Watchfinder matt bowling & stuart hennell receiving award
Matt Bowling and Stuart Hennell (centre) accepting one of many awards the company has earned.

Watchfinder named among fastest growing companies in the UK by Sunday Times

Pre-owned watch specialist Watchfinder has been listed among the 100 fastest growing companies in the UK.

The annual report, compiled by Fast Track in association with The Sunday Times, looks at privately owned companies.

Since the first league table was published in 1997, Fast Track 100 has featured many of Britain’s most successful companies.

They include chip designer ARM, which was acquired by Japan’s SoftBank for £24bn earlier this year; mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse, which merged with Dixons in 2014 and employs 42,000 people; and fruit drinks maker innocent, which was sold to Coca-Cola in 2013, in a deal valuing the company at £440m.

Since its launch, 1,400 companies have appeared on the league table, of which 800 remain in private ownership; 40 have floated on the stock market; 340 have merged with or been acquired by another business; and 220 have gone bust.

In September Watchfinder revealed sales of £68 million for the financial year ended March 31 2016, a rise of 76% over the 2014-15 financial year.

The Fast Track 100 league table says that sales have risen by an average of 55.49% over the past three years, placing Watchfinder at number 83 on the list.

It is the only watch business in the top 100, although Olivia Burton, a British fashion watch and jewellery brand, was featured in a related list called the Fast Track ones to watch.

The brand was credited with sales of £9.2 million for the year to March 2016. “In 2016 this brand, sold in Harvey Nichols among others, launched in 27 countries and increased sales 154% to £9.2m,” Fast Track notes.

 

Olivia burton - headshot

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