Contact: Madonna Jarrett
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Director, Global PR & CEO Communications
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Hong Kong, December 11, 2002 — Asia Pacific’s 250 fast growing technology companies have been identified in the inaugural Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific program. Compiled by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT), The 250 leading companies were named on December 11, 2002 in Hong Kong. The program ranks the fast growing technology companies across Asia Pacific based on percentage revenue growth over three years.

Despite tough conditions for industry players in Hong Kong and across Asia Pacific, the 250 companies in the inaugural list have managed to achieve an average revenue growth of 385 percent over three years with the top 5 achieving 7,404 percent growth. This year's top growth story is TCL Mobile from the Mainland of China, the leading Chinese mobile phone manufacturer. TCL is benefiting immensely from the explosive growth in mobile subscribers in China and grew its revenues by a stunning 26,330%. In second place, with revenue growth of 5,143% is Australian company Chaos Group Ltd., an online entertainment, distribution and data storage company. Korean company Corecess, Inc., a leader in worldwide access service delivery infrastructure, which posted revenue growth of 2,384% took third place. In fourth place is Faith Inc. of Japan, a leading developer of music technology with revenue increase of 1,612%. Japanese firm, CYBIRD a content services and innovative mobile Internet solutions provider, ranked fifth with 1,549% revenue growth. A total of 31 companies from Hong Kong and the Mainland of China are on the inaugural list.

"I wish to congratulate the 31 winning companies in Hong Kong and China for their exponential growth during the period despite a slow economic climate. We believe innovation, employment of technology, market deregulation, entrepreneurial spirit, and the various initiatives of local policymakers to promote the wider use of technology in the community are all contributing factors to the success of these winning companies," said Alfred Tang, Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Group Leader Hong Kong and China, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

"Even though this has been a tough period for technology companies in Asia-Pacific, almost all companies who participated in our survey have expansion plans, some indicating they intended to increase headcount by as much as 20%. There are exciting companies developing significant new technologies and building a better platform for further expansion," said Ian Thatcher, Lead Partner, Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific. The winning companies came from new and established businesses and from across Asia Pacific and industry sectors.
Mr. Thatcher said, "The rapid growth is not limited to emerging companies, but includes some well established and mature businesses. Sixty companies identified in the initiative had revenues in excess of US$100 million, which demonstrates high growth is not limited to new or early stage companies."

As part of the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific initiative, DTT surveyed 150 CEOs from across the region to gain their views on key issues and challenges facing their business. The findings show that CEOs are very confident about their growth prospects over the coming year, with the majority planning to increase their headcount as they grow their companies locally, regionally and globally.

"In fact, Asia Pacific technology companies appear to be more optimistic about their future growth, compared to their peers in Europe and the US. This is not surprising given China and India are two of the fastest growing economies in the world, with China being regarded (among those surveyed) as the most opportune market place," said Mr. Thatcher.

Countries that dominate in the inaugural year of the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific are Japan (21%), South Korea (20%) and Australia (19%). In terms of industry segmentation, Software companies and Communications/Networking companies together comprise nearly two thirds of the winning companies. Notably, companies involved in the Semiconductor industry only comprise 8%, a testament to low growth environment facing that sector.

Mr. Thatcher said, "Software development companies in particular are able to seize opportunities as a results of their scaleable business models. There are also considerable niche opportunities for wireless and internet applications for communications/networking companies."

Summary findings:  The Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu survey findings reveal that although there are numerous challenges facing CEOs, they are very confident about their growth prospects over the coming year, despite difficult economic conditions.  There is a thirst for good people, with the majority planning to further expand their head-count, with some indicating an increase in excess of 20 percent as they grow the companies locally, regionally and globally.

Confidence levels:  91 percent of companies are very confident regarding their growth prospects, despite the current economic slowdown.

Key challenges:  Geographic expansion is regarded as the biggest challenge for these Asia Pacific companies as they attempt to build a regional and global footprint. A highly competitive marketplace is also considered a key challenge by nearly 20 percent of respondents.  There is strong emphasis on business conditioning through improving sales processes, focusing on product differentiation whilst containing costs. The entrepreneurial nature and niche positions of many of these companies is reflected in the fact that only 10 percent regard the current economic slowdown in the global IT industry as their biggest challenge.

Employee head-count:  Notwithstanding the focus on business conditioning, there remains a thirst for good people. A further increase in head-count is planned for next year for 81 percent of respondents. In particular, some software companies are intimating a head-count increase in excess of 20 percent.

Geographic markets providing best opportunities:  Companies are confident about further penetrating their national markets. The majority of respondents believe their main growth opportunities are within the Asia Pacific region, with China being regarded as the most opportune market place. North America (18%) and Europe (16%) are important, but lesser priority target markets.

The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific program is administered by the Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) industry practice of DTT, one of the world’s leading professional services organisations which covers more than 140 countries. The results will be a key guide to the companies to watch in the development and application of technology throughout Asia. They provide an objective industry-ranking standard that focuses exclusively on the Asian TMT companies.

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