A quarter of the Sunday Times 100  fastest growing companies are recruitment agencies.

Three agencies are in the top 10 with Bristol-based JJ Fox coming fourth having reported £9m in sales last year, up 165.6%.

Founded in 2004 by Adam Smith, Robert Tillett and Dominic Smith with five employees, the agency now has 82 consultants across offices in Manchester, Richmond, Newcastle, Bournemouth and Truro.   

Essex-based security staff provider Manpower Direct came eighth in the list with a 144% annual growth in sales totalling £5.6m in 2007 and Medicare First came ninth with a 142.7% increase in sales to £10.5m.

Recruitment agencies in the fastest growing 100 private companies:

4 - JJ Fox - multi-sector - 165.6% annual growth in sales

8 - Manpower Direct - security services and staffing provider - 144%

9 - Medicare First - recruitment consultancy - 142.7%

12 - Allen Lane - financial recruitment firm -138.72%

13 - Interim Partners - interim - 136.5%

15 - Practicus - interim - 132.96%

18 - Mayday Healthcare - medical - 118.85%

19 - Hobson Prior - clinical, medical and regulatory specialists - 116.76%

20 - First Point Group - telecoms - 114.76%

26 - 33Six Consultancy - Senior IT - 100.62%

27 - Octavian Security - security staff provider - 100.26%

32 - Global Resourcing - IT - 92.57%

35 - Cornwallis ELT - IT - 90.09%

38 - Fusion People - technical - 88.01%

43 - G2 Recruitment - IT- 84.98%

45 - Shilton Sharpe Quarry - Legal - 83.07%

48 - FPSG - multi-sector - 79.82%

49 - Investigo - finance and IT - 79.6%

51 - Kinsey Allen Consulting - executive search - 77.69%

62 - People Source Consulting - IT - 68.4%

63 - Edge Recruits - virtual recruitment agency - 67.95%

68 - Eurostaff Group - IT and telecoms - 65.75%

76 - MSI Group - medical, IT and telecoms - 62.24%

84 - Connex Recruitment - public sector - 58.66%

96 - Portfolio Payroll - payroll - 53.64% 

Daniel Smith, director and co-founder of JJ Fox, put the company’s success down to working hard, incentivising staff and a good leadership development programme.

He told Recruiter: “There is no real secret to success, just working harder and turning things around more quickly. We have invested heavily in training and developing our staff. It was always our collective goal when we started the company to get into the Fast Track 100.”

Don’t miss the 14 January 2009 issue of Recruiter which will feature our first fast 50, a look at the 50 fastest growing companies in the UK recruitment industry.