Perthshire firm leads the way as nine Scots businesses named in ‘fastest-growing’ overseas sales list

Perthshire clothing and footwear supplier GLD Group has been named as the fastest-growing Scottish business for international sales.

The business achieved the status after being ranked 20th in the latest Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 league table.

To qualify for the table, UK firms must have recorded total sales of at least £25 million and international sales of at least £1 million in the latest financial year.

Eight other firms operating from headquarters in Scotland were also named in the UK’s top 200.

Together they have grown their international sales by an average of 42 per cent a year over the last two years.

Out in front, Blairgowrie-based GLD saw international sales rise by 112 per cent over two years to £12.3 million.

The group licenses or owns the rights to design and distribute fashion and sportswear brands, including Umbro.

It also supplies Italian shoe line Superga and French rain jacket brand K-Way.

Moray-based food producer Baxters is ranked 34th in the table, with overseas sales of £197.6 million. The company manufactures in the UK, US, Canada, Australia and Poland, and sells to more than 30 countries.

Aberdeenshire-based brewer and bar operator BrewDog features for the third time this year, at 193rd.

The firm, which was founded in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie, now exports to more than 60 countries, with international sales reaching £13.4 million in 2016.

Other Scottish firms ranked in top 200:

Amanda Murphy, UK head of commercial banking at HSBC, said: “This year’s Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 is testament to the exciting opportunities available to ambitious Scottish businesses with appetite to grow their goods and services abroad.

“The nine companies in Scotland are putting the country firmly on the map as a thriving business hub.”

The full list of 200 UK companies can be seen in this weekend’s Sunday Times.