BASINGSTOKE businesses have helped fuel an increase in revenue among the region's top 150 companies.

According to a report by audit, accounting and business services firm BDO Stoy Hayward, 30 Basingstoke businesses contribute 14 per cent of the total turnover in the central south area of the country.

It shows that leading businesses are helping to create an unrivalled barometer of economic health for the region.

Some of the key Basingstoke companies included in the report are Motorola, Shire Pharmaceuticals, The Game Group, the AA, De La Rue and Holtzbrinck Publishers Holdings, which owns Macmillan.

The central south's top 150 companies' net investment of £3.8billion, along with buoyant trading conditions, helped fuel a 36 per cent increase in revenue to £63.3bn during 2007.

Although operating profits increased from £3bn in 2006 to £4bn last year, net profits decreased by eight per cent due to rising costs, a substantially higher tax rate and interest costs virtually doubling on steeply increased debt.

The companies featured in the report employ more than 300,000 people worldwide.

Kim Hayward, lead partner from BDO Stoy Hayward's south coast headquarters, said: "It's great to see such a strong growth in revenue, but a little disappointing that this wasn't carried through to the bottom line.

"This was due in part to debt costs associated with the high level of acquisition activity that has taken place across the region."

The report showed that the net investment in mergers and acquisitions was £2.5bn during last year, making a major contribution to the year's excellent revenue growth.

Mr Hayward said: "The group's companies took advantage of the strong mergers and acquisitions conditions to optimise their portfolios by selling as well as buying.

"An interesting feature of the group's acquisitions was the emphasis on overseas targets, showing that companies are confidently broadening their horizons in search of further growth."

He cited Shire Pharmaceuticals as an example of this.

The firm made the region's largest transaction during the period, with its £1.3bn acquisition of US-based speciality pharmaceutical company New River Pharmaceuticals.

Unfortunately, the report also showed that the surveyed group has a very low number of female directors.

Fewer than six per cent - one in 16 - of directors are women, compared with the FTSE Female report's UK average of 10 per cent.

Out of the 193 directors in Basingstoke, 12 are female.

10:55am Tuesday 15th April 2008

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