A WREXHAM company has been ranked as being among those with the fastest-growing profits over the last three years.

Published this weekend, the 22nd annual Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 league table ranks Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing profits over their last three years – largely before the coronavirus pandemic.

Five companies headquartered in Wales - including the award-winning Moneypenny in Wrexham - have won places on the league table, all of which are new entrants.

These star performers have grown their operating profits by an average of 85% a year over the last three years to a total of £29m, and together they employ more than 1,250 people.

One of the top-ranked companies on the league table is Moneypenny. Based in Wrexham, the outsourced communications provider handles more than 20m calls and webchats a year for 21,000 businesses across the UK and US.

Its latest innovations have helped clients deal with remote working.

Led by group chief executive Joanna Swash, annualised profits hit £7m in 2019.

Also on the list is Caerphilly-based Direct Healthcare Group. It makes equipment for the NHS to aid patient mobility and comfort, such as pressure-relieving mattresses. At the start of the pandemic it secured five months’ worth of orders in just two weeks, supplying the new NHS Nightingale hospitals. Its profits rose by 133% a year to an annualised £7.1m in 2020, on annualised sales of £61.7m.

The companies in Wales appear alongside well-known British brands based across the UK including Thatchers Cider, the Somerset cider-maker, and Brompton, the London-based bicycle manufacturer.

Past star alumni include Dyson, which featured in 2000 with profits of £24m, and saw these rise to £711m in 2019, and global technology platform THG, which ranked No 1 in 2014, with profits of £11m; it floated last year valued at £5.4bn and is now worth £6.5bn.

The Profit Track 100 league table is sponsored by BDO, Santander and UBS Wealth Management, and is compiled by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events firm.

Paul Falvey, tax partner at BDO, commented: “These ambitious, entrepreneurially-spirited businesses punch well above their weight and are vital for the UK economy; they invest and this investment also creates jobs. As the vaccine programme continues to be rolled out and lockdown restrictions are eased, high-growth businesses like these must have adequate support.

"We are pleased to see the range of business support measures in this year’s Budget.

"Developing and strengthening our innovation-focused economy is crucial and these businesses will play a key role in the UK’s wider economic recovery post-pandemic.”