A firm founded by a former Yorkshire miner has topped a league table of companies with the fastest growing profits - showing it pays to have a product the world needs now.

Hesco Bastion, which reinvented the sandbag to prevent coastal erosion and then saw it used in both Gulf Wars, is in pole position in The Sunday Times PricewaterhouseCoopers Profit Track 100 table.

The Leeds-based firm's profits rose by more than 230% in the last year thanks to big orders from the Ministry of Defence. The bastion sandbag was also used in flood defences after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc in New Orleans last summer.

Founder James Heseldon, who still owns the company, has a personal fortune estimated at £93 million.