AN EAST Anglian valve distributor is to feature for the fourth year running in a listing of independent businesses with the fastest-growing profits.

R P Valves, of Mildenhall, is ranked 94th in the 2010 Sunday Times PricewaterhouseCoopers Profit Track 100, which is due to be published in full this weekend.

The company, which has a workforce of 32, achieved a profit of �17.4million during the year to January 2009, according to the listing, compared with �5.9m in 2006, representing average annual profit growth of 43.33% over the past three years.

R P Valves was set up by Robert Palmer in 1994, with a �6,000 redundancy payment, and its customers now include BP and Shell.

The Profit Track 100 listing ranks the 100 private companies in Britain which have achieved the biggest increase in profitability over their three most recent annual accounting periods.

This year’s listing includes national names such as discount retailer Poundland, price comparison website Cheapflights and fashion retailer Cath Kidston.

The highest-ranked company in East Anglia is Norwich-based offshore services provider Acteon, also appearing in the list for the fourth consecutive year, which is in 16th place with a profit for the year to December 2008 of �52.3m and average annual profit growth over three years of 93.26%.

Two other regional firms appear in the list for the first time: agronomy advisor Hutchinsons, based at Wisbech, which is in 51st place with a profit for �7m for the year to December 2008, representing three-year average growth of 58.26%, and electrical heating equipment maker Exheat, based at Watton, near Thetford, in 70th place with a profit of �3.3m for the year to August 2008, representing average growth of 50.7%.

John Minards, south east regional leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, which sponsors the listing, said: “It is great to see local privately-owned companies deliver sustained profit growth and making such a positive contribution to the economy.”