In the second of our pieces rounding up the year in North East businesses, we mark the annual tradition of naming the best companies of 2025.
Filtronic
A second year running on the ‘best companies’ list for County Durham technology firm Filtronic, which has had a remarkable run over the last 18 months.
The County Durham telecoms company has secured a number of major orders over that time from Elon Musk’s SpaceX firm, including a £47m order announced in August. Other major contracts have also been announced throughout the year as the firm moved to larger premises on the NETPark development.
In September Filtronic was named Business of the Year at the North East Business Awards and it later released accounts that showed a 121% leap in revenue to more than £56m. Operating profits more than tripled to £13.4m.
Elite Energy
In October, Stockton energy efficiency firm Elite Energy was named the North East’s fastest growing company at the Ward Hadaway Fastest 50 awards.
Over the past decade, the company has grown from a regional heating installer to a full low-carbon retrofit specialist, leveraging ECO and other funding programmes to help households reduce both their carbon footprint and energy bills. Its services include solar PV installations, air-source heat pumps, boiler upgrades, insulation and smart heating systems, often supported through Government grant schemes.
The company has shown 144.21% average revenue growth over the last three years.
Kromek
The amazing science and innovation carried out at Kromek has never been in doubt; whether that could be turned into profit has proved more difficult.
But 2025 was the year when the doubters were proved wrong, thanks in large part to a £30m “transformational” deal with global firm Siemens Medical Solutions in January. Other multimillion-pound contracts were also announced, along with high profile uses of its radiation detection equipment.
In September, the Durham University spin-out announced a £3.1m profit as revenues jumped 37% to £26.5m.
Hays Travel
It was a year of growth for Sunderland’s Hays Travel, which sealed four acquisitions during the year to bring a number of smaller travel groups into its fold.
That helped the company’s turnover grow to £506.6m while operating profits increased from £60.3m to £64.5m.
Earlier this month, the company won the Best National Travel Retailer at the British Travel Awards though some of its takeover deals are now subject to an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority.
Port of Tyne
Port of Tyne CEO Matt Beeton sounded a note of huge optimism in the summer when he used the port’s results to say that the North East was entering a key period of economic growth.
He was speaking as the port reported a big rise in revenues thanks in part to work in the renewable energy sector. The port has hosted the operations base for the massive Dogger Bank wind farm for the last two years and there are hopes that it will attract more jobs in the offshore energy sector in the North Sea.
Proposals were announced this year for a £923m factory on the port’s South Shields site that could create hundreds of jobs, while plans for the £150m Tyne Clean Energy Park was unveiled to investors in London in September.
Newcastle Airport
A busy year for the airport culminated this month with one of the world’s largest operators, Aena Internacional, buying a quarter stake in the organisation.
Also this year the airport released its masterplan for 2040 which outlines plans to lengthen its runway, add more destinations and almost double passenger numbers.
The airport also announced new partnerships with budget airlines easyJet and Ryanair that will create a significant number of new jobs and add new destinations for passengers.
Kani Payments
In February, Newcastle fintech firm Kani Payments secured a multimillion-pound investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II to grow its team and expand overseas.
The firm was founded seven years ago to tackle the complex challenges of payment reconciliation and reporting required by banks, payment companies and other fintechs.
The year also saw Kani’s CEO Aaron Holmes named on the ‘Ones to Watch’ list of LDC’s Most Ambitious Business Leaders.
Literal Labs
One of the biggest deals of the year saw Newcastle-based AI startup Literal Labs secure £4.6m in investment just two years after being founded.
Newcastle University spinout Literal Labs is an AI algorithm company that uses logic-based techniques to generate custom AI models. It was cofounded by academics Prof Alex Yakovlev and Prof Rishad Shafik, based on their work in machine learning and computer systems design.
The company secured backing from Northern Gritstone, Mercuri, Sure Valley Ventures, Cambridge Future Tech SPV and several angel investors.
