Aberdeen energy firm First Oil, owned by north-east businessman Ian Suttie, is one of nine Scottish businesses on a new list of the UK’s 100 fastest-growing private companies.
The Hot 100 – unveiled by financial services firm Investec today – also includes timber firm Treetop Forestry of Alford, Aberdeenshire.
First Oil is 54th and Treetop is 60th on the list, which was compiled from data filed at Companies House.
The 100 UK businesses have achieved combined growth of 44% over the past four years and an average turnover of £150million in their last financial year.
In Scotland, the nine companies on the list had a combined turnover of £27million between January and March this year and a four-year growth rate of 48%.
As well as First Oil and Treetop, they are: Edinburgh firms RIA Capital Markets, Edinburgh Partners and Bertram Nursery Group, Ayr-based J.C. Peacock & Co, Parkburn Precision Handling Systems of Hamilton, Balhousie Holdings of Perth, and Forelle Estates Holdings of Glasgow.
Last September, it emerged that Mr Suttie was in line for a £1billion-plus windfall from a North Sea oil discovery – Kraken – and poised to challenge for the title of Scotland’s richest person.
He was already one of the richest people in Scotland, with wealth put at £340million by the Sunday Times rich list.
Investec says its Hot 100 list reveals the “gradual emergence of a new generation of world-class UK businesses that, with proprietary technology and an appetite for international markets, will be the global players of the future.”