GROWTH
The social enterprises on this year’s Index show strong growth again, slightly down
on 2015 but still outpacing many other UK businesses
In spite of continuing external pressures
(public sector cuts, austerity, the Brexit
bombshell) social enterprises continue
to grow strongly. This year, the average
year-on-year growth in turnover for the
established social enterprises on the Index is
61%. The average year-on-year growth of
the 100 fastest growing enterprises is 932%.
We have excluded enterprises under
three years old from these analyses
because newcomers often demonstrate
more volatile growth. (For example, the
year-on-year difference in turnover of
the enterprises in our dataset that are less
than three years old ranges from nearly
12,000% growth to a decline of 89%.)
In order to generate a more honest
picture of the growth of the social enterprise
sector as a whole, we have also filtered
out small enterprises from the growth
calculations that have reported year-on-year
growth of more than 1,000 per cent.
Just a few enterprises with these
volatile figures can unhelpfully skew the
picture. For example, Generation England
Community Interest Company saw its
turnover grow by more than 40,000%
between 2015 and 2016. A closer look
at the figures shows that this growth
was solely due to a £42,000 grant from
the Big Lottery Fund received during
this year, which was a huge increase on
the organisation’s turnover of £153 the
previous year.
Although this year’s growth figures are
slightly lower than last year’s (see figures 1
and 2) they still look healthy against other
UK businesses.
For example, The Sunday Times Fast
Track 100 ranks Britain’s 100 private
companies with the fastest-growing sales
over their latest three years. The results for
2016, published in December 2016, shows
they have grown their sales by an average
of 67% a year over three years. Even
though the enterprises in our SE100 Index
as a whole aren’t selected for their speed
of growth, their 61% average growth
compares favouribly to the Fast Track
100 companies. What’s more, our top 100
fastest growers, with growth of 932%,
comfortably outpace them.
The London Stock Exchange Group’s
1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain highlights
the UK’s ‘most exciting and dynamic
small and medium sized enterprises’.
The 2016 report, published in May
2016, shows 50% annual growth of the
companies on its list between 2011 and
2015. Again, the performance of the
SE100 Index as a whole and the SE100
top 100 fastest growers compare well.
Only the tech sector leaves social
enterprises standing. The Deloitte Technology
Fast 50 lists the UK’s most dynamic tech
enterprises (of any size). The results for
2016 show a four-year average growth
rate of 1,240%.
FIGURE 3: SE100 TURNOVER GROWTH COMPARED WITH OTHER UK BUSINESSES
SE100
(all enterprises)
61%
SE100
(fastest growers)
The Sunday Times
Fast Track 100
London Stock Exchange
Group’s 1,000 Companies
to Inspire Britain
932%
67%
50%
Deloitte
Technology Fast 50
1240%
Percentage year-on-year growth
SE100 DATA REPORT | 9