Ballymena based firm is fastest growing in Northern Ireland reveals Growth Index 2024

Wrightbus, a Ballymena-based bus manufacturer currently developing a hydrogen powered fleet, is the fastest growing company in Northern Ireland, in the Growth Index 2024, the annual ranking of the 100 fastest-growing companies in the UK.

Wrightbus comes in at No. 74 in the UK Top 100 with a compound annual growth rate of 75.92 per cent.  

Now in its third year, ORESA Growth Index is the definitive ranking of the UK companies with the fastest growing sales, created to celebrate the companies that have supercharged growth and the leaders that have inspired and driven it. Companies are ranked by compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in sales over their last two financial accounting years (including filings up to February 2024). The ranking shines a spotlight on the most successful sectors and companies in the UK, championing good growth and the equitable democratisation of business opportunity in the UK.

The four companies from the Northern Ireland whose phenomenal growth has secured them a place in the UK’s Growth Index 2024 are:

• (No. 74) Wrightbus, bus manufacturer currently developing a hydrogen powered fleet based in Ballymena, with a CAGR of 75.92 per cent 

• (No. 85) Ready Egg, a Enniskillen-based company that processes eggs from local family farms in Northern Ireland, with a CAGR of 73.03 per cent 
• (No. 86) Maine Surface Finishing, based in Ballymena, a steel fabrication, surface finishing, and assembly company, with a CAGR of 73.02 per cent 
• (No. 100) Around Noon Foods, a Newry-based B2B food-to-go manufacturer, with a CAGR of 65.06 per cent 

Commenting on the results, Orlando Martins, founder of Growth Index and ORESA said: “What our findings this year confirm, for me, is that growing revenue and making a profit are not mutually exclusive goals. This is something to be welcomed, not least because profitability is an essential feature of good growth: without it, an enterprise cannot be sustainable.

“The wider spread of sectors in Growth Index 2024 could be a sign of a broader economic recovery from Covid lows or simply a response to contraction in equity funding - we suspect a combination of both,” he continued.

The top company in this year's Growth Index top 100 is InstaVolt, the UK’s largest EV fast charging network. The company achieved its number one podium position with an unparalleled exponential compound annual growth of 362.55 per cent.

Currently keeping more of the UK’s electric vehicles on the move than any other, InstaVolt is the UK’s largest owner-operator of rapid public chargers, with 1,500 in strategic locations around the country, or approximately 15 per cent of the market.