Business growth in the UK can emerge from various sectors, regions, and nations, contributing to job creation, tax revenue, and overall prosperity. However, pinpointing the fastest-growing companies is a challenging task with over five million active businesses registered with Companies House.

For the third consecutive year, we have collaborated with The Sunday Times to identify and rank the top 100 fastest-growing companies in the UK. Companies were invited to self-nominate, providing their latest sales figures, many of which are not publicly available. Beauhurst’s data platform also offers insights into private companies.

The criteria for making it onto the list are clear-cut. Companies must have achieved over £5 million in sales in their latest year of trading and at least £250,000 in sales four years prior. They must employ at least five individuals and, crucially, must be profitable.

• Explore this year’s Sunday Times 100 list — including interviews, company profiles, and more.

This profitability requirement has led to the exclusion of numerous fast-growing but loss-making technology businesses, which will feature in the upcoming Sunday Times 100 Tech list.

The ranking is based on the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over a three-year period. Privately held equity companies were eligible, but subsidiaries of larger corporate groups were not. Due to complexities in measuring growth, financial management firms, property firms, and partnerships were also ineligible.

Collectively, the 100 companies on this year’s list are formidable. They generated £2.9 billion in sales last year, an increase of £2.6 billion over three years. They employ 13,670 people, creating 10,000 of those jobs in the past three years, with plans for 3,800 more. The oldest company on the list, Wilson Power Solutions (No 99), was founded in 1946, while most were established in the last decade.

The observation period for growth rates includes the tumultuous years of the Covid lockdowns. Some companies saw strong growth from a lower base, affected by reduced activity during lockdowns.

The purpose of the Sunday Times 100 ranking is to highlight growth, so nine companies that demonstrated significant recovery post-lockdown were excluded. These companies are celebrated separately as Recovery Heroes.

Notable insights from this year’s ranking include a significant representation from England, with no companies from Scotland or Wales, and only one from Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland’s business presence is proportionate at 1.65% of the UK’s active companies, but the absence of Welsh and Scottish companies is notable.

About 40 of the ranked companies have used equity investment to drive their growth, raising over £1 billion in external finance. JamJar Investments and BGF are notable for backing multiple companies on the list: JamJar funded Yoto (No 19) and Wild Cosmetics (No 23); BGF supported Scrumbles (No 45) and Akula (No 85).

Most companies featured this year are newcomers, illustrating the fleeting nature of business growth. Remarkably, 26 companies from last year’s list appear again, and three “Ones to Watch” from previous years—Rheal (No 3), Wild Cosmetics (No 23), and Moasure (No 40)—have made it to the main ranking.

Four companies have appeared in all three rankings since the list’s inception: events producer Creation (No 17), renewable energy consultancy Eden Sustainable (No 36), sports marketing agency Two Circles (No 86), and fashion and sportswear brand AYBL Group (No 100).

Henry Whorwood, managing director of Research & Consultancy at Beauhurst, and independent researcher Ying van de Walle contributed to this analysis.

Information sources include Beauhurst’s database, Times Enterprise Network journalist research, and company self-nominations. Where public accounts are unavailable, draft accounts provided by companies are used. Due to the nature of small business filings, the public data on growth companies is incomplete.

The featured companies are not officially endorsed or recommended by Beauhurst or The Sunday Times. Who should be on the 2025 list? Nominations for the next year are welcomed at thetimes.com/ST100