, a remote-working outsourced recruitment firm based in Brechin, is Britain’s fastest-growing private company, according to the second annual Sunday Times rankings.

Founded by Katrina Hutchinson O’Neill, 45, in 2018 after a career in large companies, Join Talent made £17.5m in sales in 2022 - a 304% a year increase since 2019.

The talent acquisition business has more than 250 team members, located across 21 countries, and plans to double again in size over the next two years.

Britain’s top 20 fastest-growing companies:

	Company name	Description	Headquarters	Sales in latest year (2023/22)	Compound annual growth rate
1	Join Talent	Outsourced recruitment specialist	Brechin, Scotland	£17.5m*	303.98%
2	Castore	Sportswear brand	Manchester	£115m*	285.80%
3	Bayford	Energy, property and hospitality operator	West Yorkshire	£194.6m	268.02%
4	TRIP	CBD infused drinks brand	London	£14.4m*	263.09%
5	Au Vodka	Vodka brand	Swansea	£54m*	236.96%
6	Sintela	Remote sensors developer	Bristol	£10.4m*	231.40%
7	Atlas Commodities	Metals recycling	Hertfordshire	£175.1m	223.22%
8	Chāmpo	Hair Care brand	London	£8.9m*	217.33%
9	Passenger Clothing	Outdoor clothing brand	Hampshire	£18.6m*	205.28%
10	Freemarket	Cross-border payments provider	London	£18.8m*	201.07%
11	LYMA Life	Beauty and wellness brand	London	£23.2m*	199.40%
12	Scrumbles	Pet food producer	London	£8.3m*	190.83%
13	NextWave Consulting	IT consultancy	London	£6.5m*	187.75%
14	SDM Fuel Solutions	Fuel supplier	Hampshire	£6.1m*	174.98%
15	AYBL Group	Sportswear and fashion brands	Redditch	£29.9m*	169.37%
16	Health Partners	Healthcare services provider	East Sussex	£53.4m	153.63%
17	Fredward	Management consultancy	London	£8.7m*	148.12%
18	Ooni	Pizza oven maker	Edinburgh	£208.0m*	147.52%
19	Luxtripper	Tour operator	London	£27.9m*	144.87%
20	Power Sheds	Garden building manufacturer	Bradford	£15.5m*	144.20%

The research for the Sunday Times 100 found on average the top 100 fastest-growing companies have increased their sales by 104% a year over the last three years to a combined £3.2bn in sales.

In total, these companies employ 15,160 people, having created 10,500 new jobs in the last three years, with 95 of them planning further hires in the next 12 months - equating to around 4,750 additional jobs.

Out of the 100 companies featured in the ranking, just over a third (39) are based in London, with the rest spread through-out the country.

A record 28 of the businesses have female founders or co-founders, while almost three quarters (71) being founded in just the last decade.

Two fifths of the top 100 fastest-growing companies have raised £190m of external equity investment across 130 rounds, and two thirds trade internationally.

The research was conducted in partnership with Beauhurst, with entry criteria stating they must be:

• Independent, privately-owned and UK-headquartered companies.

• Sales must exceed £5m in their latest year of trading.

• Have four years of accounts, with sales growth measured by compound annual growth rate over the latest three financial years; annualised sales should exceed £250,000 in the base year, and not show a drop from the penultimate to the latest year.

• Companies should be in profit (operating) in their latest year.

• Recruitment, energy and media firms must show gross profits of at least £5m in their latest accounts.

• Excluded companies include pure property developers, financial trading and money management companies, LLPs and firms with turnover of more than £250m.

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