One fifth of the 500 fastest-growing IT firms in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are UK-based, according to an annual index published by Deloitte. While 91 of the companies are based on these shores, France occupies second spot with 68 companies.

Israeli firms took the first, second and third fastest-growing spots in the individual company list, while UK firm Bybox came in fifth, just behind Netherlands satellite navigation firm TomTom.

A Deloitte spokesman said recent global financial volatility has had little impact on technology players: ‘The current financial turbulence and economic uncertainty does not appear to have made the front-runners in the technology race in EMEA either slow their pace or lose their focus.’

Moreover, confidence among chief executives is high, with four-fifths of those surveyed expressing confidence that growth rates would continue over the next two years. Significantly, average five-year revenue growth across all 500 firms is a record 1,443 per cent, which is telling, since an equivalent survey in the US showed slowing revenue growth for the same period, from 6,772 per cent to 1,823 per cent between 2002 and 2007.

Amid London small-caps, unloved Plasmon is quietly pushing on with its transition from optical component manufacturer to ‘archive solution provider’ with a mission to help companies maintain archiving ‘integrity, longevity and legal compliance’. The restructured £25 million company reported a 20 per cent sales decline to £14.8 million for the half to September, though operating losses were cut to £4.8 million (£5.7 million) and there was impressive Archive Appliance sales growth.

Newly appointed chief executive Steven Murphy, eyeing cash-flow breakeven for the fourth quarter, is bullish about prospects, stating that ‘archiving is now an operating mandate in many organisations, driven both by compliance and cost’.

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