Tom Pickup
Growth engine

The high-growth companies

A small number of fast-growing firms create most new jobs. Two things are shown here: the official measure of how many high-growth companies each area has, set against the England share, and an Observatory assessment of individual candidate scale-ups, read from the employee numbers in their filed accounts. The assessment is an opinion, not a statement of fact about any company.

How to read this. The bars use the official ONS Business Demography definition of a high-growth company (average 20 percent annual growth in employment over three years, from a base of ten or more staff). The candidates table is our own read of filed accounts against that same definition; it is not turnover-based and has not been verified with the companies. See the method page for thresholds and limits.

Official high-growth share, by area

Share of active companies meeting the ONS high-growth definition, against the England benchmark.

Candidate scale-ups (Observatory assessment)

Companies whose filed accounts show sustained growth in employee numbers. Sorted by compound growth rate. The employee trend reads oldest to newest.

CompanyAreaEmployee trendGrowth (CAGR)Flags

What this is

This is a journalistic publication on the use of public money in Lancashire, published in the public interest. Company profiles sit inside analysis; there is no directory or people-search feature. The privacy notice on the method page covers directors and persons with significant control, the lawful basis for publication, and how to object.

Scores are opinions, not facts

Data is compiled from public registers. Figures reflect the register at the retrieval date shown and may have changed. Scores and indicators are the Observatory's opinion, derived by the published methodology from public data; they are not statements of fact about solvency, creditworthiness or probity. This site does not provide credit or financial advice and must not be used for lending, trading or investment decisions. Transparency spending data covers payments over 500 pounds and is not a complete account of any body's budget.

Corrections

Spotted something wrong? Report it to tom.pickup@lancashire.gov.uk. Reports are acknowledged within 48 hours and re-checked at the primary source; where a figure is wrong it is corrected within five working days and logged. See the corrections policy and the route for named individuals to object.

Sources and licences

  • Company accounts and employee figures: Companies House, as filed under s411 Companies Act 2006.
  • High-growth benchmark: ONS Business Demography, under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
  • Postcode geography: contains OS data (Crown copyright), Royal Mail data and ONS data, under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Published by Tom Pickup in a personal capacity. Not published by or on behalf of any political party or by Lancashire County Council. Inclusion here is not a suggestion of wrongdoing by any person or company.