Countdown to the unveiling of region’s fastest growers

Next Tuesday, the Yorkshire Post will print the Yorkshire Fastest 50 for 2012. The list, which has been compiled in association with UK top 100 law firm Ward Hadaway, will show which privately-owned companies across Yorkshire are really setting the pace when it comes to helping to build the region’s economic recovery.

As well as listing the Yorkshire Fastest 50, we will also include brief profiles of each of the companies who have made it into the final 50.

Then next month, representatives from the businesses will gather at the Yorkshire Fastest 50 Awards ceremony, which takes place at Aspire Leeds. There, the leading companies will be revealed and awards given to the fastest growing small, medium and large companies. The event on Friday, March 16, will also crown the overall fastest-growing company in Yorkshire.

The Yorkshire Fastest 50 rewards privately-owned profit-making companies and organisations which have shown the strongest sales growth over recent years. It has been developed in partnership with law firm Ward Hadaway.

Martin Hulls, Ward Hadaway Leeds office senior partner, said: “We launched the Yorkshire Fastest 50 with the Yorkshire Post because we want to highlight and celebrate the terrific work of companies right across the region and bring their achievements to a wider audience. As well as championing individual success, we hope that the Fastest 50 will also help to create a genuine insight into the dynamism and vibrancy of the commercial world in Yorkshire and a valuable snapshot of the sectors and industries enjoying the greatest expansion.”

Research carried out by Bradford University School of Management has been used to put together the Yorkshire Fastest 50 2012. Figures from a company’s previous three years of accounts are analysed and then an average annual growth figure produced for each of the businesses. To be eligible, companies need to be privately owned rather than plcs, to have an annual turnover of at least £1m and to have made a profit for each of the previous three years.