It?s the fourth year of the Top 75, and we?ve seen plenty of changes over the period

Of today’s Top 75 companies, just 53 were in the first Top 75, published in 2005. Companies have been sold and absorbed into bigger businesses and other businesses have emerged to take their places.

Names like Lind Automotive Group, Campbell Grocery Products and East Anglian Pharmaceuticals have been acquired by larger rivals and lost their place in the table.

Central Trust, which has shot up more than 30 places since the Top 75 started.

Other companies have fared less well. Bowater Home Improvements, for example, was in 16th position in 2005 with a turnover of £179m. The company’s Norwich factory and head office were sold earlier this year after the firm hit financial difficulties, with a rump of the business, which traded as Zenith Staybrite, sold off.

Others such as KLM Engineering have seen their turnover drop so they have fallen out of the table.

In their place have come a number of new businesses, whose growth has pushed them into contention.
The tables have chartered the success of firms in a range of sectors, from financial services to food processing, from offshore to engineering.

Firms powering up the league table include Central Trust, which entered the 2005 league table in 61st position with a turnover of £50.4m and 354 staff.

In this year’s rankings it is up to 24th place, with a turnover of £112.4m and 605 staff. Last year the company, which offers loans and mortgages to customers across the UK, grew by 30pc alone.
Yarmouth-based Gardline Shipping, whose interests span boat building, marine surveying, satellite communications and security, was in 54th position in 2005 with a turnover of £54.3m and 590 staff.

This year, the business has motored ahead to notch turnover of £100.3m, a 14pc growth last year. It now employs 1029 staff and is ranked in 24th position.

Offshore services business Acteon didn’t even make the list in 2005. It entered in 32nd position in the 2006 edition of the Top 75, with a turnover of £76.7m and 440 staff. The firm had recorded a turnover growth of 99pc to achieve that position. The business has continued to grow rapidly, acquiring companies in Europe, America and the Middle East. Last month it bought a mooring business in Brazil.

Acteon has broken into the top 10 of the Top 75 for the first time this year, with turnover of £194.2m, which is a 60pc increase on the year before.

The company now has 1114 staff, with another 350 set to join through its Brazilian acquisition, and the business likely to move further up the table in future years.

Lenwade metals reprocessing business SPC is another success story. Its turnover was too small to feature in 2005, entering the list a year later in 71st position with a turnover of £43.8m and 264 staff. In this year’s table SPC is up to 31st position, with a turnover of £95.5m and staff numbers have grown to 401.

The company was last year acquired by French business Sita and could lose its position in the table next year if it is absorbed in the company’s wider operations.

Takeovers and falling sales force out companies

Grounded: KLM Engineering, whose dip in turnover has cost the company its position in the Top 75 list.

Seven firms have left the table this year: either the business has been acquired or because turnover has fallen. Meat processing giant Tulip, which was in second position in last year’s table, has been removed because the company announced the closure of its Thetford bacon packing plant and the move of its head office out of Norfolk. The moves meant the business is no longer a locally-controlled business, and so the decision was taken to exclude it from the table. Lind Automotive Group was acquired by Inchcape for £108m in 2006 from entrepreneur Graham Dacre. The business, which was in fifth position last year, has been absorbed into Inchcape’s operations and no separate figures are available, and management control has been taken away from the region, meaning it had to be dropped. Campbell Grocery Products was another company to be acquired. The King’s Lynn-based firm was bought by Premier Foods in a £450m deal and has also been absorbed into the operations of the larger company. In addition the firm’s King’s Lynn factory has been closed. Yarmouth-based transport business Frans Maas was acquired by a competitor and the management moved away from Yarmouth and the business merged, again requiring it to be dropped from the top 75 league table. Our other three leavers all drop out of the list because of falling turnover. Norwich-based property company Targetfollow is growing fast, with interests across the UK, including Centre Point in London and Dukes Wharf in Norwich. However, turnover for property companies can vary from year to year and last year the company’s turnover dropped below the level needed for entry to the Top 75, having broken into the list for the first time last year. Brandon-based Omar Homes, which had held on to 74th spot for the past two years, suffered a 16pc drop in turnover, and fell below John Martin Construction in 75th position. And Sutton Bridge potato business Solanum, which made its debut last year in 75th, was unable to hold its position in the table.