FIVE private firms in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have been making some of the fastest growing profits in the UK.

Topping The Sunday Times' profit track 100 is insurance underwriter BDML, based at Portsmouth and employing 450 people.

At 22, Lucite International, a plastics maker headquartered in Southampton, made £70.2m profit, a 79 per cent rise.

At 28, Lyndhurst-based chemicals maker Ineos Group turned in a £156.1m profit, a 75.5 per cent rise.

At 31, sea vessel operator Carisbrooke Shipping, based on the Isle of Wight, made just under £4m profit, a rise of 73.3 per cent.

At 34, Churchill Retirement Living, based in Ringwood, made nearly £5.4m, a rise of just under 70 per cent.