South Wales’ top 200 privately-owned businesses are going from strength to strength despite recent economic challenges. A new study from Grant Thornton suggests the firms have increased overall turnover by 19% to reach £11 billion.
Lying west of the Bristol Channel, South Wales is a region of the UK which contains the Welsh capital Cardiff, and Swansea. Grant Thornton UK’s South Wales Limited 2024 report is based on the sum of the trading results and financial information for the privately owned companies in the region, as measured by growth in reported revenue, and average earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin.
According to Grant Thornton, on top of 19.2% turnover growth to see a total of £11 billion, the total combined EBITDA of the 200 most profitable privately-owned businesses in South Wales also rose by double digits. It grew 10% on 2022, totalling £1.2 billion.
Top businesses of South Wales hit £11 billion in turnover
Jamie Roberts, Cardiff-based corporate finance partner at Grant Thornton UK, commented, “The inaugural South Wales report provides a great opportunity to shine a spotlight on the often under reported achievements of the region’s privately owned businesses that do such much to power our national economy. The impressive growth in revenue and profitability is a real testament to the creativity, resilience, and entrepreneurial spirit of the area’s businesses, which has served them well in navigating the complex economic challenges of recent years.”
That means that the 200 firms also have a key impact on employment across South Wales. They host a combined 48,899 employees at time of writing. And amid growing demand, some sectors saw particularly significant increases in their headcount during 2023, including healthcare which saw a 32% increase in employee numbers to 4,850, while real estate and construction grew its labour force by 21% to 3,170.
Leading sectors
The consumer sector in South Wales contributed the highest proportion of overall revenue compared to any other single sector. It achieved a total turnover of £4.4 billion, which represents a 16% increase on the previous year. At the same time, despite difficult trading conditions, the sector’s aggregate profit for the year grew by 9% to £311 million.
And South Wales is still living up to its proud industrial heritage too – even if it is less centred on coal, manufacturing and heavy industry than it once was. The industrials sector is the second largest sector by revenue in 2023, with a 17% increase in turnover from 2022 to just under £2 billion.
According to Roberts, this success helps explain why South Wales was less impacted by the global M&A slowdown of last year. Thanks to the driving force of South Wales, the country continued to experience robust deal volumes, while private equity activity “remains strong and corporate acquirers are eager to expand here” – especially across a wide range of sectors, including business support services, technology, healthcare.
He concluded, “South Wales has sustained its position as an attractive investment destination for a number of reasons. Alongside the strength of its business community, the region is supported by the recent launch of the Cardiff Capital Region Innovation Fund, the British Business Bank’s Investment Fund for Wales, the presence of the Development Bank of Wales and a range of private equity firms with established bases in Wales such as BGF, LDC, and Foresight as well as a long established lender community. With this strong and strengthening infrastructure powering the business landscape in South Wales, we’re looking forward to seeing what will be next for South Wales.”
Sourced from Consultancy.uk