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Top of the South East techs


A young Oxfordshire-based company, founded only seven years ago, has become the top tech name in the Thames Valley – and indeed in the whole of the South East – according to the latest Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 league table.


Immunocore, a bio-technology developer with its headquarters at Milton Park near Abingdon, was placed ninth in the national table which ranks Britain’s top private tech (TMT) companies with the fastest-growing sales over the latest three years of accounts. A typical Tech Track 100 company is generally owned and run by entrepreneurs, has between 20 and 200 staff with sales ranging from £5 million - £50m.


This Oxfordshire firm, led by chief executive Eliot Forster, develops drugs that harness the body’s immune system to fight cancer – in early trials its products have shown promising results against advanced melanoma. In July it completed the largest financing for a private life sciences company in Europe so far, raising £205m from investors including Eli Lilly and Malin.


The company’s revenue, from partnerships with large pharmaceutical companies such as Glaxo Smith Kline and Astra Zeneca, reached £6.4m in 2014, when it made a big loss. But the average sales growth over the three-year period, through a staff approaching 100, was 168%.


Another even younger company, Reading-based Bullitt Group, provided the second best figures in the region and was 12th overall. This rugged- device manufacturer designs mobile and audio products for global brands such as Caterpillar, JCB, Kodak, Ted Baker and Ministry of Sound.


Founded in 2009 by Richard Wharton and former


colleagues at Motorola, Colin Batt and David Floyd, Bullitt began by providing robust mobile phones that withstand high usage. The growth was accelerated in 2012 when private equity firm BGF invested £3.5m for a minority stake to fund further product development and expansion. Sales reached £60.9m in 2014 (averaging 164%) with a staff of some 70.


More than a million vehicles have been fitted with devices developed by Tantalum Corporation (14th) at Uxbridge to monitor driver behaviour and track fuel usage, car speed and location.


Tantalum was founded in 2006 as Lysanda, but in February 2014 bought Direct Line’s stolen vehicle recovery division and this boosted its sales to an annualised £12.2m last year (average 152%). The company is led by Cédriane de Boucaud and backed by investors and venture capital firms.


Maindec (44th), which provides hardware and software support for products from HP, Oracle, IBM and many other computer companies, is headquartered at Wooburn Green near Slough and also has offices in Glasgow, Bradford, Redditch, Huntingdon and Bristol. It counts the NHS, the Scottish Government and the White Company as customers.


Founded in 1979 by Roger Timms, it is now run by his son Paul and employs 136 people. Maindec acquired IT company CSA Waverley, a former Tech Track 100 company, for an undisclosed sum in 2013, helping sales reach £61m in 2015 (average growth 66%).


Corporate IT systems and phone networks for companies with a mobile workforce are the speciality of High Wycombe-based Olive Business


Solutions, which counts the NHS, Moonpig and the Royal household among its customers. The growing trend towards staff working while away from the office has helped drive sales to £33.4m this year (average 65%).


The company was founded in 2003 and acquired Safetybank, a risk management software application for the construction industry, in 2014. Led by chief executive Martin Flick, it now has a staff of some 150 and appears in the Tech Track 100 for the third successive year, this time at 48th.


Founded in 2000 by Ashley Unitt and Richard Pickering, NewVoiceMedia (66th) provides cloud technology that integrates telephony systems with existing company data to improve the performance of sales and support staff in contact centres. With a staff of over 200 working with clients such as TNT, Parcelforce and Berry Bros & Rudd, the Basingstoke company says it has benefited from a general move towards cloud computing, especially from larger enterprises.


It has raised a total of £63m in funding since 2010, and under chief executive Jonathan Gale sales rose to £14.9m in 2015 (average 56%).


Fidelity Group (77th), whose communication platform puts fixed line, broadband and mobile telecoms systems onto one network, also runs Anvil, a web-based bill management portal. The Henley-based firm was formed in 2008 by serial entrepreneurs Alan Shraga and Simon Taylor Payne. Sales averaged 53% to £7.2m last year.


* Tech Track 100 is compiled annually by Oxford- based Fast Track and this year was dominated by central London-based companies, among them top-placed Ve Interactive, an e-commerce technology developer.


Ultima Business Solutions gears up for next growth phase with new CEO


Fast-growing IT solutions provider Ultima Business Solutions is entering its next ambitious growth phase as it welcomes a new chief executive. Scott Dodds, who left Microsoft earlier this year to take on the role of VMWare’s EMEA vice president of channels and alliances, is, as we go to press, set to take the helm at the Reading-based business.


Incumbent CEO and founder, Max McNeill is moving to the position of chairman to take a more strategic role in the business, focusing on acquisitions, recruitment and overseeing the move to a new HQ.


Reflecting on the company’s rapid growth and its THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – NOVEMBER 2015


future, McNeill stated: “We have taken the business from zero to £100 million in just 25 years, and this has been achieved by purely organic growth, without outside funding. We aim to hit £150m turnover in two years, breaking through the £200m barrier within five years.


“Ultima has recently made a number of significant investments to create a platform to take us to the next level, and we are positive that Scott will aid, and further strengthen, our future business success.”


As Ultima celebrates its 25th anniversary, the company is set to launch a new website in the coming weeks, and has recently opened a


new city office – five times bigger than its previous premises. The company has also acquired a business park in Reading, which will act as its HQ from April 1, 2016.


With favourable market conditions and a growing workforce of over 350 employees, McNeill stated what’s next for Ultima: “With so much going on and the advent of the cloud, we are perfectly positioned for a significant surge in growth. Scott, with his immense skills, experience and knowledge of the market, is the perfect person to guide us to greater heights.”


Details: www.ultimabusiness.com www.businessmag.co.uk


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