The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 was an annual league table published in association with ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' newspaper in the UK. It ranks Britain's 100 private companies with the fastest-growing sales over the last three years. It is published in ''

'' each December, with a conference and awards event typically held in May, and alumni dinners during the year. The list is researched and produced by Fast Track, an Oxford-based research and networking events business. Sir Richard Branson and the

Virgin Group Virgin Group Ltd. is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by the Companies House, who class it as a holding c ...

have supported the Fast Track 100 league table since Hamish Stevenson founded Fast Track in 1997.

About Fast Track

Fast Track is a leading research and events company that has built a network of the UK's top-performing private companies, from the fastest-growing to the biggest, through its rankings in ''The Sunday Times''. Founded in 1997 by Hamish Stevenson, it now publishes seven annual league tables and brings company founders and directors together at invitation-only networking awards events and alumni dinners.

Entry criteria

Companies have to meet the criteria below to be able to enter the Fast Track 100 league table: * UK registered, unquoted, and not subsidiary * Sales of at least £250,000 in the base year of trading (latest year minus 3 years) * Sales of at least £5m in the latest year *Ten or more employees in the latest year * Operating profit of at least £500,00 in the latest year *Year-on-year sales growth in the latest year *Trading weeks in the base and latest years have to exceed 25 *Recruitment firms, payroll services providers, energy firms and media agencies are required to have gross profits of at least £5m. Sales for recruitment and payroll firms are the total amount invoiced to clients; media agencies' sales are net of advertising spend on behalf of clients Companies that do not meet all the criteria can still be considered for the Ones to Watch programme, particularly if they forecast good sales growth. Exclusions * Technology, digital media and telecoms (TMT) companies (which appear on

Tech Track 100 The Sunday Times Tech Track 100 is an annual league table published in association with The Sunday Times newspaper in the UK. It ranks Britain’s 100 private technology (TMT) companies with the fastest-growing sales over their last three years. ...

) * LLPs, pure property and financial trading companies, and companies with sales of over £500m *

Limitations

The Fast Track 100 league table is promoted as the definitive guide to the fastest growing privately held companies in the UK, with

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

describing it as "''the barometer of private company growth"'' However, the research limitations - most small private companies do not file accounts - mean that the list may not cover all fast growing private companies. Sales figures filed in accounts with

Companies House Companies House is the executive agency of the company registrars of the United Kingdom, falling under the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. All forms of companies (as permitted by the Companies Act) are i ...

also reflect a trading period ending up to ten months prior to filing. The majority of sales figures published in Fast Track 100 are more up to date than that. For instance, on the 2019 Fast Track 100 league table, 65 companies supplied Fast Track with a sales figure for their latest year of trading that was not available at Companies House; 35 companies had filed accounts, but in many instances their prior years' trading figures were not publicly available, making it impossible to calculate their sales growth over a number of years.

Notable alumni companies

Fast Track 100 is responsible for the early identification of a number of household names, including

Carphone Warehouse The Carphone Warehouse Limited was a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent Ca ...

, Boden and

Travelex Travelex is a foreign exchange company founded by Lloyd Dorfman and headquartered in Peterborough. Its main businesses are foreign currency exchange, issuing prepaid credit cards for use by travellers, supplying central banks with foreign curre ...

innocent Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience. In relation ...

and

Fever-Tree Fevertree Drinks plc, known as Fever-Tree, is a British producer of premium drink mixers, founded by Charles Rolls and Tim Warrillow in 2004. The company's name comes from its initial product, a tonic water. Their tonic was flavoured with qui ...

. The first Fast Track 100 league table in 1997 featured ARM Holdings with sales of just £17 million. It was sold to

SoftBank is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the ...

for in 2016 for £24.4 billion. More recently Fast Track 100 has tracked the progress of a new generation of private companies such as craft brewer Brewdog, beauty products retailer

Charlotte Tilbury Charlotte Tilbury MBE is a British beauty entrepreneur and makeup artist. She is the founder, chairperson, president, and chief creative officer of the makeup and skincare brand Charlotte Tilbury Beauty Ltd. Tilbury is a contributing beauty ed ...

, and gym group

PureGym PureGym Limited is a British chain of no frills health clubs based in the United Kingdom with multiple gyms around the world. The chain is headquartered in Leeds, West Yorkshire, with additional offices in London and Southampton. It is Brita ...

Latest Fast Track 100 list

The 24th annual Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 league table supplement was published on 6 December 2020 and featured companies such as BrewDog, reusable bottle brand Chilly's Bottles, fitness clothing retailer

Gymshark Gymshark is a British fitness apparel and accessories brand, manufacturer and retailer headquartered in Solihull, England. Founded in June 2012, Gymshark creates and distributes its own range of fitness wear. In 2020, the company was valued at o ...

, online jewellery brand Missoma and designer menswear retailer END.

2019 Top 100 rankings

Previous rankings

2018 Top 20 rankings

2017 Top 20 rankings

2016 Abbreviated rankings

2015 Abbreviated rankings

2013 Abbreviated rankings

2012 Abbreviated rankings

2011 Abbreviated rankings

2010 Abbreviated rankings

2009 Abbreviated rankings

2008 Abbreviated rankings

2007 Abbreviated rankings

Other Fast Track publications

Fast Track 100 is one of seven league tables of private companies produced by Fast Track and published in ''The Sunday Times'': *Fast Track 100 – ranks the UK's fastest-growing private companies based on sales (excluding TMT companies, which appear in Tech Track 100 (see below) *SME Export Track 100 – ranks the UK's SMEs with the fastest-growing international sales *

– ranks the UK's fastest-growing private technology companies based on sales (the sister table to Fast Track 100) * International Track 200 – ranks the UK's private mid-market companies with the fastest-growing overseas sales *

Profit Track 100 The Sunday Times Profit Track 100 is an annual league table published in association with The Sunday Times newspaper in the UK. It ranks Britain’s 100 private companies with the fastest-growing profits over their last three years. It is publis ...

– ranks the UK's private companies with the fastest-growing profits *

Top Track 250 The Sunday Times Top Track 250 is an annual league table published in association with ''The Sunday Times'' newspaper in the UK. It ranks Britain’s private mid-market growth companies with the biggest sales. It is published in ''The Sunday Ti ...

– ranks the UK's leading mid-market private companies based on sales and/or profits growth *

Top Track 100 This is a list of largest private companies in the United Kingdom according to sales. Under UK company law, a private company (with the suffix "Ltd" usually) may not offer its shares for sale to the public (as can a "plc"). While lists of public ...

– ranks the UK's biggest private companies based on sales

References

{{reflist Top lists The Sunday Times (UK)