Swindon car dealer Dick Lovett group has returned to a high-profile annual publication that identifies the UK’s leading mid-sized private companies after missing out last year.
The family-owned business, which launched in 1966 and now owns dealerships along the M4, has appeared in the Sunday Times Top Track 250 in seven of the past nine years. 
It missed out last year but returns for the 2013 table at number 89 having achieved a 27% increase in annual profits to £5.7m in 2012 on sales up 9% at £279m.
The group, led by chairman Peter Lovett – son of its founder – sells and services car marques such as Porsche, BMW, Mini and Ferrari in Swindon. It also owns outlets in Bristol, Hungerford and Cardiff and has plans for a new Porsche dealership in Tewkesbury. It employs 483 staff.
The Top Track 250, sponsored by accountants Grant Thornton and banking group Barclays, also includes Lacock-based egg producer Stonegate. The group, which started as a small farmers’ cooperative in Sussex, appears at number 244, having achieved a 306% jump in profits to £5.1m on sales up 7% at £131.1m.
The business, owned and run by chairman Richard Corbett, 60, and his wife Pamela, 64, works with 250 egg products across the UK. Its brands include Big and British and it recently launched a boiled egg snack pack under its niche brand the Original Egg Company. The company is 443 staff.
The businesses feature on the league table alongside national household names such as Boden, Nando’s, Selfridges, Virgin Active and Warburtons. Despite the economy, the companies on the table all increased sales or profits by at least 10% year-on-year.
