by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Recession has been tough on business, but 50 Kent firms have defied the gloom to record extra-special growth.

They are all in MegaGrowth50, the annual listing of the county’s 50 fastest-growing companies. Their position in the league table will be revealed at an eggs and bacon breakfast presentation at Leeds Castle on October 7.

The annual survey, sponsored by Lloyds TSB Commercial and Reeves & Neylan and produced by the KM Group, is always eagerly awaited, with the top 50 keen to know just where they are in the fast-growth pecking order.

Each of the 50 will win a framed certificate, with special awards and bottles of bubbly for those at the top of the list. Their percentage rate of growth is calculated from Companies House records over a four-year period.

Firms hoping for a top 10 place cover all sectors of the Kent and Medway economy. They range from specialist recruitment firm Hobson Prior, Tunbridge Wells, to Bordeaux Wine Investments and Foresight Group, both in Sevenoaks, and BACTEC International, a mine clearance firm based on Medway City Estate but with operations worldwide.

To see the full top 50 list - in alphabetical order - click here

Others in the frame include Hawkspare, of Green Street Green, Dartford, an exporter of construction equipment, and Alltask, an asbestos removal to fire protection company, based in Rochester.

Limen Construction and HE Group - the firm behind Diggerland - both in Medway, are among several construction-related firms in the frame, along with finance companies Pharon Independent Advisers, Harbledown, and Heartwood Wealth Management, Tunbridge Wells. Former winner Plastering Contractors (Stanmore), based in Erith, will be looking for another high position.

Clive Stevens, managing partner of Reeves & Neylan, which has offices in Cantrebury, Chatham Maritime, Dover, Gatwick and London, said: “It’s staggering that these 50 businesses were responsible for sales of more than £1.2bn last year and they are all privately owned. If growing profitably by more than 60 per cent over four years isn’t good news, then what is?”

Phil Beales, area director for Lloyds TSB Commercial in Kent and East Sussex, added: “Over the past year, companies in Kent have faced unprecedented challenges, but it has been great to see many local firms overcoming the tough economic conditions to build successful, award-winning businesses.”

• The results will be revealed on KentOnline on October 7. A special MegaGrowth 50 supplement will be published in the October issue of Kent Business, distributed with the Kent Messenger, Medway Messenger, Kentish Gazette and Kentish Express on October 8 and 9.