Survey of Fast 500 CEOs reveals that 87 percent of CEOs are either very confident or extremely confident that they will sustain their growth rates over the next year - the most confident EMEA CEOs have been in the six years since the ranking began.

Twenty-three technology companies from the Republic of Ireland and six from Northern Ireland were last night ranked among Europe’s 500 fastest-growing technology companies, with Ireland’s fastest growth company, Xsil, ranked an impressive 8th.  The full list of EMEA’s 500 fastest growing companies was announced during the 2006 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA awards.  Deloitte also released the 2006 Technology Fast 500 EMEA CEO Survey & Ranking - a comprehensive analysis of the business trends and background statistics of the winning companies and a summary of the key concerns and expectations of sector CEOs. 

David O’Flanagan, Partner with Deloitte, Dublin, said: “For an Irish company to feature in the Top Ten is truly a great achievement and is indicative of the innovation and success in the Irish technology industry.”

Key trends observed in this year’s ranking were:

• Average five-year revenue growth for all companies is 1,396 percent, double that of  last year;
• Software firms continue to dominate the ranking, providing 44 percent of all listed firms, followed by communications and networking, with 16 percent;
• The top ranked company was IT services provider MX Telecom Ltd of the UK, with average five-year revenue growth of 57,939 percent;
• Proportional to population numbers, technology firms in Norway, Israel and Ireland are most successful in the ranking;
• The UK has the most ranked companies with 91 of the 500, closely followed by France with 84. 

Deloitte Technology Fast 500 CEO Survey Overview
In addition to compiling the Technology Fast 500 ranking, Deloitte today published a survey of the Fast 500 CEOs in EMEA. Some of the key trends are:

• Confidence in sustaining future growth has reached an all time high in the region, with 87 percent of CEOs either extremely or very confident that their company will sustain its growth over the next year;
• Personnel concerns dominate: high-quality employees are the key to growth for around a quarter (24 per cent) of CEOs;
• Finding, hiring and retaining qualified employees is the biggest operational challenge for 38 per cent of CEOs.

Details on the winning companies and the Deloitte Technology fast 500 EMEA CEO Survey can be downloaded from www.deloitte.com/fast500emea.

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Notes for Editors:

Awards Ceremony and Interview Opportunities
The 2006 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA Award Ceremony took place on 27th November during a dinner at the Palais Brongniart, in Paris.

About Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA
The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA programme is the region’s most objective industry-ranking standard to focus on the technology field.  It was created in 2000 to recognize the effort and dedication of the 500 fastest-growing technology companies in EMEA and includes all areas of technology, from Internet to biotechnology, from medical and scientific to computers/hardware.  It includes both public and private companies. The awards, which have been running in EMEA for six years, are based on five-year average percentage revenue growth. Frequently asked questions are answered on www.deloitte.com/fast500emea.  Details of the winning companies including breakdowns by country, industry sector and ranking are available at www.deloitte.com/fast500emea.

About Deloitte Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT)

The Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT) Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Industry Group consists of the TMT practices organized in the various member firms of DTT and includes more than 5,000 member firm partners, directors and senior managers supported by thousands of other professionals dedicated to helping their clients evaluate complex issues, develop fresh approaches to problems and implement practical solutions. There are dedicated TMT member firm practices in 45 countries and centers of excellence in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific. DTT’s member firms serve nearly 90 percent of the TMT companies in the Fortune Global 500. Clients of Deloitte’s member firms’ TMT practices include some of the world’s top software companies, computer manufacturers, wireless operators, satellite broadcasters, advertising agencies and semiconductor foundries – as well as leaders in publishing, telecommunications and peripheral equipment manufacturing.

About Deloitte

Deloitte Ireland is a world-class firm of expert business advisers, serving senior business leaders who are seeking to protect and create value in a complex, dynamic environment. Our objective is to help our clients succeed by anticipating tomorrow’s agenda with focused, insightful and fresh thinking borne out of our multidisciplinary strengths. We draw upon our specialist skills in audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory both within Ireland and across the Deloitte worldwide network.
 
What’s different about Deloitte is our people, who focus on building long-term relationships and are determined to deliver measurable value for our clients’ business. With almost 900 people in Dublin, Cork and Limerick Deloitte is known as an employer of choice for our innovative human resources programmes and is dedicated to helping our clients and our people excel.
 
'Deloitte' refers to Deloitte & Touche and any associated partnerships and companies established under the laws of Ireland. Deloitte is the Irish member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. For more information, please visit the Irish member firm’s website at www.deloitte.com/ie.

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