This year’s Top 500 reflects the recessionary pressures on certain sectors but also highlights the strength of the region’s corporate giants. Andy Coyne reports.
After a blip in 2008 when extraordinary losses of £461m pushed E.ON UK down to a lowly 427th spot, the power giant, based in Coventry, has regained the top spot in Midlands Business Insider’s Top 500 list, a position it last held two years ago.
The second-largest electricity provider in the UK owns the second-largest distribution network and is part of the world’s largest investor-owned power and gas company, headquartered in Germany.
While announcements from the group have been cautious in the tough operating environment, it has performed well – that difficulty was underscored in January when it announced 450 jobs were to be cut, largely in its retail division.
Chief executive Dr Paul Golb, said at the time: “This was clearly a difficult decision and not one we have taken lightly, but we firmly believe it is the right thing to do for the company as a whole.”
The planned redundancies are distributed among employees throughout the country including E.ON’s main offices in Nottinghamshire and its HQ in Coventry. The company employs 18,000 people in the UK.
Elsewhere, the top ten has a familiar look with last year’s top dog Alliance & Leicester down to third place – a decent performance in a disastrous year for lenders – and retailers such as Boots and Next holding their own.
The same can be said for Travis Perkins and Lafarge Cement, which can be pleased at retaining top ten spots during construction’s decline.
Housebuilders have struggled of late and Barratt Developments will be pleased with its top ten showing. Its acquisition of Leicestershire’s Wilson Bowden in 2007 gave the company an enhanced property portfolio, taking over the David Wilson Homes brand among others.
As a result Barratt briefly became Britain’s largest housebuilder by volume, but was replaced by Taylor Wimpey after the merger of Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey. Taylor Wimpey, though, has suffered from the slump and dropped out of the top ten.
The full list of the Top 500 companies in the Midlands is available in the May 2009 edition of Insider. To buy a copy, please visit our online Shop.
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