More than half of the Scottish firms in a league table of the UK’s top 100 fastest-growing mid-sized companies are based in the north.
And in a reflection of changing times in the north-east economy, only one of the three companies from Aberdeen city and shire on the list is directly involved in the oil and gas industry.
The Investec Mid-Market 100 ranks active, UK-registered companies on their four-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of turnover.
Companies must be profitable throughout the four-year period, with turnover for the first 12 months exceeding £1million.
Final year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and turnover must be at least £1million and £10million respectively.
The top 100 is led by an Edinburgh-based financial services firm, Kiltearn Partners, with an average CAGR of 209% and final year revenue of £36.2million.
It is far ahead of the 59% CAGR average for the whole of the UK and comfortably ahead of the second company on the biannual list, GreenTech Distribution, a Buckinghamshire-based mobile technology distribution firm with a growth rate of 143%.
Ellon-based brewer BrewDog and letting agency PH Properties, of Elgin, are ranked second and third respectively among a seven-strong Scottish contingent in the top 100.
BrewDog’s 61% CAGR delivered final year revenue of £44.7million, while PH Properties’ 51% growth gave it £16.6million.
Aberdeen firm Signature Pubs – the bar, hotel and restaurant business owned by brothers Garreth and Nicholas Wood – is ranked fifth among the Scottish firms, thanks to a 49% CAGR and final year revenue of £11.9million.
In sixth place north of the border is Granite City-based oil and gas industry drilling instrument manufacturer Intercede (Scotland), trading as EFC Group, with a 43% CAGR and final year revenue of £34.1million.
Ed Cottrell, head of corporate lending at financial services group Investec, said: “The Mid-Market 100 has become an important measure of how this vital sector of the economy is performing.
“Growth is now spread across all regions and Scotland’s success in the current ranking, with some of the best-known names on the list, shows how important the country is to the broader UK economy.
“These fast-growing and innovative businesses are exactly the sort of companies we need to keep the economy expanding as the Brexit negotiations continue.”
