34. Chess

Key points

Revenue: £110.3m (+25%)

Net profit: 3.5%

Staff: 528

Acquisitive Chess burst through the £100m revenue mark in its fiscal year to 30 April 2017 and was recently crowned the top UK workplace by the Sunday Times' Best Companies to Work For 2018. With a heritage in fixed-line telecoms, Alderley Edge-based Chess is seeking to re-invent itself as a ‘unified solutions provider' and in April 2017 leapt into the cybersecurity space by acquiring Foursys, a deal it said would add £11m to its top line.