Three feature in Buyout Track 100

The Sunday Times Buyout Track 100 league table ranks Britain's 100 mid-market private equity-backed companies with the fastest-growing profits (EBITDA) over their latest two years of available accounts.

Social housing developer United House Group was ranked number nine, crawler crane hire company Weldex was number 53 and electrical contractor EIC was at 65.

United House is a leading contractor, developer and investor operating in London and the south. Main shareholders are its management team (60%) and LDC (40%).  It specialises in new and refurbished social housing, urban regeneration, private residential development and public-private partnership projects. By the end of 2010, the group had delivered more than 80,000 “Decent Homes” as well as maintaining an annual new-build programme of 500 social and high-end private residential homes. Last year it was also awarded the country’s biggest low-carbon retrofit contract to date for up to 200 properties in Islington, London. In March 2010, chief executive Jeffrey Adams led a management buyout backed by LDC for an undisclosed sum. Profits have increased by 87% a year, from £3.2m in 2007 to £11.2m in 2009.

Inverness-based Weldex owns the UK’s largest fleet of crawler cranes. In June 2010 Weldex was acquired by Dunedin Capital Partners in a £100m secondary buyout from NVM Private Equity. Under founder and managing director Dougie McGilvray, and helped by new revenue streams in onshore and offshore wind-farm projects, profits have risen 37% a year from £7.6m in 2007 to £14.3m in 2009. It is 37% owned by the McGilvray family, 58% by: Dunedin Capital Partners and 5% by NVM Private Equity.

Main shareholders of EIC are MML Capital (67%) and the company’s own management. EIC provides mechanical and electrical building services to household names such as Debenhams, Asda and Bupa, as well as to schools and the NHS. The West Midlands company’s recent wins include a contract to provide electrical maintenance for Tesco stores in the north of England and Scotland. MML Capital Partners bought out the founding families in 2008 for £40m, although the founders’ sons, Ian Lyall and Nigel Le Marechal, still run the company. Profits rose by 30% a year, from £4.6m in 2007 to £7.8m in 2009.

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