The UK’s top 50 publicly held technology companies have been ranked according to their growth across seven KPIs in 2015.
Research firm Megabuyte developed the methodology to score companies’ performance out of 100. The result is a ranking that provides an independent measure of quoted companies’ financial performance other than by share price.
Quartix, an AIM-listed vehicle tracking supplier, has taken the number one spot after doubling its annual payout to investors.
The analysis, which was sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank, shows that quoted company performance closed the gap on private company performance in 2015, but public software firms continue to be outperformed by their private counterparts.
While tech company share prices have remained strong on average, and substantially outperformed the wider market again in 2015 and into 2016, there continues to be a net drain of them from the stockmarket.
>See also: 23 UK-based tech startups you should know about in 2015
Software businesses marginally out-perform ICT services firms, but the latter enjoy significantly stronger organic growth.
Of the six new top 20 entrants to the ranking this year, three are recent IPOs: Kainos, Sophos and Softcat.
Ian Spence, founder and CEO at Megabuyte, said its ranking methodology was developed to identify what a ‘good tech company’ looks like, pooling over 50 years of collective analyst experience.
“It’s our view that once companies’ formative years have passed, high-growth, high-margin, cash-generative businesses will always provide better long-term results for investors, whether in public or private markets,” said Spence.
|
Rank |
Company |
Revenue (£m) |
*OrganicGrowth |
RevenueCAGR |
Score |
|
1 |
Quartix |
19.7 |
28% |
33% |
92 |
|
2 |
FDM Group |
160.7 |
30% |
16% |
82 |
|
3 |
GB Group |
57.3 |
15% |
22% |
81 |
|
4 |
Iomart Group |
65.8 |
7% |
25% |
81 |
|
5 |
Kainos Software |
60.8 |
45% |
34% |
79 |
|
6 |
dotdigital |
21.4 |
32% |
31% |
79 |
|
7 |
Sophos |
279.4 |
10% |
11% |
79 |
|
8 |
Tracsis |
25.4 |
1% |
43% |
78 |
|
9 |
Servelec Group |
63.1 |
-2% |
17% |
73 |
|
10 |
EMIS Group |
155.9 |
5% |
22% |
72 |
|
11 |
Sepura |
103.3 |
11% |
16% |
70 |
|
12 |
NCC Group |
133.7 |
18% |
15% |
70 |
|
13 |
Softcat |
596.1 |
18% |
25% |
70 |
|
14 |
Craneware |
27.1 |
5% |
3% |
70 |
|
15 |
PROACTIS Holdings |
17.2 |
12% |
32% |
69 |
|
16 |
Gamma Communications |
191.8 |
11% |
12% |
68 |
|
17 |
Zamano |
16.0 |
24% |
10% |
68 |
|
18 |
Microgen |
32.0 |
2% |
0% |
67 |
|
19 |
Fidessa Group |
295.5 |
4% |
2% |
67 |
|
20 |
Manx Telecom |
79.6 |
0% |
3% |
67 |
|
21 |
Alternative Networks |
146.8 |
3% |
9% |
66 |
|
22 |
IMImobile |
48.9 |
4% |
8% |
65 |
|
23 |
Redcentric |
94.3 |
8% |
58% |
65 |
|
24 |
First Derivatives |
83.2 |
15% |
22% |
65 |
|
25 |
Telit Communications |
227.1 |
13% |
17% |
64 |
|
26 |
Netcall |
17.2 |
4% |
6% |
64 |
|
27 |
Sopheon |
14.2 |
14% |
4% |
64 |
|
28 |
Ideagen |
14.4 |
5% |
53% |
64 |
|
29 |
Maintel Holdings |
50.6 |
3% |
22% |
63 |
|
30 |
Eckoh |
17.2 |
13% |
18% |
63 |
|
31 |
Dillistone Group |
9.4 |
3% |
10% |
62 |
|
32 |
Adept Telecom |
22.1 |
0% |
0% |
61 |
|
33 |
Aveva Group |
208.7 |
-7% |
2% |
61 |
|
34 |
Lombard Risk Management |
21.5 |
5% |
19% |
59 |
|
35 |
Instem |
16.3 |
22% |
15% |
59 |
|
36 |
IDOX |
62.6 |
-6% |
4% |
57 |
|
37 |
RM |
178.2 |
-12% |
-15% |
57 |
|
38 |
Gresham Computing |
14.8 |
16% |
13% |
56 |
|
39 |
Trakm8 |
17.9 |
73% |
51% |
55 |
|
40 |
Bond International Software |
40.1 |
2% |
3% |
53 |
|
41 |
Sanderson Group |
19.2 |
5% |
13% |
53 |
|
42 |
K3 Business Technology |
83.4 |
16% |
7% |
52 |
|
43 |
Amino Technologies |
41.7 |
-31% |
0% |
52 |
|
44 |
StatPro Group |
30.2 |
-1% |
-2% |
50 |
|
45 |
Telecom Plus |
729.2 |
11% |
16% |
50 |
|
46 |
Xchanging |
400.5 |
-9% |
-9% |
50 |
|
47 |
1Spatial |
19.6 |
3% |
55% |
50 |
|
48 |
Kalibrate Technologies |
20.4 |
13% |
15% |
48 |
|
49 |
Escher |
15.0 |
4% |
-1% |
45 |
|
50 |
Kcom Group |
348.0 |
-6% |
-4% |
43 |
