RIBBLE Valley property tycoon Gerald Hitman, who created an exclusive housing development at the former Brockhall Hospital, has been named as one of the country's top businessmen.

His company, Brockhall Village Developments, is ranked as Lancashire's best performing business over the past four years.

In a league table of Britain's corporate elite produced by information specialists Experian, Brockhall occupies 28th place.

Just outside the top 50, East Lancashire has another story of business success in Altham-based wholesalers, Sabre Europe Limited, which took 55th place.

Skelmersdale-based retail giant Matalan, which has stores in Accrington and Colne, is Lancashire's only other entry in the top 200 companies, ranking 167.

In a comprehensive analysis, Experian assigned a "success quotient" to every limited company in the UK that was trading in 1996/7. The quotient was based on sales growth, pre-tax profit growth, increase on profit margin and growth in return on capital employed.

Gerald Hitman's controversial redevelopment of Brockhall, which has created hundreds of executive homes, met all the criteria for success.

Peter Brooker, who compiled the listings, said the winning 200 companies had displayed consistent, above average performances over the past four years.

" It would be too easy simply to look at sales and profit growth," he said. "Success has to be sustained and reflect a well-managed business, not just one which has grown through acquisition or had a single exceptional year.

"Growth, whether organic or by acquisition, has to be matched by strong financial management to improve shareholder value. So not only did we take sales and profit growth into account, but the most successful companies had to show that they were able to match their sales growth with improved profit margins and returns on investment.

"Every one of the companies in our list has been successful for different reasons, but the common factors are dedicated, single-minded managements which have anticipated their markets and have the ability to adapt to rapidly-changing circumstances to become leaders in their fields."

The successful Lancashire companies are bucking a national trend that saw 130 of the 200 places filled by businesses in London and the South East.