Belfast firm W&R Barnett tops business list with £1.57bn sales

W&R Barnett owns Belfast-based Thompsons animal feeds

W&R Barnett was Northern Ireland's top performing business last year, analysis from Ulster Business magazine suggests.

The analysis ranks the top 100 firms primarily by turnover.

The Belfast-based commodities and manufacturing group Barnett's had sales of £1.57bn and pre-tax profits of £69.1m for the year ending July 2022.

Across the top 100 firms turnover grew by 16.6% to £30.7bn from £26.3bn while pre-tax profits grew by 11.4% - from £1.43bn to £1.59bn.

Barnett's best known local division is Thompsons animal feeds, based on a prominent site in Belfast.

The group also trades in grains, oils and sugar, operates port facilities and manufactures packaging products.

Ulster Business editor John Mulgrew said: "We can see from the companies topping the list, those rising up it, and the newcomers, that the Northern Ireland business landscape is in a fairly healthy place given the sheer variety and wide breadth of firms making the top 100 this year."

Some of the new firms making this year's list include Newtownabbey-based MBNI Holdings, which sells trucks and vans and mid-Ulster firm CDE Global, which makes processing equipment for the mining, quarrying and recycling sectors.

Wrightbus, the Ballymena-based bus maker, has re-entered the list, reflecting its growth since it was bought out of administration.