York Top 100 Businesses annual report event with Tony Underwood

And the event, which showcases our top companies, reaches new heights with a guest speaker who began his career as an England rugby union international before building a new life as a commercial airline pilot.

The latest edition of the Press’s York Top 100 Business Report is published in the newspaper and online.

The annual report is prepared by The Press, York St John University‘s Business School and Make it York present a definitive and comprehensive list of York’s top employers.

First compiled in 2017, the Top 100 was compiled using an algorithm developed by York Business School, taking into account key performance factors such as revenue, profit, growth and headcount.

City Cruises is the main sponsor this year. Inset is commercial and marketing manager Chris Pegg (Image: Image provided)

A special event will be held in the city on Thursday 25th May, with special invitations to York’s top 100 companies. The event is available by ticket only and the sale of tickets is not permitted.

“Great Stories for a Great City” – revealing the 100 best businesses in York

The guest speaker is former England rugby international Tony Underwood, who played as a three-quarter defender on the wing.

Tony was born in Ipoh, Malaysia in 1969 and his brother is English rugby player Rory Underwood.

He was educated at Barnard Castle School and Leicester University before playing for the Leicester Tigers, Newcastle Falcons, England and the British and Irish Lions.

Tony is married with two children and after his rugby career completed a conversion course to become a commercial pilot, first with EasyJet, then Virgin Atlantic and later Emirates.

Next week’s event will be hosted by Steve Lowe, Sales Manager at LOCALiQ.

He said: “We look forward to unveiling the top 100 companies in our annual report, prepared by the press, York St John University and Make It York to present the definitive and most comprehensive list of York’s most significant companies.”

“The Top 100 uses a special algorithm developed by York St John’s Business School that takes into account a number of key performance indicators, including sales, profit, growth and headcount.

York St John University (Image: Image provided)

“The event is by invitation only and we look forward to publishing the report and meeting the frontrunners at the end of May. Many thanks to City Cruises for being the main sponsor of this year’s report.”

Last year’s event at York St John University was the first in-person Top 100 since the pandemic began.

This moved LNER up to first place from fourth place last year and increased its annual turnover from £680m in 2020 to over £838m.

Rounding out the top five were Shepherd Building Group, family shoe company Pavers, online music retailer Gear4Music and wealth management company Providence Holdings Ltd.