Three Swindon firms have been included in a prestigious league table of the UK’s fast-growing privately owned businesses.
Car dealers Dick Lovett and Fish Brothers and retailer Oak Furniture Land will appear in the 12th annual Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250 this weekend. 
The league table ranks Britain’s private mid-market growth companies with the biggest sales. But it is also viewed as a key measurement of the strength of the UK economy.
The three Swindon firms on the table rub shoulders with iconic brand names such as Arsenal, Barbour, Dr Martens, Nando’s, Skyscanner and Wagamama.
Dick Lovett, which launched in 1966 and now owns dealerships along the M4, has appeared in the table almost every year for the past 12 years.
This year its continued strong growth has accelerated it up the rankings from 58 last time to 28. Last year the business, which employs 619 staff, clocked up sales of £402m on which made profits of £10m.
The group is led by chairman and 100% shareholder Peter Lovett – son of its founder. It sells and services car marques such as Porsche, BMW, Mini and Ferrari in Swindon and also owns outlets in Bristol, Hungerford, Cardiff and Tewkesbury.
Three years ago it appeared in the table at 89th place with annual sales of £279m and profits of £5.7m.
Long-time rival Fish Brothers – another high-profile family-owned Swindon car dealer group – appears in the table for the first time at number 210.
The firm, owned 50-50 by Mike and Tim Fish, achieved sales of £133m last year, on which it made £3m profit.
It employs 244 staff across its showrooms, which sells marques such as Honda, Kia, Lexus, Nissan, Peugeot, Toyota and Skoda. It also sells commercial vehicles and used cars.
Oak Furniture Land, based at South Marston, leaps up the rankings from 163 last year to 81. In the year to September 2015 it achieved sale of £239, making £7m in profits.
The firm, 100% owned by founder and managing director Jason Bannister, regularly appears in fast-growth tables – last December it became the only company to appear in the annual Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 for a fifth time.
It supplies its string of 60-plus UK showrooms from its 500,000 sq ft head office and distribution centre at South Marston. The firm employs just under 1,000 staff.
Jason Bannister initially set up the firm to sell imported furniture on eBay. It expanded into a major online business selling through its own website before bucking the retail trend and opening its own stores, backed by extensive TV advertising.
Over its 12 years, a number of top brands and household names have been recognised in the Top Track 250 before graduating to the Top Track 100, which charts the growth of larger businesses.
Among them was Malmesbury-based appliance manufacturer Dyson which featured in the first Top Track 250 in 2005 with sales of £277.3m, and this year featured on Top Track 100 with sales of £1.7bn.
The league table and awards programme is sponsored by Grant Thornton, and compiled for the 12th year by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events company.
Grant Thornton UK partner Tim Lincoln said: “In the wake of the EU referendum it is more important than ever that businesses, and the public and the third sectors work together to help the UK to build on its strengths and ensure that the economy continues to grow.
“I am heartened to see how these businesses are embracing a collaborative approach to drive prosperity throughout the UK and wider society.”
The full league table will be published as an eight-page broadsheet supplement with the business section of The Sunday Times this weekend, both in print and in the digital edition, and on www.fasttrack.co.uk
