THE half way point in York Business Week saw up to 100 delegates gather to launch the first report into the city’s Top 100 Business.

The 48-page report, published in The Press yesterday, was produced by York St John University’s Business School in collaboration with Make It York.

Together they devised new methodology for analysing businesses, taking into account turnover, profits, staff numbers and growth, and applying it to firms in the city.

The resulting Top 100 List was published in association with The Press, and officially launched at a breakfast event at York St John yesterday, forming part of the York Business Week schedule.

Steve Brown, managing director of Make It York, said: “The Top 100 gives us the best snapshot of the York economy that the city has ever had.

“The supplement is rich with information and presents York companies in a way that has never been done here before.

“It has uncovered a whole raft of companies that just haven’t been on anyone’s radar.

“One of the best stats that has come out of the analysis is the nine per cent collective growth achieved by the Top 100. That comes in contrast to national growth of 1.2 per cent, and is a really interesting statistic and a really good sign of the economic health in York.”

During the event a presentation was made to York’s top performing business, which was listed as Persimmon Homes.

Collection the award, HR director Richard Latham told delegates how the company, which turns over £3 billion, had been operating in York since 1972, firstly in Piccadilly, before Haxby and then to its current headquarters in Fulford in 1983.

He said: “It’s safe to say we have come a long way. Although we employ about 150 people in York that is in addition to employing around 4, 500 people through the UK.

We built and sold around 1,500 new homes last year, and we have 29 regional offices around the UK.

“Despite our growth we are still very proud of our heritage, and we would never lose touch with our roots here in York.

“York is a great city from which to do business, and we have a very loyal workforce here. We look forward to our future in York with tremendous optimism.”

An award was also presented to the “One to Watch” business, in recognition of the firm that achieved highest growth. This was awarded to York Science Park-based Optibiotix Health, which develops ingredients to aid weight loss in the global food market.

Alex McWhirter, chief executive of Finance Yorkshire, which is one of the company’s investors, accepted the award.

He said: “The fact the business has been recognised with this is a fantastic achievement.

“We invested in the company in 2012. It was a modest investment but what impressed us was the firm’s research and development plans, it’s commercial ambitions and it’s management team.

“It listed on AIM in 2014 and since then it has really grown. The research and development capabilities continue to grow and the big ambition it has is commercialising for the future, which hopefully will make it one of the larger companies to look out for in future reports. They really are one to watch.”

* Click here to read the 48-page York Top 100 Businesses report