Two Cumbrian businesses are on a list of Britain’s leading private mid-market companies with the biggest sales.

Lloyd Motors of Carlisle and kitchenware retailer Lakeland, based in Windermere, appear in the Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250.

Lloyd is 34th with sales of £380m and profits of £9m, up from 68th place last year.

The business, owned by brothers Barry and Bryan Lloyd, operates 19 car dealerships at Carlisle and Cockermouth in Cumbria, Kelso in the Borders, Blackpool and Colne in Lancashire, and Newcastle.

It employs 766 staff.

Lakeland is a new entry, in 147th place, with sales of £176m and profits of £6m. It is owned by brothers Sam, Martin and Julian Rayner, and employs 1,886 people.

Lloyd and Lakeland are only the Cumbria-based entries.

However, the Lancashire bed manufacturer Silentnight Group, which owns Sealy UK in Aspatria, is in 199th place with sales of £137m and profits of £8m.

Innovia Group in Wigton and recruitment specialist NRL, at Dovenby near Cockermouth, appeared in last year's list but do not figure this time.

The Top Track 250, to be published in The Sunday Times this weekend, complements the Sunday Times Top Track 100, which identifies Britain’s 100 privately-owned companies with the biggest sales.

It ranks the 250 next-biggest private companies, provided either sales or operating profits have increased by at least 10 per cent in their latest accounts.