Report lists fastest-growing companies

Chinese state-owned enterprises and private companies continues to grow at a fast clip in the UK market in 2016, according to a report released by a London accountancy.

The Grant Thornton Tou Ying Tracker 2016, produced in collaboration with China Daily, shows that 16 fastest-growing Chinese SOEs in the UK grew at an average rate of 146 percent in 2016, while the top 14 private firms grew at an average of 210 percent.

The tracking analysis has been conducted in each of the past four years. The latest installment is the first time the authors have divided the list between SOEs and private companies. "Private firms are becoming a more crucial part of the growth story of Chinese businesses in the UK. This also aligns with what's going on in China," says Jon Wallis, head of China Outbound at Grant Thornton and co-author on the report.

China is now publishing foreign direct investment data on a quarterly basis, he says - "split between SOE and private" companies.

The report, which is based on accounts filed at Companies House in London by Chinese-controlled entities, says the 30 listed businesses employ 25,000 people in the UK and had a combined turnover of 9.8 billion ($11.9 billion; 11.3 billion euros) - down from 35 billion the previous year, which was largely attributed to petrochemical conglomerate Sinochem, with past turnover of 30 billion, not making this year's report.

Telecom giant Huawei, one of the list's regulars, featured once again, after a year in which the company's brand recognition in the UK increased significantly and global sales were up for a fifth consecutive year. On Jan 6, the company projected sales revenue of 178 billion yuan ($25.7 billion; 24.3 billion euros; 21.2 billion) for 2016, up by 42 percent from a year ago.

A spokesman for Huawei told China Daily that mobile phones "took off last year, so the most recent breakthrough is on the consumer side".

"Huawei Consumer BG has achieved great breakthroughs in the European high-end market thanks to strong sales of P9 and P9 Plus."

Of the private firms, the manufacturing and technology sectors were once again well represented, but surprise new entries in the retail and consumer industries - such as Manchester-based babywear company Brecrest Fashion - highlighted the increasingly diverse array of Chinese-controlled private companies in the UK.

"When we first started doing the tracker a few years ago, what we saw was that the bulk of the Chinese activity in the UK was government-owned - the big banks, some of the big players in energy and so on," says Simon Bevan, head of China Britain Services Group at Grant Thornton and co-author of the report. "These state-owned companies between them have provided a platform, an infrastructure, for the private companies that make up the second wave of Chinese investment into the UK."

Fourteen of the 16 SOEs in the list arose through organic growth, while mergers and acquisitions accounted for eight of the 14 private firms.

Wallis says the acquisition of Brecrest follows from Chinese investment in department store House of Fraser and jewelry retailer Links of London, highlighting an emerging strategy in which Chinese companies are taking control of UK retail brands and bringing them into the Chinese domestic market.

This year's list was once again heavily populated by SOEs from the energy, technology and financial services sectors. Wallis says Bank of China came back "with a bang", having been absent from the list since 2014.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 01/13/2017 page30)