UK-based seafood giant the Findus Group was named by the financial services organisation Deloitte as being among Britain's top 100 private companies for its dramatic growth in frozen fish sales in the UK during the past two years.

Findus, which includes Young's and The Seafood Company and is owned by private equity companies Lion Capital and Birds Eye Iglo, comes in at number 34 while Birds Eye at number 42 - and both have risen up the charts since the list, published by the Sunday Times, came out last year.

The company with annual sales of GBP1.17 billion (US$1.73 billion), says its Young's Admiral's Pie, made with Alaskan Pollack, is the biggest selling ready meal in the UK. An estimated 20 million people eat a Findus Group product every week. Findus employs more than 3,000 people in the UK, mainly at Grimsby where Young's has its head office and in Scotland which is a major producer of salmon products at a number of sites.

Meanwhile, Birds Eye Iglo also continues to grow with annual sales of GBP1.02 billion (US$1.51 billion). Although the company produces frozen vegetables and meat and poultry based meals, fish is still the largest seller, most notably Birds Eye fish fingers. Its products sell in Europe through the Iglo brand and the group is now looking at expanding into Turkey and Russia.