MORE than 20 companies from Hampshire feature in London Stock Exchange Group’s 1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain– an annual celebration of some of the fastest-growing and most dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK.

The report show growth across the country with more than half of the companies from outside of the South East

Thirty five per cent of companies in the report come from the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine regions.

Scottish companies continue to be the fastest growing with 91 per cent annual average revenue growth.

Engineering and construction, with 134, is the biggest sector represented followed by financial services, 82.

The Hampshire companies featuring in the list include Just Develop iT (financial), RJM International (manufacturing), Onecom (telcoms), Limewood (hotels), Nationwide Concreting, Whitescape (engineering and construction), Newvoicemedia (IT), 3V Natural Foods, Elmdene International Living (manufacturing), STR group (employment services), Churchill Retirement Living, Industrial Cleaning Equipment Ltd, Maats Tech (construction and engineering), Churches Fire Security, Elstead Lighting, MWR Infosecurity, Harwood Health Management, Fassett (employment services), Porta Romana (retail), Walter (construction), TJ Waste, Portchester Equity (financial services) and Ace 4 Kebabs.

Ranked at 16 in the 120-strong list south east companies in the top 1,000 is Limewood, which also include Home Grown Hotels, whose Pig brand has expanded rapidly since the beginning of the decade.

Each hotel is based on the concept of a restaurant with rooms and a kitchen garden, which together offer a touch of luxury combined with a homely charm.

“We are entrepreneurial boutique hoteliers,” explains chairman and CEO Robin Hutson. “We purchase, develop and operate hotels, inventing a style of country house hotel that has not previously been achieved.”

The hotels, which all come under The Pig brand, range in size from 12-30 bedrooms and include The Pig near Bath, The Pig in the Wall in Southampton and The Pig on the Beach in Studland, Dorset.

Although the Pig brand was created in 2011, Home Grown Hotels’ began two years earlier, when it launched the Lime Wood Hotel near Lyndhurst, with a restaurant jointly run by top chefs Angela Hartnett and Luke Holder.

The group also operates the Portetta ski hotel at Courchevel Moriond in the French Alps.

There are plans expand its business further.“We could add another three or four hotels to The Pig portfolio in the next five years,” says Robin. “Our staff currently number 700, and this will increase to over 1,000.”