GTECH, the cordless power tool specialists based in Worcester, has been rated the fastest growing business in the Midlands.

Currently engaged in efforts to move its headquarters from Spetchley on the eastern edge of the city to a new purpose built factory at Warndon, Gtech has been rated the top regional company in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100, which lists the UK fastest growing firms. Founded by former Vax employee Nick Grey in 2001, its sales topped £48m last year and it enters the list for the first time at number 11.

Mr Grey said: “Congratulations to all the Midlands companies in the list and it’s great to see the region doing so well. The staff at Gtech work very hard and any success we have is down to their efforts to provide the highest performing and most reliable cordless vacuums on the market. Our team believe that when you take on much larger competition, your customer service has to be the best and they are an absolute credit to our industry.

“When we first conceived of the AirRam in 2010 we only intended it to clean stairs. But its cleaning is so effective and robust, it is now cleaning hundreds of thousands of homes around Britain. Some very large ones into the bargain, so I’m proud of the little fellow.

“2015 has been a great year, the staff here in Worcestershire have really got the bit between their teeth. We are now part-assembling our electric bikes in the UK. You can’t reverse the trend of foreign sourcing overnight, but Gtech will make more stuff in Britain in the future. Our above-the-floor vacuum ‘Multi’ has just been upgraded, which is rapidly catching the AirRam up and in total, six new products will launch in the next six months. It’s a really interesting and fun time.”

Other new names include Worcester housebuilder Lioncourt Homes at 25, Redditch-based travel agent Cruice.co.uk (54) and Hindlip-based contract caterer Aspens Services (97).

Sir Richard Branson of Virgin, the title sponsor of the league table, said: "This year’s Fast Track 100 is packed full of entrepreneurs and family businesses tackling many different challenges head-on and thriving thanks to their team spirit and togetherness. Entrepreneurship and family values are at the heart of everything we do at Virgin. Like many on the Fast Track 100, we’ve turned a family business into a business family. Working with family works."