Sussex’s top businesses exceed £10 billion in turnover

Sussex’s business community is thriving, according to a new report. Grant Thornton suggests that the county’s top businesses achieved £10.98 billion in turnover in 2023 – and enjoyed notable revenue growth despite the UK facing broader headwinds.

Grant Thornton, Sussex Limited Report 2024

An analysis of the Sussex economy and its top 40 firms has show that they performed positively over the last year. According to Grant Thornton, the combined EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of the county’s 40 most profitable privately-owned businesses rose by 18% compared to the previous year, totalling £393 million.

The UK Grant Thornton member firm is led by over 200 partners and employs over 5500 of the profession’s brightest minds. Based in Crawley, Grant Thornton has its own hub in Sussex – and its Gatwick office hosts a team of more than 120 staff, while providing the area’s businesses with a wide variety of key services and support from sector and technical specialists.

Speaking on the findings, Martin Verrall, practice leader for Grant Thornton UK in the South East, noted, “As a Gatwick-based business that interacts with and advises privately-owned companies in Sussex every day, it’s great to see the county’s businesses post such record levels of revenue and profit growth, especially in the face of what’s been a very challenging economic environment.”

The region’s top 40 businesses enjoyed a combined turnover of £10.978 billion through 2024, representing 26% revenue growth year on year. A driving force of that progress was the business support services sector – which booked the highest overall revenue compared to any other sector. It achieved a total turnover of £2.16 billion – a 29% increase on the previous year – which included a significant amount of profit. In fact, EBITDA expanded for those businesses by 18%, to hit £141 million. This was in particular thanks to aviation component services provider Avtrade from Sayers Common, which was the county’s best performing business by turnover.

Grant Thornton, Sussex Limited Report 2024

Thanks to Sussex’s long-standing ties to aviation (partially due to Gatwick, the secondary international airport serving nearby London), Gatwick Airport-based hotel developer, owner and operator Bloc Hotel Group meanwhile ranked outright number one in the report – when considering turnover growth. Meanwhile, by average EBITDA margin, the leading business was identified as Hove-headquartered exhibition organiser Regent Exhibitions Limited, which was also second in the list for turnover growth.

Considering how to maintain this performance, Verrall added, “To continue this growth, businesses in the South East know that they are going to have to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to issues such as productivity and new technologies… Around 83% of the region’s business leaders believe that a lack of vital skills is affecting productivity levels, with digital skills identified as the most in need. AI has likely been a key driver here, with only 23% believing that AI won’t have a positive impact on their productivity over the next year. Businesses in Sussex from every sector therefore need to be nurturing the right talent and skills while thinking hard about where they are on their AI and automation journey.”