Luxury boat builder Princess Yachts has sailed further up the list of the UK’s biggest mid-market companies after seeing profits triple in just a year.
The Plymouth-based manufacturer’s profits have jumped from £11million to £29.8million, on sales of £340.3million, catapulting it 38 places up the annual Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250 league table.
The company has now docked at number 49 in the list just four years after it fell out entirely following a slump in sales.
But now it is certainly setting a course for success and is now the mid-market growth company with the highest profits in the entire South West.
Princess Yachts is 98.5% owned by L Catterton and employs 2,865 people. It has a “diverse” sales base, with 25% of its boats, which can fetch up to £20million, going to the Americas, 25% to the Middle East and Asia, 35% to Europe, mainly the EU, and just 15% to the UK.
The Stonehouse-headquartered company has been celebrating the most successful year in its 54 year history with forward orders worth £700million, stretching through 2020.
Princess Yachts’ exceptional figures were based on a combination of strong sales at the industry’s three biggest global boat shows – Cannes, Fort Lauderdale and Düsseldorf and the year began in buoyant form with strong orders secured at the 2019 Düsseldorf Boat Show in January 2019.
The list, which ranks Britain’s private mid-market growth companies with the biggest sales, is published for the 15 time on Sunday, October 6.
Three entrants from the region are appearing on the league table for the first time, including car dealer Cotswold Motor Group; timber merchant International Plywood; and Exeter-based car rental company Thrifty, which grew sales 12% to £116.1million last year. Two other firms - taylor Maxwell and Numatic International - have re-entered.
But Cornwall’s St Austell Brewery, which has four Plymouth pubs and Barbican coffee outlet, falls out of the top 250, after appearing at number 173 in 2018, when it had risen two places on profits of £13million and sales of £169million.
The nine companies in the list which are headquartered in South West, the same number as in 2018, have made a strong contribution to the regional economy.
The companies increased combined sales 23% to £2billion and operating profits 39% to £132million, and they employ more than 6,000 people combined.
They appear in the list alongside businesses from around the UK, including chic footwear brand Dr Martens, fashion chain Fat Face, PureGym and David Lloyd Leisure.
The Top Track 250 is sponsored by Grant Thornton and Lloyds Banking Group, and compiled by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events firm.
Tim Lincoln, partner at Grant Thornton UK LLP, the title sponsor of the league table, praised the companies for their performance.
He said: “Whilst the headwinds of political and economic uncertainty have been a consistent feature of the UK economy over the past year, mid-market firms have continued to prove their resilience.
“They’ve demonstrated their adaptability to uncertain times and found opportunities for growth, both at home and abroad.”
