The Hut Group have ranked number 4 in the ‘Sunday Times Tech Track 100 of the UK’s fastest growing companies’ with growth of 162% from sales of £53.60m in 2009/10 versus £2.98m in 2006/07.

Topping the league table at number 1 last year, The Hut Group have appeared in the table every year in the past four years and have featured in the top ten in the past three, despite being less than 6 years old.

Founded in 2004 and based in Northwich Cheshire, The Hut Group is an online retailing platform focused on fast moving consumer goods including Entertainment (Games, DVDs, CDs, Books), Electricals, Gadgets, Health & Beauty, Footwear, Gifts, Accessories, Toys and Sports.

The Hut Group retails online through its own sites including TheHut.com,  Zavvi.com,  IWantOneOfThose.com,  Gifted.com,  MyBag.co.uk and Washbag.com.

In April 2010, The Hut Group raised £14m from a consortium of investors, including:

Balderton Capital, Artemis, William Currie Group and Angus Munro, the former chief executive of Matalan.

M&A Director, Steve Whitehead said, “The business remains focussed on delivering growth through a combination of organic new site launches such as MyBag.co.uk and Washbag.com plus through selective acquisitions. This growth strategy is evidenced within Gifting, where the Hut is now the UK’s largest operator across our existing site, Gifted.com and IWantOneOfThose.com, which we acquired in August.”

The Hut Group now employs over 200 members of staff and recently announced an apprentice NVQ scheme, which will bring 100-150 talented youngsters from the local area into the business for the year long vocational courses in Buying, Marketing, Design, Finance and more with the aim of nurturing the best talent at grass roots level in the North West.