US tops world league table for super growth companies

• HONG KONG, AUSTRALIA, UK AND CANADA TAKE TOP OTHER SPOTS
• SUPER GROWTH COMPANIES FOCUS MORE ON STAFF RETENTION, COACHING AND TRAINING

The US tops the list for the country with the highest proportion of"super growth" ¹ companies, overtaking last year's leader,Sweden, according to Grant Thornton International's Super Growth Index 2005 ² .Forty-eight per cent of companies in the US are super growth, up significantlyon a second place ranking of 22 per cent in 2004. Hong Kong also has moved upthe league table into second place, leaping from eighth place to record 28 percent of companies as super growth. Hong Kong is closely followed by Australia(27 per cent), the United Kingdom (25 per cent) and Canada (23 per cent).

The Super Growth Index 2005, now in its second year, is a unique researchproject which forms part of Grant Thornton International's InternationalBusiness Owners Survey (IBOS) which surveys over 6,000 business ownersworldwide. IBOS is commissioned by Grant Thornton International , the network ofleading advisers to medium sized businesses.

Last year's leader Sweden has moved down to joint tenth position with 13 percent of companies classified as super growth. At the bottom of the Super GrowthIndex are Russia (two per cent) and Turkey (one per cent).

Jim Rogers, head of Growth and Strategic Services at Grant Thornton comments:"The Super Growth Index shows an exceptional performance by US companiesreflecting the vigorous growth in the economy in the US last year and thebusiness opportunities presented by healthy consumer demand and an upturn inemployment."

Table 1: Super Growth Index country comparison (% of companies): 2005/04

A super growth company is one which is has grown considerably more than theaverage measured against key indicators. Super growth companies are far moreoptimistic about a number of indicators such as turnover (balance ³ of85 per cent for super growth companies compared to 63 per cent for companies ingeneral), employment (balance of 73 per cent compared to 34 per cent) andprofitability (balance of 62 per cent compared to 45 per cent).

Super growth companies are more focused on employment-related issues. Fifty-fiveper cent of super growth companies are also more likely to be focused onattracting and retaining staff than they were a year ago, compared to 50 percent of companies in general. They are also more likely to consider rewardsystems and benefit packages important in attracting and retaining staff thancompanies as a whole (82 per cent compared to 67 per cent). Training andcoaching is another area of difference, with 74 per cent of super growthcompanies say coaching and training for their top performers is importantcompared with 69 per cent for companies in general. Training for all staff isalso key for super growth companies (66 per cent compared to 60 per cent).

Jim Rogers, head of Growth and Strategic Services at Grant Thornton continues:"Super growth companies are optimistic about expectations for turnover,profitability and employment. A staggering 73 per cent of super growth companiesare optimistic about employment compared with of 34 per cent of companies ingeneral ⁴ . They are also more focused on attracting, developing andretaining staff and this is creating a virtuous circle of growth.".

The Super Growth Index 2005 also looks at business constraints and reveals thatsuper growth companies are typically less constrained by issues such as cost offinance, shortage of working capital and shortage of long term finance thancompanies as a whole. However super growth companies are more constrained by theavailability of skilled workforce than companies in general (35 per centcompared with 28 per cent).

Jim Rogers continues: "There are clear lessons here. Be positive, lookafter your people and get the business appropriately funded - then you have agreat platform to build and deliver your strategy."

Table 2 : Super Growth Index Anatomy

Notes to editors

1. 'Super growth' companies are defined as those which have grownconsiderably more than the average. To identify 'super growth' companies,Experian's Business Strategies Division, the economics consultancy, took fourkey indicators to create a weighted index. The four indicators were: absolutegrowth in turnover (adjusted for inflation); the percentage growth in turnover(adjusted for inflation); absolute growth in employee numbers; the percentagegrowth in employee numbers. By this measure, 17% of all medium sized companiessurveyed worldwide are classified as 'super growth'.

2.The Grant Thornton International Super Growth Index 2005 utilises proprietydata from the Grant Thornton International International Business Owners Survey(IBOS). Research was carried out among over 6,300 owners of medium sizedbusinesses from 24 countries during autumn 2004. IBOS began in 2002 and buildson the European Business Survey (EBS) which Grant Thornton ran from 1993 to2001. The research was conducted by Experian Business Strategies Limited andWirthlin Worldwide.

3. The balance is the difference between the proportion of businesses indicatingan increase and those indicating a decrease.

4. Percentages quoted are balance figures.

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