Mid-Size Businesses in Surrey and Sussex Continue to perform well in spite of Brexit’s Shadow

The best-performing companies in the mid-size range are growing fast in Surrey and Sussex. This comes despite the problems and uncertainties brought about by the Brexit negotiations. The same data was provided by BDO, a business advisory and accountancy firm from this region. The figures shown in the report are substantially different than those results in other parts of the country.

Here, only 4 percent of businesses have stated they are feeling more confident in the post-election 100 days. The top 20 businesses in each county provided a report that showed a combined growth of sales of 43 percent in Sussex. In Surrey, the same growth was at 32 percent during the previous year. Combined, they provide work to over 8,000 employees and also generate a revenue that exceeds 2 billion.

Giggling Restaurants Ltd is Surrey’s top spot and it saw a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) in revenue over the previous three years measuring 61 percent. This is even more impressive with the fact that the restaurant chain is a new addition to the top 20 businesses. Sussex’s number one position in occupied for the second year in a row by the Envision Pharma Company. It showed a CAGR of over 52 percent in revenues.

BDO produces the Best in Business ranking which shows the top 20 companies by annual sales growth spanning over the last three accounting time periods. Last year’s research showed that only half of these top business kept their performance. But, it also showed a lot of volatility in the group of the highest performers. Businesses operating in IT and construction continued to show the fastest growth, but other sectors did well. The vibrant mix of different businesses in the top 20 league table shows the same trend. In Surrey, location is not an important factor being that these businesses are fairly evenly distributed across the county.

In Sussex, the majority of the top businesses are based in the county’s key business locations of Horsham, Brighton & Hove and Crawley. Additional research by BDO points that businesses in Sussex and Surrey are resisting the trend which shows that on a national level almost two-thirds of the mid-sized businesses report a drop in confidence when it comes to their growth. For 58 percent, Brexit is still the key concern, especially in regards to the negation with the EU and the clarity of the process.

The same percentage would like the policymakers and the government to focus on this issue. BDO also took the opportunity to call on the government not to take this resilience of the mid-sized companies in the region for granted. Instead, they should try to offer a friendlier environment for business ventures.

Kevin Cook, BDO’s partner, stated that the region has a huge base of aspirational and entrepreneurial businesses. The Best in Business ranking desires to recognize them and also celebrate the success they achieve, but also to initiate a dialogue to increase awareness about the challenges these businesses face. According to him, it is important to find ways how these challenges can be overcome with a unified approach which combines all relevant parties.

from The Fetcham Residents Association http://fetchamresidentsassociation.org/mid-size-businesses-in-surrey-and-sussex-continue-to-perform-well-in-spite-of-brexits-shadow/