Channel leads the way in list of fast-growing mid-market UK firms

VARs including Kelway, ONI, ANS and Onyx are among 16 IT players on the Hot 100

Technology firms lead the way in a list of the UK's fastest-growing privately owned mid-market firms, with a clutch of resellers cracking the top 100.

The Hot 100 list, from Investec and Real Business, reports that 16 of the top 100 in 2011 come from the telecoms, software or IT worlds. This makes technology – alongside financial and professional services, which also scores 16 – the most well-represented industry in the list. The Hot 100 is based on compound annual sales growth over the past four years.

Heading the tech charge is Cornwall-based repair and remanufacture specialist Infoteam, which has grown sales by an average of 58 per cent per annum to the current level of £39.9m. VARs ANS Group and Kelway both made the top 50, placing 38th and 48th respectively, with compounded growth rates of 42 and 39 per cent.

In 55th place is disaster recovery specialist Onyx, which has grown revenue by an annualised rate of 38 per cent, and posted sales of more than £14.8m in FY11. Luton-based Cisco Gold partner ONI also made the cut this year. Its turnover has grown by an annual average of 31 per cent in the past four years to its current level of more than £20m.

Across the whole of the Hot 100, businesses report a high level of optimism about the coming months and years. Some 71 per cent claim to expect "significant" improvement in prospects for their business, while three quarters expect operating profits to grow this year.

Seventy-five of the 100 will also draw on retained earnings as a source of finance, compared with just 17 per cent who intend to raise cash in the private equity arena. Seventeen per cent is also the amount of the top 100 who think the unyielding UK economic climate will harm their growth prospects.

Ed Cottrell at Investec said: "Some sectors stand out as strong and downturn-resistant: information technology, outsourced services, which are taking up functions formerly held within government and large corporates, and niche and budget retailers, which cater to price-sensitive consumers."