East Midlands Top 500 Companies 2020 - 2025

Introduction

The East Midlands Top 500 Companies index (EM Top 500) aims to highlight the largest businesses based in the region, and to track the changes in the composition and performance of this group of companies. The index shows the range and strength of the leading businesses in the East Midlands, across the ‘Three Counties’ of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire areas covered by the East Midlands Chamber. These businesses are at the heart of the East Midlands’ economy and are high on the list of those most likely to drive growth and create jobs in the future. Their prosperity affects not only the workforces, supply chains and the communities around them, but ultimately everyone in the region.

The idea for EM Top 500 originated from the annual publication of Top 200 indices for Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire in their regional city newspapers by Reach Media. The indices were prepared by researchers at De Montfort, Derby and Nottingham Trent Universities respectively. Agreement was reached with the researchers and with the then publisher to combine these indices in a regional Top 500. East Midlands Chamber of Commerce and subsequently Cross Productions joined the partnership, which started in 2020. An annual index, report and initially online, then live presentation and event was held between 2020 and 2024.

How is EM Top 500 compiled and who is included?

The EM Top 500 index lists private and public limited companies with their registered offices located in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. It does not include large employers who have their registered offices elsewhere; nor does it include public organisations, mutually owned, co-operatives and Educational and Health Trusts which derive most of their income from Government.

The annual indices use historical data from Companies House accounts filed for the period between 1 July 202x and 30 June 202x+1. It ranks companies by their annual turnover and also includes the number of employees and the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) recorded. This is accessed via the FAME database published by Bureau van Dijk. The approach builds on and integrates the ‘Top 200’ indices for each County.

As the index is based on company accounts, it inevitably lags current company performance by around two years, since companies have up to 9 months after their year-end to file their accounts. The datasets for the county-level indices were compiled, checked, standardised and then combined into the East Midlands dataset. There are rigorous checks to eliminate duplicates, to remove companies which have become insolvent or in liquidation, and to ensure that groups of companies and subsidiaries are shown accurately. The gap between the company year-ends and publication of the index means the information is historic rather than current, but it is not ‘out of date’. The availability of five years data means that comparisons over a five-year timespan from 2020-24 are now possible. The index is increasingly recognised as a valuable baseline for economic recovery and the resurgence of businesses and the wider economy.

The first EM Top 500 was launched in May 2020, with both the 2020 and 2021 reports published whilst the effects of the COVID19 pandemic and lockdown impacted on our lives and businesses, whilst the 2022 and 2023 reports were also overshadowed by economic and political uncertainties. The fifth East Midlands Top 500 Companies in 2024 showed that the index itself has become an established part of the regional business landscape.

This site provides access to the datasets for EM Top 500 2020 - 2024, and the contributing Top 200 datasets for the ‘Three Counties’ of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire areas covered by the East Midlands Chamber. It also includes the annual reports and a regional sectoral analysis of the businesses included.