A GROUP of Scottish companies have increased their combined turnover by £2.2 billion in the past three years, according to new research.
The study by equity group BGF calculates growth through changes in turnover and employee size among the UK’s private companies with revenues between £3 million and £150m, a category of 13,286 businesses nationwide, 892 of which are based in Scotland.
Overall, Scottish businesses in this group experienced 11% combined turnover growth over the past three years. The research found the regions for highest levels of turnover growth include Fife (20%), Argyll and Bute (26%) and the Scottish borders (25%).
These Scottish businesses have also experienced combined employee growth of 8.7% over the past three years, second only to London. The research also found 13,600 jobs were created by these companies since 2015, an average of 87 a week.
Paddy Graham, head of central Scotland and Northern Ireland at BGF, said: “While political and economic uncertainty has undoubtedly impacted business confidence in Scotland, it is encouraging to see so many businesses here showing continued growth. It’s more important than ever that ambitious companies like these are given the backing to accelerate their development.
“These figures show that, even in challenging market conditions, there are ambitious management teams in Scotland who are creating jobs and looking for new growth opportunities. A number of BGF’s portfolio companies are included in the data set, companies we’ve supported in their drive to scale up. We want to actively engage with more of these growing companies and to support their plans.”
The research has been released as part of BGF’s “Ready for Business” campaign, which strives for “investing in the age of uncertainty”.
BGF was founded in 2011 specifically to address a long-standing gap in equity funding directed into companies that have outgrown friends, family or angel funding but are not typically large enough to be courted by traditional private equity.
BGF has invested £1.9bn in more than 270 companies since 2011.
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