Mining and property company UK Coal has leapfrogged construction groups Keepmoat and Henry Boot to become the Sheffield City Region's second most profitable company.
Topping the list – for the third year in succession – is SIG, the Sheffield-based supplier of insulating, roofing and commercial interiors products, which now has treble the turnover and twice the number of employees as its nearest rivals.
But, he
ading downwards as the credit crunch bites is Full Circle Future, holding company for sofa retailer DFS, which previously held the title of most profitable business.
Resurgent Sheffield stainless steel manufacturer Outokumpu has secured a place among the region's top profit makers for the first time since the Star Business/Barber Harrison & Platt survey began.
Meanwhile, a Barnsley company has also gained a place among the most profitable companies for the first time in three years.
New entry Billington Holdings was created as the result of a £9.4 million buy-out from the Wakefield-based AMCO Corporation.
Billington Holdings comprises Billington Structures, Hollybank, Easi-Edge and Dosco.
Billington Structures has plants in Barnsley and Bristol and designs, fabricates and erects structural steelwork for the construction industry.
Hollybank, Dosco and Easi-Edge are based in Newark.
Hollybank makes steel arches for the mining industry, Dosco has an internationally reputation for designing and manufacturing underground tunneling and roadheading machinery and Easi-Edge makes safety systems for the construction industry.
Billington, along with SIG – which is due to announce its interims tomorrow, Keepmoat, Henry Boot, Hepworth and Finnegan show that there is still something to celebrate in the construction industry.
However, two housebuilders – Ben Bailey, which was acquired by Gladedale last year, and Strata - have dropped out of the table of the 20 most profitable companies in the region.
Metals companies are also well represented with four companies among the top ten profit makers and six companies in the top 20.
The six comprises steel firms Forgings International Holdings, or Firth Rixson as it used to be known, Outokumpu, castings group William Cook and TDY Holdings, part of the US-based ATI group of companies, which includes ATI Allvac, the hi-tech alloys business which is located on the site once occupied by Firth Brown.
Metals recycler ELG Haniel and stockholder C F Booth also secure places in the league table of leading profit makers.
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The full article contains 413 words and appears in Star Business newspaper.