West Midlands based the Elta Group has been named in the London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG) list of the most exciting and dynamic small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK. The landmark report, entitled “1000 Companies to inspire Britain”, seeks for the first time to redress the lack of reporting on the success of the companies named in the report and their importance to the UK economy.
The London Stock Exchange Group recognises that the term ‘SME’ covers a myriad of different businesses. Within the UK, there are said to be 4.5 million such companies, ranging from local retailers to technology companies. Since the financial crisis started, the public sector has shrunk and large corporations are not taking on new employees as they were previously. The faster growing and more dynamic of the UK’s SMEs are now said by the LSEG to be largely responsible for the creation of new jobs in the country. Through the report the LSEG intends to raise awareness of the importance of this elite band of companies, which it believes to be the lifeblood of UK economic growth. The businesses are referred to by the CBI as ‘gazelle’ companies and collectively by think-tank Nesta as ‘the vital six percent’.
The Elta Group of companies has its Head Office on the Pensnett Trading Estate in Kingswinford and, although it now has operations throughout the world, has its heart very much in West Midlands manufacturing. The business is naturally pleased to be included in the listing. David Ball, Vice Chairman of the Elta Group, comments: “I understand that the report took London Stock Exchange Group over six months to research and selection criteria required companies to have shown growing revenue and to have outperformed their competitors. So it is nice to have the success we have been enjoying confirmed and recognised in such a prestigious publication by an outside source. But we fully agree with LSEG that more needs to be done in the UK to support and encourage other SMEs like ourselves.”
The £85 million group is a family of businesses with operations in six countries on four continents that, together with a network of international distributors, provides quality yet competitive fans and related air movement equipment to customers worldwide, via local service. As well as the original and principal company Elta Fans, the Group comprises a further fourteen businesses. Domestic subsidiaries include Air Design (UK), the innovative manufacturer of air handling units and heat recovery units aimed primarily at the building services market, and Hydor, the supplier of fans, controls and systems to the agricultural and horticultural industries around the world – and the oldest company in the whole group.
As well as identifying one thousand emerging successful companies, the report examines in detail the opportunities and challenges facing the Elta Group and the UK’s other small and medium sized enterprises. “1000 Companies to inspire Britain” also considers the commercial trends and factors it believes will potentially have an effect on the UK economy in future.
Overseas subsidiaries of the Elta Group include: Aerauliqa SRL the ventilation company of Brescia, Northern Italy; Air Design of Australia and Papua New Guinea, the manufacturer of Modutherm range of air handling equipment; Air Movement Supplies (AMS), one of South Africa’s leading suppliers of ventilation equipment with the widest range of products; Airepure the leading provider of air filtration companies in Australia and New Zealand; Burra Sheetmetal, Gippsland’s premier sheetmetal workers; Duct Products makers of flanging and ductwork components in Castlereagh on the outskirts of Belfast; Fantech and Fantech Plus, Australia and New Zealand’s leading suppliers of ventilation and acoustic products and Eltafantech, their Malaysian subsidiary; Fantech Ventilation, the Irish distributor of group products as well as grilles, diffusers, flexible and spiral ducting, fire and volume control dampers and duct fittings and accessories; Idealair, the distribution business operating from branches in Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne; Systemaire, supplier of fans, filters, air diffusion products, cooling towers, air conditioners and evaporative coolers.