UNIT ENGINEERS & CONSTRUCTORS IS THE FASTEST GROWING FIRM IN WALES

Since 2009, the Wales Fast Growth 50 has been a barometer for the state of entrepreneurial firms within the Welsh economy. So what has been the performance of this year's winners?

In 2008, the total turnover of all fifty firms was £565 million as compared to £273 million in 2006. Therefore, the companies have collectively generated £292 million of additional sales in two years at an average growth rate of 107 per cent.

During previous years, we have seen smaller companies grow quickly over the period of assessment, but the 2009 Fast Growth 50 list is one which has been driven by medium-sized businesses, with a quarter of the firms achieving a turnover of greater than £10 million in 2008. This group are exactly the type of companies that the Welsh economy needs if it is to have a sustainable economic future. Given that Finance Wales has recently expressed its desire to support companies of this size, many will hope that Wales' publicly owned business bank lives up to this promise and provide these Fast Growth 50 firms with the funding they need.

However, whilst medium-sized firms have grown, one mustn't forget that two thirds of this year's Fast Growth 50 firms had an annual turnover of between £1 and £10 million in 2008, and are the type of companies which government programmes such as FS4B could and should be supporting to enable them to grow further to become medium sized firms.

As in the previous ten years of the list, Fast Growth 50 firms have created employment at a time when the economy was at the edge of recession.

In the period 2006-2008, the fifty companies will have created around 1900 new jobs, doubling their workforce. If we take this in context of the entire Welsh economy, government statistics show that number of people employed in the private sector in Wales increased by around 12,000 people in the period 2006-2008. Therefore, this year's Fast Growth 50 has been responsible for around 15 per cent of all new private sector jobs in Wales during this two year period, a remarkable achievement that shows the importance of supporting indigenous businesses during a recession.

Geographically, Cardiff again dominates this list with a record twenty firms emerging from the capital city. There are three firms in each of the other urban areas of Swansea, Wrexham and Newport, although Bridgend is quickly becoming a 'hot spot' with five growth companies on this year's list. As in 2009, the majority of the firms are to be found outside of the poorest areas of Wales. Seven firms are to be found in North Wales with only one - Dulas - located in Mid-Wales. Pembrokeshire has three fast growth firms (with two in the top five), although five Convergence counties - Anglesey, Conwy, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot and Blaenau Gwent - have no fast growth businesses in 2009.

Many believe that growth can only happen within the first few years of a business although the average age of this year's companies is 12.5 years old, with the oldest, at 56 years, being Gill's Cruises of Cardiff, which has achieved a growth rate of 136.5 % in the period 2006-2008.

During the last eleven years, businesses from every imaginable sector have appeared on the fast Growth 50 list showing that, contrary to current government policy thinking, growth can occur in almost any type of business.

The largest group in this year's list is the creative and knowledge-based sector, reflecting the growing strength of this industry in Wales, and is made up of television companies, IT and telecommunications firms, a semiconductor business and a clinical trials specialist. Another important sector, despite the recession, is construction and building services which includes roofing specialists, care home builders, building services contractors, electrical contractors, ventilation specialists, plumbing services and specialists in concrete construction.

Yet again, the business to business sector shows its importance to the Welsh economy, as it has on every single fast growth 50 list since 1999 with nine businesses in areas such as electrical contracting, print management, environmental services, workplace services provision, facilities management, timber distribution and water cooler supply.

In financial and business services, four sectors are represented on this year's list namely PR and marketing, recruitment, insurance and training, whilst in consumer and retail services, we find companies such operating in selling coffee, holiday cruises, kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms, learning for autistic young people, expeditions and adventure activities, and specialist car leasing.

Despite enormous pressures, the indigenous manufacturing and engineering sector in Wales continues to make an impact in areas as diverse as manufacture of catalytic converters, jewellery manufacture, renewable energy, manufacture of packaging materials, aircraft ground support equipment manufacture and oil industry engineering.

Every year, competition for places on the list becomes more intensive and, this year is no exception, with twenty one of the companies being completely new entrants to the Fast Growth 50 listings. Three fast growth 50 firms - Dez Rez, G.D. Environmental Services and T.B. Davies - return to the list for a third time in a row and Boomerang + appears for the fourth year in succession.

This year, there is only one firm which is the leading light in terms of sustainable growth, namely Freshwater PLC. Since first appearing in 2004, this marketing and PR specialist has appeared on six successive lists, expanding from a turnover of £268,000 in 2001 to just under £10 million in 2008.

Finally, congratulations to Bill Ledwood (above) and his staff at Unit Engineers and Constructors Ltd for their success in becoming the fastest growing firm in Wales in 2009.

Since starting in 2004, this Pembrokeshire-based company has grown to a turnover of over £17 million in 2008 and demonstrates that an engineering firm based out in west Wales can be enormously successful with the right team and a quality product that is delivered on time and within budget.