European
Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA: Israeli firms take top 3 places; Ireland achieves 18 places in 2007
By Finfacts Team
Nov 27, 2007, 10:30

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Average growth rates highest since Fast 500 began in 2001, confidence high despite economic uncertainties

  • The UK has the most ranked companies with 91, closely followed by France with 68.  

  • Israeli firms take first, second and third place.  

  • Average five-year revenue growth for all companies is 1443 percent, the highest since the awards began.  

  • Survey of Fast 500 CEOs reveals that 79.5% of this year’s CEOs were extremely or very confident of managing the same growth rates over the coming two years.

Eighteen Irish companies have achieved a ranking in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA. The Fast 500 ranks public and private technology companies from 21 countries in EMEA with a minimum revenue of €50,000 in year one. It is the most objective industry-ranking standard to focus on the technology sector.

The Fast 500 is researched by Deloitte’s Global Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Practice.

PulseLearning, this year’s winner of the Irish Fast 50, has achieved 51st place in the ranking.

Zamano and Digiweb, who placed 2nd and 3rd in the Irish competition, achieved 74th and 77th positions in the overall EMEA ranking.

David O’Flanagan, Partner, Deloitte Ireland said: "Proportional to population numbers, Irish technology firms have performed impressively in this year’s EMEA ranking – and it is a great testament to the industry in Ireland that we have such a strong presence."

Key trends observed in this year’s Fast 500 are:

The software sector continues to dominate the ranking, making up 200 of the 500 companies.

The Fast 500 growth figures have identified Ireland, along with Norway, Israel, Sweden, Finland and Holland as being countries in which technology businesses are much more likely to succeed. High-growth technology firms in these countries are between 2 and 5 times more common than anywhere else in the region.

While the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA shows a consistent increase in average growth rates year on year, this is in stark contrast to that of the North American Fast 500, where average growth rates have been falling since 2001. Fast 500 North America shows average five year revenue growth rates falling from a peek of 6,772% in 2002 to 1,823% in 2007.

Top 20 Ranked Companies in the 2007 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA

Rank Company Name  Business Type  Growth Location
1 Voltaire Ltd. Communications/networking 50,612% Israel
2 Celltick Technologies Communications/networking 29,627% Israel
3 Runcom Technologies Semiconductor/equipment 27,950% Israel
4 TomTom Nv Software 17,193% Holland
5 ByBox Holdings Ltd Software 15,272% United Kingdom
6 Red Bend Software 14,347% Israel
7 Rocela Ltd Software 11,546% United Kingdom
8 Tobil Technology AB Software 11,143% Sweden
9 Blue Media Sp. z.o.o Software 11,003% Poland
10 Global IP Sound AB Communications/Networking 9,048% Sweden
11 komdat.com GmbH Internet 7,785% Germany
12 AwaK'iT Communications/Networking 7,665% France
13 Sky Communications in Sweden AB Communications/Networking 5,441% Sweden
14 Virtual IT Ltd Communications/Networking 5,075% United Kingdom
15 TRAQUEUR Communications/Networking 4,779% France
16 Packetfront Sweden AB Communications/Networking 4,752% Sweden
17 Travelplanet.pl SA Internet 4,701% Poland
18 SCT Reseaux Communications/Networking 4,686% France
19 Bigpoint GmbH Internet 4,589% Germany
20 Repant ASA Other 4,557% Norway
         

Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA CEO survey

Deloitte is also announcing the 2007 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA CEO Survey - a comprehensive analysis of the business trends and background statistics of the winning companies and a summary of the key concerns and expectations of technology sector CEOs.

Some of the key trends are:

  • Despite wider economic turbulence, confidence is high. 79.5% of this year’s CEOs were extremely or very confident of managing the same growth rates over the coming two years, which is the second highest level in seven years.

  • Good technology people are becoming harder to come by. Finding, hiring and retaining qualified employees is the greatest operational challenge for just under half of CEOs, significantly up on previous years.

  • Offshoring of key functions is on the cards. While 13.4% of firms currently employ over 15% of their workforce abroad, CEOs see this figure rising to 46.6% within 5 years.

"The current financial turbulence and economic uncertainty does not appear to have made the front-runners in the technology race in EMEA either slow their pace or lose their focus," said Igal Brightman, Global Managing Partner of Deloitte’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Industry group. "These businesses are successfully managing exponential growth and, in particular, finding the right people in the right places to drive that growth."

"This is the seventh year of the ranking in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the more data we have the more interesting trends emerge," said Eric Morgain, Deloitte’s Partner in charge of the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA. "The UK led again this year in terms of overall numbers, closely followed by France. But we are also seeing a club of technology acceleration nations emerging, which includes Israel, Scandinavia, Ireland and the Netherlands – where successful technology businesses are many times more likely to succeed."



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