We believe in a model of growth based on doing better, not just using more.
About Us
Adam Gale
Editor, Growth Index
We have been champions of growth from the outset. The founder of Growth Index, Orlando Martins, also founded executive search and growth architecture agency, ORESA, specialising in accelerating growth for clients.
Given the turmoil of the last few years and the absolute necessity of economic growth to solve some of society’s greatest problems, Orlando decided it has never been more important to highlight the change-making potential of the UK business world.
The time was right for a new, independent list that would measure and highlight the UK’s amazing growth stories, and Growth Index was born.
With so many encouraging stories of growing businesses, it is my privilege to promote the successful leaders of this year’s winning cohort equally; alongside all those others striving to make this economy the world’s most growth-friendly.
Andy Higginson
Growth Index Advisory Chair
Why Growth Matters
It’s not always popular to say you believe in growth. With many questioning the ethical and sustainable aspects of capitalism, there are some valid concerns around hollowing labour markets, excessive consumption and over-concentration of wealth. Yet economic growth has facilitated radical improvement in the quality of life for billions. So how can we grow in a sustainable way, which is centred around doing better, not just doing more?
Methodology
The Growth-Index of the top 100 UK’s fastest growing businesses is calculated through rigorous, impartial analysis of financial data. Companies are ranked by compound annual growth of revenue over two years, with at least £5m in latest sales and minimum base year sales of £100,000.
Meet the team behind Growth Index
We are proud to work with an extraordinary team of experts and analysts who work tirelessly to bring Growth Index to you. We are a people-first oriented business, and with our background in executive search, we know what exceptional looks like and we do our best to nurture it.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Growth Index is a ranking of the fastest growing companies in the UK based on a rigorous financial analysis of the compound annual growth of 32,000 companies. It is an opportunity for the CEOs & Founders of those companies to tell their stories and share their lessons of growth. A celebration of the growth mindset and the success it drives in every corner of the country and recognition of the leadership talent that enables it.
The Growth Index is a wholly owned subsidiary of ORESA Limited, an established strategy and executive search practice. As architects and champions of growth, ORESA’s leadership team felt it was time for an independent list that would measure and highlight the amazing stories of growth in the UK.
GX has used its internal analysts under the supervision of an ex Fast Track senior analyst to run the numerical analysis. To complement this they have used ORESA’s business analysis function to corroborate and extract further non numerical data. ORESA have 14 years of experience in running strategy and analysis assignment for clients.
All data was collected from Companies House using the Market IQ data platform in November 2024. We also reached out to every company on the list to confirm the financials we collected. Because it is the inaugural year, we didn’t have any companies nominate themselves – so we complemented by locating companies on other lists that have filed at least 2 years of accounts from which we can measure 3 years of sales figures.
Companies must be registered in the UK and meet the methodology requirements. They can also be quoted companies on UK and non-UK stock exchanges.
Our ranking is based on Companies House data using the Market IQ platform in November 2024. GX publishes a ranking of the top 100 companies which includes the name of the company, the 2 year CAGR, the latest sales and the latest account that was filed. We do not publish profit details.
We have excluded pure trading companies like ones that trade in electricity, and we have excluded professional services and property development. We did this because in some cases the growth generated by these companies is inflated by accounting practices as is sometimes the case with temp recruiters who would put the salary of their candidates on their books before paying out the salary. In the case of trading companies these are not supplying a product or service, they are simply trading electricity between energy companies. In the case of property development, there are large spikes in growth over time where projects have been completed which isn’t representative of the long-term growth of the company.
Our analysis revealed an overrepresentation of travel, hospitality, and leisure businesses within this year’s data. This trend largely reflects the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these sectors. To ensure a balanced and diverse list, we prioritised companies demonstrating sustained growth trajectories. Where possible, we contextualised growth across a longer timeframe to mitigate the influence of pandemic-related surges.
We also didn’t include charities, not for profits, CIC, PE/VC or any other funds, and asset managers.
