• Swindon & Wiltshire News
• Friday January 30 2015

Eighteen Swindon firms in Top 500 list

Eighteen of the South of England’s 500 biggest companies are based in Swindon, according to a new report.

Led by Nationwide building society, with a turnover of £5.7bn, The Top 500 Companies in the South report has been commissioned by IT specialists Taylor Made Computer Solutions, who took over from PwC after 15 years.

The Swindon companies and their annual turnovers are:

1. Nationwide Building Society £5,784,000,000
2. Intel Corporation (UK) Ltd £3,947,537,000
3. Npower Ltd £3,939,500,000
4. Connect Group plc £1,808,500,000
5. WH Smith plc £1,161,000,000
6. First Great Western Ltd £1,130,274,000
7. Man Truck & Bus UK Ltd £491,445,000
8. Arval UK Group Ltd £469,417,000
9. Cambria Automobiles plc £395,776,000
10. Synergy Health plc £380,453,000
11. Dick Lovett Companies Ltd £308,230,000
12. Tyco Electronics UK Ltd £192,115,000
13. Castrol Ltd £176,369,000
14. Intrinsic Financial Services Ltd £166,725,000
15. Swindon Pressings Limited £151,532,000
16. Openwork Ltd £150,977,000
17. Fairchild Semiconductor Ltd £124,492,000
18. Hardware.com Group Ltd £111,016,000

The stats also show slow but steady growth among the South’s biggest companies. Overall, the Top 500 companies increased sales by three per cent during the year, and the firms collectively improved pre-tax profits by 32.2 per cent during the year.

The report is based on audited accounts filed at Companies House by December 2, 2014. The complete list includes information on a range of data including companies’ sales figures, pre-tax profit, net asset value, number of staff and average salaries.

The south’s overall top company is BP International Ltd, based in Surrey, with an overall turnover of £63.6bn. Vodafone, based in Newbury, is second with £38bn, while Reading-based SSE Energy Supply Ltd is third with almost £30bn.