Europe's market leading powered assess rental operation, Lavendon Group Plc, parent company of Nationwide, the UK's market leader, was ranked 66th in the recent Deloitte & Touche Indy 100 awards for fast growing companies. The competition is in its 12th year and is run in association with the Independent on Sunday.

Lavendon was identified through Deloitte & Touche research, which was carried out in association with the University of Warwick Business School. Nearly 7,000 middle market companies with sales spanning from £5 million to £100 million were examined and were ranked by compound annual growth rate.

Commenting on Lavendon's performance at the awards ceremony at London's Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, David Wenborn, a partner in Deloitte & Touche said: "Even in a period of economic uncertainty, Lavendon continues to prosper and develop at a rate that is the envy of many larger businesses."

Publicly-quoted Lavendon has recently completed a two-year, £168 million investment programme. This has resulted in a substantial enlargement of its Nationwide and Zooom powered access hire fleets - up from 4,250 units to 11,300 units. It was also the driving force behind an expansion of its depot networks - from 66 to 106 - in the UK, France, Germany and Spain, and the recent opening of the Austrian market.

The company's European-wide customer base today exceeds 32,000 and is growing at an annualised rate of 22 percent. Turnover in 2001 grew by 33 percent to £90.1 million, while operating profit rose by eight percent to £14.9 million.

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June 2002 Nat2.039a