Revenues up, profits down for the top 150

The top 150 saw revenues increase to £88.8bn from £83.8bn last year, and £79.6bn the year previous, according to the Yorkshire Report 2013, released today by BDO.

Yorkshire’s biggest businesses also invested an extra £500m to take the total to almost £3bn in the reporting period. But operating profits fell by £140m to £4.34bn this year.

Ian Beaumont, partner and head of BDO in Yorkshire, said: “Weak consumer spending and continued uncertainty in the eurozone – still Yorkshire’s biggest overseas market – combined with squeezed margins and intensified competition, have contributed to the drop in operating profits. But there are strong signs that the region is lifting its head from the recessionary mire; we have a lot to be positive about.”

The report showed that an extra 10,000 people have been taken on in the reporting period, with a total of 480,000 now employed by the group of 150 companies.

Businesses have also increased gearing – the proportion of a company’s net debt compared with its equity capital – from 33 per cent to 38 per cent, a reversal of last year’s downward trend.

However, this figure excludes financial institutions and utility companies.

Newcomers to the list of Yorkshire’s largest 150 companies included food manufacturer Symington’s, after its acquisition of baking business Victoria Foods.

Sheffield-based Fennel Acquisition, owner of Fletchers Bakeries, has also joined the list, while in the construction and real estate sector, Sewells Group, Howarth Timber and Marshall Holdings made the top 150 for the first time, as did scrap metal exporter Van Dalen UK. The Yorkshire Report 2013 compiles its list of the region’s largest 150 businesses based on revenue.

The report also showed that women make up just 10 per cent of the boards of the largest Yorkshire businesses. But this was up from 9.3 per cent last year and the highest figure yet since the report started seven years ago.

Of the 150 companies analysed, 122 made a profit – an uplift from the 117 last year. The retail sector was the largest contributor to both revenue and profits. Food retailers Leeds-based Asda and Bradford-based Morrisons accounted for £39.5bn of the £88.8bn turnover, with other retailers contributing a further £4.5bn to the economy.

More than 20 per cent of businesses in the top 150 were manufacturers, which contributed the second largest revenue at more than £9bn. In third place – by revenue – was the construction and real estate sector. The report found that West Yorkshire is home to half of the largest companies.

Leeds is the most represented city with 28 companies in the top 150, followed by 19 companies based in Sheffield.

Meanwhile, the percentage of sales to Europe fell slightly. But the region performed better in terms of exports to the rest of the world, with the value of goods exported up by 11 per cent to £5.57bn.