The big story from the past year is the emergence of Busy Bees, which was previously the sixth largest nursery group, as overwhelmingly the dominant player in the UK nursery market.
The chain is nearly double the size of its nearest rival Bright Horizons, which has bumped Asquith Nurseries into third place.
Last September Busy Bees made its largest acquisition, buying Leapfrog from Nord Anglia, which had been the UK's largest chain since 2005.
In January, Busy Bees acquired TLC, a group of nine nurseries mainly on NHS sites attached to hospitals.
The group is thriving despite the troubled fortunes of its parent company, Australian-based ABC Learning Centres, the world's largest daycare provider.
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