Yorkshire goes in search of growth industries

Launched by the Yorkshire Post with top 100 UK law firm Ward Hadaway, the Yorkshire Fastest 50 is an award scheme which aims to champion the region's high-achieving private sector companies.

The top 50 profit-making businesses with the largest annual growth in their turnover will appear in a special list to be published in the Yorkshire Post.

Awards will then be handed out to the fastest-growing small, medium and large businesses at an awards ceremony in March with one of those three winners then receiving the ultimate accolade of being crowned Yorkshire's overall fastest-growing business.

The awards were launched in the Yorkshire Post last week and independent economic researchers are now finalising the Yorkshire Fastest 50 using publicly available information from Companies House.

In the next few days, provisional members of the Yorkshire Fastest 50 will be receiving letters congratulating them on their success and detailing the verification process for the awards.

The Yorkshire Fastest 50 has been developed in partnership with law firm Ward Hadaway, which has seen its operation in Leeds expand quickly since it was established in 2008.

Martin Hulls, senior partner at Ward Hadaway Leeds, said: "We see the Yorkshire Fastest 50 as a great way to celebrate the terrific work being done by businesses right across the region and to shine a light on Yorkshire's commercial success stories.

"By highlighting these achievements, we hope the Yorkshire Fastest 50 will demonstrate to the region and to the country as a whole that this is a great place for businesses to grow and succeed.

"It is also a chance for Ward Hadaway as a firm to demonstrate our commitment to Yorkshire and to thank the region's business community for the warm welcome which we have received since we came here in 2008."

In-depth research is being used to put together the Yorkshire Fastest 50 with challenging criteria deployed to create the final list.

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 1mand to have made a profit for each of the previous three years. Businesses must also be locally owned in Yorkshire or, for foreign-owned businesses, have local control. Companies are selected for inclusion based on accounts sent to Companies House rather than applying to be on the list.

Martin Hulls explained: "These are exacting criteria, especially bearing in mind the challenging economy, but we felt it was important that the Yorkshire Fastest 50 represented a real 'gold standard' in business achievement.

"The fact that the list is based on more than one year's figures also means that those companies which make it into the Yorkshire Fastest 50 have a real track record of excellence in their fields."

Each company which makes it into the Yorkshire Fastest 50 will be invited to attend the Yorkshire Fastest 50 awards, which take place in March. The event will be introduced by Yorkshire Post editor Peter Charlton and will also feature a special guest speaker.

Ward Hadaway Fact File

Ward Hadaway is one of the UK's top 100 law firms with offices in Leeds, Newcastle and Manchester. The firm was formed in 1988 and has achieved strong annual growth since then. It is among the top-ranked law firms in the UK according to independent legal directory Chambers & Partners with nationally recognised experts across a range of sectors.

Ward Hadaway opened its Leeds office in June 2008 and the operation is now home to more than 30 lawyers, including 14 partners, and provides legal services in areas including banking and finance, corporate and commercial work, property, EU and competition issues, employment, construction, property litigation and the public sector.