The Hot 100 ranking is dominated by the financial sector, which provided more entrants than any other industry.

Topping this year’s list of elite entrepreneurs is the derivatives data provider the Markit Group. (To read a full profile, click here.)

The firm grew by an average of 234 per cent per anum over the past four years to record £53m sales in 2007. Founded by former Canadian banking executive Lance Uggla just seven years ago, Markit pools credit-trading data and supplies some of the financial sector’s most important barometers.

Six other firms from the sector finished among the top 30 firms including eighth placed derivatives consultancy, the Derivatives Group, with 156 per cent growth.

The businesses are joined on the list by:

•    Foreign currency manager ECU Group (16th, 130 %)•    Hedge fund manager Dexion Capital (22nd, 121 %)•    Independent financial services adviser Mint Financial Services (24th, 119%)•    Foreign currency manager Record (25th, 118 %)•    Hedge fund manager Winton Capital Management (28th, 114 %)•    IFA Financial (30th, 108 %)•    Stockbroker Oriel Securities (50th, 88 %)•    Moneylender Prestige Finance (54th, 85 %)•    Financial trading provider 7 City Group (60th, 77 %)•    IFA Personal Touch Financial Services (77th, 63 %)•    Finance broker and finance house Henry Howard Finance (88th, 57 %)

 The Real Business/LDC Hot 100 Survey – which has been running for over a decade – tracks the fastest growing firms by sales over the past four years.

Grant Berry, UK regional managing director of sponsors LDC – the private equity arm of Lloyds TSB – said: “Their success is a testament to the diversity and resilience of the UK economy, providing clear evidence that our entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well.”

Findings from an accompanying survey of Hot 100 founders also showed that:

•    Two thirds of entrepreneurs on the list remortgaged their homes to raise funds to start their business •    44 per cent have received investment from third parties for development capital/secondary buyout•    87 per cent of businesses have received no Government funding•    Only just over half of founders are graduates with almost 40 per cent leaving school at GCSE or A level.

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