Press Release
Gala Coral Group named Britain's Biggest Private Company
The Sunday Times Top Track 100 survey of British private companies has named the Gala Coral Group as Britain's number one private company.
The annual Top Track 100, provides a definitive insight into Britain's powerhouse private businesses. Gala Coral topped this year's league table following Gala Group's £2.18 billion acquisition of Coral Eurobet in October 2005.
The new group has leading brands across the entire gambling market, including Gala Bingo, Gala Casinos, Coral betting shops, Eurobet which also operates the UK's No 1 online bingo site galabingo.co.uk. The survey says that, "Combined sales of the two businesses, which employs more than 17,000 people, reached £7,433 million in the year to September 2005, generating an operating profit of £242m. This makes Gala Coral a major player in a market that is rapidly changing thanks to the deregulation of gambling in Britain and the rise of a global base of customers who play online."
Gala Coral is jointly owned by the leading private equity firms, Candover, Cinven and Permira.
The top five private companies listed in the league table were:
1. Gala Coral Group
2. John Lewis Partnership
3. Somerfield
4. Palmer and Harvey
5. Ineos Group
Full details on: www.fasttrack.co.uk
July 2, 2006
