MANUFACTURING and farming combine to form Ryedale's representation on the Top 50 SMEs list.

The area's most profitable business, and number eight on the Top 50 list, is Rillington-based cable cleat and clamp manufacturer Ellis.

Employing a team of 66, the business reported pre-tax profits of £1.95 million from revenues of £7.7 million.

Well over half of its sales are accounted for by by export sales, built from major growth compared to the early 2000s when export was something Ellis only dabbled in.

Today Ellis has a four-strong export team working out of Rillington, supported by a network of 26 distributors based in key export markets.

Ellis products are specified and installed around the world, with recent export success including the Novo Rail project in Sydney, Australia; the Shamiya Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia; and the Areva EPP nuclear power plant in Taishan, China.

Also featuring in the Top 10 of the overall list is B&F Potatoes, which appears at number 10 with pre-tax profits of £1.6 million, down from £2.3 million the previous year.

An independent, family owned and operated business, B&F Potatoes was founded in 1993 by local farmers Steve and John Bannister and Mike and Tim Field.

Starting out small, supplying to local markets with potatoes grown on around 50 acres near Weaverthorpe, the business grew quickly, and began to farm more land as well as opening a farm shop on site.

Today the business grows more than a dozen varieties of potato on more than 1500 acres of its own land and that of neighbouring farmers. It also operates an advanced in-house washing and peeling facility, employing more than 50 staff members on site.

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