Top 100: A turnover of more than £100 million and hidden off a Gloucester street

Raikes takes a trip to lower Southgate Street just past the entrance to Gloucester Docks – no, not for a kebab or slice of pizza – but in search of two companies which together turnover £100 million.

* This Reports and Deals section of Raikes, and its star attraction the perpetual Top 100-plus Businesses in Gloucestershire list, tracks the fortunes of the county’s biggest firms by turnover and will also host an annual ranking of all the companies. And it could be sponsored by your business! Contact andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk for more information. In the meantime we would like to thank the generous support of our partners - who we will be revealing over the coming weeks - our founding members' and our paid-up subscribers. A massive ‘thank you’ to all our other subscribers too. The support of all of you is invaluable! 

Lower Southgate Street, Gloucester, with 154 Southgate Street just past Ducks Mini Market (Image courtesy of Google Streetview).

Southgate Street in Gloucester, up from Spa Road roundabout, is not just a good place to pick up a takeaway, visit a barber or find a bedsit - hidden between the former Halallal Peri Peri’s Chickenland and Ducks Mini Mart is the address for two firms – together turning over more than £100 million.

In December Raikes reported on the latest financial report from internet domain name hosting firm Fasthosts, famously founded by a Gloucester teenager as his A-Level project way back in 1998 and that went on to make him £46 million when he sold the business in 2006.

Today that company is still thriving and at the end of 2023 announced its most recent declared turnover had risen to £44 million – which cements its place in Raikes’s rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series yet again.

In 2022 it opened a datacentre off the M5, a £21 million investment in partnership with its parent company, the UK arm of Ionos, which provides website hosting, domain name registration services, provision of server and website development software.

Ionos itself as has just revealed the latest financial results for its UK operations, which are also in Gloucester and show turnover rose from £67,987,000 to £70,912,000.

Which brings us neatly back to the aforementioned spot on Southgate Street – the registered offices for both firms, an unlikely spot just opposite Flames kebab shop.

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• This story is part of Raikes’ rolling focus on the Top 100-plus businesses in Gloucestershire, ranked by turnover. Our Top 100 stories are paywalled and for the privilege of members only.

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