The FT 1000: The complete list of Europe’s fastest growing companies
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- The FT 1000: The complete list of Europe’s fastest growing companies on whatsapp (opens in a new window)
Ian Smith in London
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Europe is enjoying a sustained, if not evenly shared, recovery. Part of this expansion is being delivered by the start-ups and other fast-growing companies that are adding jobs, disrupting industries and spreading far beyond their home turf.
To read case studies and analysis from this year’s FT 1000, click here.
The FT 1000 lists the companies in 31 European countries that have achieved the highest compound annual growth rate in revenue between 2013 and 2016. Technology remains the best represented sector, contributing 155 companies to the list, with a food delivery company topping the list for the second year in a row: UK-based Deliveroo takes the place of Germany’s HelloFresh.
With Brexit approaching, London again heads the list of cities playing host to these companies, with 74 of Europe’s fastest-growing businesses, beating Paris with 62 and Milan’s 25.
Many businesses also disclosed their employee growth over the three-year period. They are led by London-based tech company Endava, which added more than 2,000 jobs.
The lowest average growth rate in the ranking this year was 34.6 per cent, up from 16.1 per cent last year.
See our methodology note below or our FAQ document for full details about how the list was compiled.
* Companies marked with an asterisk had less than 12 months of revenue in the 2013 financial year, but it still passed €100,000 revenue.
** Companies marked with a double asterisk have been acquired since the ending of the relevant timeframe.
Methodology
The FT 1000: Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies is a list of the top 1000 companies in Europe that have achieved the highest percentage growth in revenues between 2013 and 2016.
The ranking was created through a complex procedure. Although the search was very extensive, the ranking does not claim to be complete, as some companies did not want to make their figures public or did not participate for other reasons.
The project was advertised online and in print, allowing all eligible companies to register via the websites created by Statista and the Financial Times. In addition, through research in company databases and other public sources Statista has identified tens of thousands of companies in Europe as potential candidates for the FT 1000 ranking. These companies were invited to participate in the competition by post, email and telephone.
The application phase ran from November 1, 2017 to January 31, 2018. The submitted revenue figures had to be certified by the chief financial officer, chief executive or a member of the executive committee of the company.
Criteria for inclusion
To be included in the list of Europe’s fastest growing companies, a company had to meet the following criteria:
- Revenue of at least €100,000 generated in 2013 (or currency value equivalent as of December 31, 2013)
- Revenue of at least €1.5 million generated in 2016 (or currency value equivalent as of December 31, 2016)
- The company is independent (the company is not a subsidiary or branch office of any kind).
- The revenue growth between 2013 and 2016 was primarily organic (i.e. “internally” stimulated)
- If a company is listed on a stock exchange, its share price has not fallen 25 per cent or more since 2016
- The company is headquartered in one of the following 31 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom.
Calculation of growth rates
The calculation of company growth rates is based on the revenue figures submitted by the companies in the respective national currency. For better comparability in the ranking the revenue figures were converted into euros. The average exchange rate for the financial year indicated by the company was used for this purpose.
The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) was calculated as follows:
((revenue2016 / revenue2013)^(1/3)) - 1 = CAGR
The absolute growth between 2013 and 2016 was calculated as follows:
(revenue2016 / revenue2013) - 1 = Growth rate
Evaluation and quality assurance
All data reported by the companies was processed and checked by Statista. Missing data entries (employee numbers, address data, etc.) were researched in detail. Companies that did not fulfill the criteria for inclusion in the ranking were deleted.
The minimum average growth rate required to be included in the ranking this year was 34.6 per cent.
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