Top 100: Exceptional profits and turnover, plus a rather special secret about Ecotricity

Profits and turnover at Ecotricity have gone stratospheric. And here's another thing - the firm is part of a 'new' group of companies big enough to rank in the top 10 in Gloucestershire by turnover!

Ecotricity owner Dale Vince. More about both in the story below.

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Dear readers, 

Welcome to Friday’s edition of The Raikes Journal. We hope you have had a good week.

This is the first of our weekly editions we are paywalling, but don’t panic – there is still plenty to read below. It’s the main story on a Friday that will be only for the eyes of our paying members from now on. Thursday’s newsletter will follow suit shortly too. Monday’s will always be entirely free!

And this will be the model from now, meaning those who commit to the £2.30 a week will get access to eight extra whole editions a month, plus the ability to comment on our stories, steer our direction of travel, and view our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series - which follows the financial fortunes of the county’s biggest firms by turnover. 

That £2.30 fee will also go a long way towards making this community interest company sustainable as it seeks to create a respected, editorially-led platform for Gloucestershire and deliver a renaissance in quality journalism.

If you have not already, please do consider joining becoming a paid-for subscriber and helping make this mission possible. 

Subscriptions by groups of two or more get 20 per cent off!

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Why today’s main story? 

One of the pluses of being a paid-for subscriber is being able to follow the financial fortunes and developments at the county’s biggest firms by turnover by following Raikes’ rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series in our Reports & Deals channel. 

Today we feature one of those firms, viewed by many as a medium-sized player in the aforementioned list and a minnow – albeit with considerable bite – in the energy sector in which it cuts a dash as a green pioneer.  

But today we reveal not only that Ecotricity has just seen its profits and turnover rocket by several hundred per cent, but that the firm is actually part of a group which would very probably sneak just inside the top 10 biggest businesses in Gloucestershire. 

To do that a business needs to have a turnover is more than half a billion pounds! We tell you all about the whys and wherefores below. 

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But before that... some briefing notes:  

🔥🔥 Just a quick note to wish all those brave souls - or should that be soles!! - taking on this evening's fire walk in aid of Caring for Community and People (CCP) and the Gloucestershire Deaf Association at Brickhampton Court Golf Complex. Apparently 30 have agreed to sign up when registration opens at 6pm to walk the walk and raise money for two of Gloucestershire's brilliant charities. The walk itself starts at 8pm and should be wrapped up in time for some much-earned celebrations from 8.30pm onwards. Yes, you are welcome along to support. It is hoped the evening will raise £7,000. 

🏗️ On Monday, March 4, a project three years in the making which could see the transformation of one of Gloucester’s most historic buildings will get a thumbs up, or thumbs down, at the city council's cabinet meeting. We are talking about The Phoenix Village – a plan that could result in the repurposing of what was The Fleece Hotel plus the Longsmith Street Carpark and former Gloucestershire Academy of Music building to its rear. The Phoenix Village, which is a community interest company, wants to ‘create a one-stop, full-service provision for young adults who have missed opportunities, fallen through the traditional educational gaps’ and provide ‘affordable accommodation, multiple opportunities for skills training with accreditation, autonomous health, and advanced mental health provision’. If the council, which owns the former hotel and does not want it empty any longer than it has been already, says ‘yes’ it will work with the group – which will also have the no little challenge of dealing with the 15^th century Grade 1 Listed timber-framed former inn which stands above a 12^th century masonry undercroft. Last year saw a long-standing plan for Cheltenham building firm Dowdeswell to redevelop it crumble into dust, so the pressure is on.

💷 Those with an eye on the Budget on Wednesday, March 6, who prefer to share the experience but don't yet know where to go, should consider Kingsholm Stadium. Randall & Payne is partnering with wealth management firm Rathbones and staging a chance to watch the announcements live on a big screen from 11am to 2.30pm. So you know there will be plenty of expertise on hand for the question and answer session which will follow. Coffee and a light lunch will be included. There will also be the inevitable networking. You can find out more by contacting Randall & Payne: marketing@randall-payne.co.uk. 

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Our featured charity: The Music Works

GCODA at Gloucestershire Cathedral. Images courtesy of Salo Elia @jumpcut_visuals.

We just wanted to tip a hat to those making this event happen tonight. You may remember the Knife Angel sculpture that took up residence outside Gloucester Cathedral in February last year and moved so many. This was art’s answer to the devastation caused by knife crime. Tonight, at The Music Works - from its vantage point high above King’s Square in Gloucester city centre - we will hear young people’s answer through art to what knife crime means to their lives and their communities. The @gcodaofficial crew (GCODA) will do what they do best – perform – in this case songs from the album Lights Out! recorded at The Music Works with funds won from Arts Council England. This is GCODA’s musical and lyrical ‘knife angel’. If you don’t know The Music Works, the charity is all about community, all about music, and all about hope. Doors open at 7.30pm, there is a panel discussion at 8pm, then performances from 8.30pm, a DJ and networking from 9.15pm and it all wraps up by 10pm. Entry is free. Find out more here.

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Aside from exceptional profits and turnover we reveal a rather special secret about Ecotricity

By Andrew Merrell

If you wanted to run a business in a sector where there has been considerable opportunity to increase your profits and turnover of late then it looks like electricity or gas was it. 

Ecotricity, the Stroud-headquartered green energy firm famously founded by Dale Vince, has revealed a dramatic rise in profits and turnover for its last financial year.

And that’s not all, as we trawled its just-published report for the year ending April 30 2023 we also discovered it is part of little-known group of county businesses with a collective turnover in excess of half a billion pounds.