Inspiring Black Country companies among the fastest growing businesses in the UK

They feature in the latest list of 1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain – a selection of the brightest and the best put together by the London Stock Exchange Group.

And the West Midlands has performed particularly well, with 80 of the listed companies based in the region and growth averaging 60 per cent a year.

Xavier Rolet, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange Group, said: "Since the UK voted democratically to leave the EU, there have been plenty of warnings that the economy will suffer as a result. It is too early to see how challenging Brexit will be in the long run but so far the small and medium sized businesses that drive much of our economy have shown resilience and, as we demonstrate today, the UK – especially the West Midlands – has a real opportunity to build a new, sustainable, productive and job-creating post-Brexit economic model if it backs these dynamic entrepreneurs and businesses.

"The West Midlands region, already renowned as a pre-eminent manufacturing and engineering hub which, more recently, has begun to challenge London’s dominance in the services industry, also confirmed its reputation as the most entrepreneurial UK area outside London – with nearly 17,500 new companies created, an increase of 25 per cent on the year before.

"An example from Wolverhampton is Charter Court Financial Services, which appears in our report for the first time this year. Charter Court is a successful specialist bank that is growing rapidly and has created more than 450 jobs in a sector which is traditionally associated with the Square Mile in the City of London.

In addition to Charter Court, Wolverhampton is home to a handful of inspiring firms, including family-owned Carvers Building Supplies, chicken processors HK Foods, cardboard packaging manufacturer Onboard Corrugated and building materials group FGD.

In Dudley the list shines its spotlight on Bolt & Nut, Select Health Care, A&H Construction and Development and In Touch Games, while in Walsall it highlights Jhoots Pharmacy, waste management firm Tardis Environmental and Simco External Framing Solutions.

Also identified as 'inspiring' were car parts firm Cabauto in Tipton, Harper Group Construction in Rowley Regis, Crown House Technologies with its manufacturing centre in Oldbury, CBS Packaging in West Bromwich and NDC Polipak in Cradley Heath.

In Staffordshire it picked out financial services firm Forces Mutual, engineering firm Rudolph + Helllman Automotive, housebuilder Cameron Homes in Chasetown and AP Webb Plant Hire in Stafford.

The latest data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) found the companies on its list growing on average at 70 per cent a year, up from 50 per cent last year. More than a third of the companies came from the Midlands Engine and Northern Powerhouse areas.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said: "I want to congratulate the 1,000 companies from across the UK featured in London Stock Exchange Group’s pioneering 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain report.

"Championing high growth innovative SMEs is crucial for the continued success of the UK economy and a country that works for everyone. We are committed to ensuring that companies of all sizes can access finance to grow, scale-up and create high quality well-paid jobs across the country.”

Xavier Rolet added: "LSEG’s ‘1000 Companies to Inspire Britain’ report continues to highlight the dynamic, entrepreneurial and ambitious businesses across the country that are boosting UK productivity, driving economic growth and creating jobs.

"The strength and diversity of these companies is readily apparent with a broad mix of UK regions and sectors represented.

"These companies are the very heart of an ‘anti-fragile’ economy: more robust; more flexible and less prone to boom and bust. We must ensure we continue doing all we can to support high growth potential businesses like these."