Ulster Business List Shows Sales Increase For Our SMEs In 2018

Northern Ireland’s leading small and medium-sized businesses have seen an 8.5% surge in sales in the last year, according to Ulster Business.

The figures are included in the Next 200 – a showcase of SMEs based across Northern Ireland, sponsored by Openreach. It’s published in the April edition of BusinessTelegraph sister publication Ulster Business.

It follows directly on from Ulster Business’s Top 100 Northern Ireland Companies list, ranking firms based on turnover from the latest filed accounts to Companies House, with data provided by Dun & Bradstreet.

Turnover growth has surged among the businesses this year, adding up to £8.3bn across the 200, with this list of companies increasing turnover by 8.5%, year-on-year.

John Lavery of Grant Thornton, who helped analyse and compile the list, said: “The Next 200 is a fascinating insight into Northern Ireland business.

“The list is a broad mix of household names and less well-known companies that are delivering over £8bn in turnover and employment for more than 26,000 people.

“These firms are the life blood of the Northern Ireland economy, operating across the whole of Northern Ireland and across a broad range of sectors.

“The combined turnover of this group of firms is 8.5% higher than a year previous.

“This performance is all the more impressive when we think of the Northern Ireland economy as a whole, where aggregate turnover across all companies declined.

“With the pace of growth from some of the companies within the Next 200, it will not be long before they are knocking on the door of the Ulster Business Top 100 Northern Ireland Companies list.”

Ulster Business editor John Mulgrew said: “The Next 200 highlights the range of companies that operate across Northern Ireland, from the very familiar brand names to businesses which operate below the radar.

“But they all play a very important part in the economy here, employing anywhere between a handful of staff, to hundreds and into four figures.”

Some of the largest increases in turnover included Fermanagh firm Ready Egg Products, rising from £42.5m to £64.4m, based on company accounts.

Turnover at recycling business RiverRidge rose from £34.5m to £49.9m.

Source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk