A BOOM period for Ipswich's ten biggest businesses has given them a turnover of nearly £1 billion in 12 months, it can be revealed today.The group of town giants - which includes manufacturers and transport companies as well as a yacht builder, had a collective annual turnover of a £976.

A BOOM period for Ipswich's ten biggest businesses has given them a turnover of nearly £1 billion in 12 months, it can be revealed today.

The group of town giants - which includes manufacturers and transport companies as well as a yacht builder, had a collective annual turnover of a £976.5 million, a new survey shows.

The figures reflect a period of huge economic growth in Ipswich, illustrated in a series of flat-building schemes and the expansion of New Suffolk College.

And with billionaire Marcus Evans ploughing a £44 million investment into Ipswich Town Football Club, this could see the area take off even more.

Coupled with their success on the pitch of late, there is a new optimism about their future and possible entry to the Premiership which could see an even bigger windfall coming the way of Ipswich.

Last time the town entered the premiership Ipswich saw a boom in its economy.

Richard Atkins, Ipswich borough council planning and economic development portfolio holder, said the town was helped by its closeness to London and its attractive appearance.

He said: “It is a superb place to do business. We benefit from being close to London - one of the major business hubs of the world.

“We also have more square metres of grass per 1,000 people than any other place in the country. It's London without the downsides.”

Andrew Morley, from Ensors Chartered Accounts in Ipswich, which produced the statistics, said: “When I first saw the figures I thought they were mind-blowing.

“We made the table to show the sectors which are doing well. All of these companies have made steady progress.”

Top of the table was Suffolk Life Group, the Princes Street-based pensions and investment company which had a turnover of £335,453,000.

It was followed by manufacturing firm Crane Limited and Nidera UK Limited, an agricultural commodities company.

The figures for turnover in 2005 - the last year for which numbers are available - were calculated for the first time to go alongside the Ipswich 100 index, which measures the town's fastest-growing businesses.

Ensors worked out the 20 largest firms based on trading reports filed at Companies House.

The total turnover of the top 20 is £1.201643 billion.

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See tomorrow's Evening Star for news of Ipswich's fastest growing companies.

Finance Suffolk Life Group plc - £335,453,000

Manufacturing Crane Limited - £128,263,000

Agriculture Nidera UK Limited - £116,911,000

Engineering Jackson Civil Engineering Limited, Jackson - £97,149,000

Transport and logistics Samskip Multimodal Container Logistics Limited - £73,996,000

Manufacturing Ransomes Jacobsen Limited - £65,524,000

Transport and Logistics Orwell Trucks Limited, Betts Avenue - £57,011,000

Manufacturing Celotex Limited - £35,606,000

Horticulture Thompson & Morgan Group Holdings Limited - £33,815,000

Yacht Building Oyster Marine Yacht Builders Limited -£32,787,000

WE'RE BACKING IPSWICH

We launched the We're Backing Ipswich campaign after finding nearly 100 empty shops in Ipswich town centre.

The campaign aims at highlighting the good businesses that are in the town and urging people to come here to keep Ipswich a great place.