Press Releases

Lexmark International, the printer manufacturer, today announces the Lexmark fast 50; Europe’s 50 fastest growing small to medium sized businesses (SMBs). The list is dominated by UK companies with ten of them celebrating their inclusion in the listing which ranks companies by the number of jobs they have created over the past five years.

The ten UK companies named among the best performing small and medium sized businesses in Europe are as follows:

1. Hazell Carr Abingdon
2. Strategic Solutions Systems Liverpool
3. Sophos Anti Virus Abingdon
4. AIRCOM International Surrey
5. Cramer Systems Bath
6. Quantum Microponents Ltd Southport
7. Prime Business Solutions Newbury
8. Wilcock Consultants Barrow in Furness
9. VIS Entertainment Dundee
10. Technocover Powys

Top of the UK listing is and at number two in the European list is Hazell Carr, a provider of business process outsourcing and pensions consultancy services which managed an astonishing growth of 22,550% since 1997. The UK’s second entry is Strategic Systems Solutions at number 6 in the Fast 50, a bespoke software developer for financial institutions. In third place in the UK, ranked 11^th in total list, is Sophos Anti Virus which specialises in developing anti-virus protection for businesses. Next, ranked 14^th, is telecoms software developer AIRCOM International, followed closely byCramer Systems in 16^th place in the Fast 50, a supplier of inventory management and provisioning software for the telecoms industry.

As many as 28 of the companies listed in the Lexmark Fast 50 come from the IT and technology sectors, representing 56% of the listing, showing that fast-growing smaller companies predominantly stem from the technology sector.

The IT and technology sectors created a total of 4,740 jobs during the period, or 50% of the total number of jobs created. The total combined turnover of the companies in the fast 50 grew from €274 million in 1997 to €1.57 billion in 2002, or by 474.

The Lexmark Fast 50 Top Ten

1. buw Unternehmensgruppe Germany
2. Hazell Carr United Kingdom
3. Flex Group Netherlands
4. BI-LOG Germany
5. Panda Software Spain
6. Strategic Systems Solutions United Kingdom
7. BrainLAB Germany
8. Penta Scope Netherlands
9. DB Associates Belgium
10. Saloman Automation Austria

"The Lexmark Fast 50 demonstrates our commitment to the European SMB market," said Jane Cronin, director of SMB, Lexmark UK. "We want to look at and understand the very best SMBs in Europe which this study has helped us to identify. We now plan to work with some of these businesses to trial our latest office printing technologies on the best to ensure that our products and solutions fully meet the needs of SMBs in Europe."

With over 60 printers ranging from stand-alone or network inkjets for SoHos and smaller SMBs to mono and colour lasers and multi-function printers for medium sized businesses, Lexmark is well placed to meet the office printing needs of the European SMB market. Added to this are a whole host of innovative document management and workflow software solutions as well as unbeatable guarantees and total product support.

Compiled by Europe Unlimited, the Lexmark Fast 50 has identified 50 independent, fast-growing small businesses in Europe and then ranked them based on their performance in terms of real job creation between 1997 and 2002. The Listing was open to companies from all sectors from the 15 European Union countries.

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