TWO Bradford district firms have been named on a prestigious national list of businesses with the fastest-growing sales over the last three years.

Redfern Travel, based in Eldon Place, Bradford, and SportsShoes.com from Jubilee Way, Shipley, have been ranked in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 league table.

Redfern, which employs 93 people, finished in 50th place. Their sales growth was ranked at 69 per cent over the last three years, for the year end to March 2014. Their sales figures were £202.5 million.

They managed travel reservations for ten government departments and were established in Bradford in 1937. They have 500 organisations on their books, with 500,000 registered travellers.

Meanwhile, SportsShoes.com finished in 100th place, with a 45 per cent annual growth over the last three years, up to February this year.

The firm employs 101 staff and has recorded sales of £3.5m.

They sell running shoes and clothing to customers in 100 countries.

SportsShoes.com, founded by Bradford City legend Bruce Bannister, is the leading specialist running and fitness retailer in the UK and stocks more than 9,000 products.

It stocks a wide range of branded footwear, clothing and accessories aimed at serious sports and keep fit enthusiasts.

Sportsshoes.com has focused entirely on internet sales since closing its city centre shop on Hall Ings, opened by Bruce in 1982, following an 18-month wrangle over the rent.

Brett Bannister, managing director of Sportsshoes.com, said: “We are delighted to be included in such a respected list.

“We are also proud that as a Bradford-based independent retailer we have achieved this success against larger competitors.

“As a Yorkshire business, we like to keep things simple.

“We have grown by focusing on the basics – best-in-class product offering, a devotion to keeping our customers happy and a fabulous team of employees. We hope that these principles will help us to grow even further in the future.”

A total of 13 firms from Yorkshire and the North East were ranked in the national list of the fast-growing private companies.Together they employ 1,800 staff and have achieved combined sales of £760m. They appear alongside businesses from across the UK including Bill’s Restaurants, brewery BrewDog, snack firm Graze.com and retailer Oak Furniture Land.

The Fast Track 100 league table and awards programme is sponsored by Virgin, Barclays, BDO and BGF and is compiled by Fast Track, the Oxford-based research and networking events company.

To qualify, companies had to be registered in the UK and be independent and unquoted. Sales growth was measured by compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the latest three financial years.

The full list of firms will be published on Sunday. For more information, go to fasttrack.co.uk.