Click photo to enlarge
Deloitte Fast 50 business awards recipients Tim Nixon
(left), of Straylight Studios, and Garth Milmine (right),
of Escea, join Mike Horne, of Deloittes, at last night's
function at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Photo by Jane
Dawber.
Two Dunedin companies have made the annual Deloitte
Unlimited Fast 50 list, including gas heater manufacturer
Escea, which is one of only a handful of companies to have
repeatedly made the cut to remain on the list.
The Fast 50 list, based on annual revenue growth, was
announced to a crowd of about 100 at the Dunedin Public Art
Gallery yesterday.
Dunedin software developer Straylight Studies has made its
first appearance on the Fast 50 list, ranked 33rd with 191%
revenue growth, and also won the sub-category of
fastest-growing Otago entrant and the region's
fastest-growing technology business.
Escea, which has featured in the Fast 50 for three
consecutive years, was ranked 38th with 164% growth, plus won
sub-category awards for fastest-growing manufacturing
business and fastest-growing investor in research and
development.
The entire Fast 50 companies are credited with contributing
more than $901 million to the New Zealand economy - up almost
20% on last year - and almost 1200 jobs during the past two
years.
Deloitte partner in Dunedin Mike Horne said Straylight was a
good example of a local company understanding how to gain
leverage from its intellectual property to gain a price
premium in a competitive market.
"Their unique application of game design, internal culture
and use of technology set them apart as a business going
places," Mr Horne said.
For the past four years, Straylight - which was started in a
Northeast Valley flat by University of Otago graduates - had
been a service company.
However, in late-July it decided to change its focus from
being a service company to large organisations, developing
products on demand for training or tourism, and was instead
going to develop its own games and training tools to sell
them on the global market.
Similarly, with three Fast 50 placements, Escea was an
"outstanding" example of a company which used investment in
research and development, marketing, networks and
distribution to achieve sustained growth, Mr Horne said.
"Escea said it takes twice as long as you plan to get exports
up and running and you only have one chance to make first
impressions," Mr Horne said.
In late-July, three-year-old Escea, whose income is derived
from about 20% of exports to Australia and the balance sold
domestically, loaded its first export shipment to the US.
The company was forecasting an increase in turnover of almost
60%, to $10 million, this financial year, and could sell up
to 3000 units.
In other Fast 50 sub-categories for Otago-Southland,
suppliers Southern Hospitality was the fastest-growing
retail/consumer products business award and, for the third
time, the fastest-growing employer award.
Dunedin-founded insurance company Fraser Macandrew Ryan was
named Otago's fastest-growing business services company.
Mr Horne noted this year the Fast 50 companies included a
"huge leap" of agriculture-based businesses representing the
primary, and supporting industries, sector, with No 1 on the
Fast 50 list Masterton-based honey company Watson & Son,
with 783% growth.
