Countdown is on to this year’s Manchester Fastest 50 Awards

The countdown has begun to the definitive list of the region’s fastest-growing, privately-owned companies as we launch the Ward Hadaway Greater Manchester Fastest 50 Awards for 2019.

The Fastest 50, devised by Ward Hadaway and backed for the very first time by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and University of Salford Business School, recognises the outstanding achievements of companies across the region with the most impressive performances in growing their businesses.

The search is now on to find the 2019 winners as we compile the definitive list of the privately-owned profit-making businesses which have seen the average annual growth rate in their turnover.

The 2019 Ward Hadaway Fastest 50 has been compiled and verified using publicly available information from Companies House.This A to Z list will be published on the Ward Hadaway website at the end of April with further coverage in the Greater Manchester Chamber’s The Business magazine.

Then on Friday, May 10th, a special event at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester will see awards handed out to the fastest-growing small, medium and large businesses for companies with annual turnover of between £1m and £10m, between £10m and £30m and over £30m respectively.

One of those three winners will then receive the ultimate accolade of being crowned the overall fastest-growing business in Greater Manchester for 2019.Ward Hadaway is again organising and hosting the Greater Manchester Fastest 50 and the firm marks seven years in Manchester.

Paul Johnson, Executive Partner at Ward Hadaway’s Manchester office, added: “We are delighted to welcome the Greater Manchester Chamber and University of Salford Business School on board to launch this year’s Ward Hadaway Greater Manchester Fastest 50.

“Businesses sometimes go unnoticed for their achievements and so our new partnership provides us with an opportunity to showcase the amazing talent of companies across a wide range of sectors in Greater Manchester. The event itself also underlines our ongoing commitment to the area and to further developing our firm here.

“When we started this event in 2014, we wanted the Greater Manchester Fastest 50 to be a reflection of the dynamic business scene which we see on a daily basis working with our clients.

“Today the awards are well-established and give us a chance to acknowledge, encourage and motivate the business community, giving them valuable and well-deserved exposure in return.”

Chris Fletcher, Marketing & Campaign Director at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: “As the UK’s largest Chamber of Commerce we are really pleased to be supporting the Ward Hadaway Fastest 50. The region’s economy, quite rightly, has a reputation for being dynamic, go-ahead and strong and being able to acknowledge and celebrate it with those businesses creating that growth is a unique opportunity.

“Quite often much of what really successful businesses do goes unnoticed so a big part of what we like about the awards is the chance to make sure more people know about and are aware of the fantastic businesses based right here.”

A spokeperson from the Salford University Business School said: “Salford Business School is delighted to support the Fastest 50 and celebrate the outstanding success of these fast-growing and profitable businesses that are driving success in the North West.

“As an industry-focused university and school we aim to work closely with business both to help them in their success and also to ensure that we are preparing our students to help contribute effectively to the next generation of growth for these firms.”

Ward Hadaway has been running Fastest 50 award schemes for companies in the North East of England every year since 1998 and for companies in Yorkshire since 2011.Last year’s winner was housebuilder Eccleston Homes.

The Warrington headquartered company won the fastest growing overall business and was also named as the fastest growing medium-sized business. This comes on the back of a double win in 2017 and marked the first time in the awards history that the same company has had back-to-back wins.

Managing director Kevin Marren co-founded the company in 2012.He said: “Being the winners of the Ward Hadaway Fastest Growing Business for the last two years has most certainly helped to raise the profile of our business.

“A strong profile as a profitable fast growing business within the North West’s housebuilding sector has helped our business on a number of important fronts. This includes the recruitment and retention of excellent staff, in a competitive market place; partnering with reliable, quality focused suppliers and sub-contractors and being an attractive proposition to finance providers. The awards were also appreciated by our dedicated and hard-working staff.”

Jamie Martin, Senior Partner at Ward Hadaway said: “I’m always impressed with Manchester’s vibrant community of great entrepreneurs. The growth in this region has been truly phenomenal in recent years and it’s great to be able to hold the Fastest 50 Awards here and give thriving businesses the chance to shine.

“The Ward Hadaway Greater Manchester Fastest 50 Awards have been given a great reception since day one and so we are really looking forward to the 2019 awards and celebrating all that is great about business in this region.”