
Despite the crisis of recent years that has affected almost all sectors of the economy, there is a dynamic and innovative Italy, which through new products or services and often exports worldwide, creates jobs and distributes well-being and wealth in the territory. The German Institute for Quality and Finance (ITQF) has dedicated its latest study "The Champions of Growth" to this Italy, which has selected 800 companies that are the driving force of recovery based on average annual growth in the three-year period 2018-2021. This is the fifth edition of a survey that rewards the excellence of the Italian economy. To enter the ranking, it is in fact necessary to show an average annual growth rate higher than 11.3% in the three-year period taken into consideration.
“Our goal is to raise awareness of Italian companies that drive the economy and contribute, thanks to their dynamism, to providing new impulses to the economy and society,” explains Christian Bieker, director of the German Institute for Quality and Finance. “Being among the “magnificent 800” and receiving recognition for your entrepreneurial performance is a huge source of pride, as well as visible and official proof of your business success. All companies that are included in the official ranking can use the recognition awarded, the well-known seal of quality, for marketing purposes. This helps to increase interest on the part of potential partners, customers and investors as well as to acquire new contacts and business opportunities.”
Among the 800 companies selected by Itqf, the small and medium-sized ones capable of competing at an international level dominate. The most represented sector is the industrial one (13.5%), followed by technology (12.4%), services (10.8%) and sales & marketing (8.8%).
The picture taken by the study confirms a concentration of growth champions in the regions with the highest economic activity: Lombardy, Lazio and Veneto, where 25%, 11% and 10.5% of the companies in the ranking are located respectively. Among the provinces, Milan (107), Rome (80) and Naples (42) are those with the most awarded companies.
The overall turnover of the 800 champions reached 18.9 billion in 2021, with an increase of approximately 111% compared to 2018, while the average annual growth rate in the period 2018-2021 was 38%. The economic success also had important repercussions on employment: the 800 companies created over 46,000 new jobs in the three-year period, an average of 58 new employees per company.
“Being a company with strong growth often also means being able to make the leap from small size to the status of a successful company and aim to become a leader in its market segment - continues Bieker - The growth of each individual company becomes a contagious factor for the performance of the entire production system, crucial for the competitive advantage of an entire country”.
The ITQF research was carried out starting from a long list of 50 thousand companies drawn up through research in publicly available databases, online company data, analysis of tenders and communication portals. In total these research sources record approximately 8 million Italian companies. All 50,000 companies on the long list were contacted and asked to fill out a detailed questionnaire on the company's activity. Despite its extension, however, the survey does not claim to be complete: there may be companies with a high growth rate that did not want to make their balance sheets public or did not participate in the initiative for other reasons.
To be included in the ranking, companies had to meet several criteria: having achieved a minimum turnover of 100 thousand euros in 2018; having achieved a minimum turnover of 1.2 million in 2021; being independent companies with registered offices in Italy; having grown mainly organically. Data on operating results in the three-year period 2018-2021 and on the number of employees were also collected, to eliminate companies with a continuous decline in employment or persistent losses. The calculation of the growth rate was based on the turnover data communicated and confirmed by the candidate companies. The list of champions was drawn up based on the average annual growth, the so-called compound annual growth rate, more commonly known as Compounded Average Growth Rate (CAGR).
Vertical, the success of renovations
Thanks to an average annual growth of 338%, Vertical of Rimini leads the ranking drawn up by the German Institute for Quality and Finance. The turnover of the company specializing in energy renovation and requalification went from 193 thousand euros in 2018 to 16.2 million in 2021. It has therefore more than quadrupled its turnover every year; performance achieved with a modest increase in the number of employees, which, in the same period of time, went from two to seven. In second place is Apis of Salerno, which achieved only slightly lower growth (up 323%). Its employment agency revenues jumped from 163 thousand euros in 2018 to 12.3 million in 2021, while the workforce increased from 11 to 16 units. On the third step of the podium is Mpfinance of Alghero in Sardinia, which deals with real estate development. Its turnover has grown at an annual average of 258% from 236 thousand euros in 2018 to 10.8 million in 2021. During this period, its employees have always remained two. At the foot of the podium is Flu of Monza, a communications agency that over a three-year period has grown by 206% every twelve months, reaching a turnover of 3.6 million euros last year. The employees have instead gone from two to nine units.
In fifth place is Renavitas of Imola, a construction company that operates as a general contractor carrying out energy requalification works and anti-seismic interventions. A sector that has experienced a real boom thanks to government incentives, as also demonstrated by the first position in the Vertical ranking and which for Renavitas has translated into a leap in revenues of 196% per year and a number of employees that has grown from two to seven. Sixth place in the Itqf ranking is occupied by Inbagno, which is active in e-commerce. Specializing in bathroom furnishings, it has grown at an average annual rate of 189% and closed last year with a turnover of 2.8 million and seven employees (there were two in 2018). In seventh place is the Campania-based Itaste Holding which deals with the sale of medical devices, parapharmaceutical products and disposable products intended for pharmaceutical and hospital distribution. In the period analyzed by Itqf it grew at an average annual rate of 187% and last year it reached 9.3 million euros in revenues. It has three employees. In eighth place, finally, there is Nonsoloimmobili of Castelfranco Veneto, which grew by 183% per year.
Sprint Fantic Motor from 43 to 304 employees
Growing at stratospheric rates is always a very difficult undertaking, but it is even more so for companies that have already reached a certain size. It is therefore no coincidence that at the top of the ranking of the German Institute for Quality and Finance there are only companies with a turnover of less than 20 million euros. However, among the 800 selected companies there is no lack of larger ones and, although outside the top positions, their performance takes on particular importance precisely because of the difficulty of the undertaking. The first company with a turnover of more than 100 million euros is in seventeenth position and is Alfa Trafili of Alfianello in the province of Brescia which is active in the production of copper and aluminum conductors for the electrical and railway sectors. From 2018 to 2021 its revenues jumped from 7.3 to 102.5 million, while the staff grew from 32 to 48 units. Also above the 100 million threshold is Everli (35th position), the platform that allows you to shop online at most of the large Italian large-scale retail trade operators. The Milanese company closed 2021 with a turnover of 114.5 million euros (up 102% each year) and 280 employees (there were 83 in 2018).
Among the big names in the ranking, the name of Fantic Motor stands out (in 69th position), the historic brand from Barzago in the province of Lecco (today the headquarters are in Dosson di Casier in the province of Treviso), which has regained its past splendor after the bankruptcy of 1995, growing at an average annual rate of 77% and reaching a turnover of 150 million and 304 employees. Above all, the growth in employment has been impressive: in 2018 the workforce was only 43 units. The most important company in terms of turnover among those included in the Itqf survey is Zucchetti (385th), the software house from Lodi that closed last year with a turnover of 1.25 billion euros, a value more than double compared to the 593 million of 2018. Zucchetti is obviously also the largest employer: it employs 7,217 people, compared to 4,483 in 2018. Finally, Vega Carburanti (326th) should be mentioned, which still reaches a value of 605 million euros at the end of a three-year period during which it showed an average annual increase of 32%. Its workforce has more than doubled to 220 units. And it is a safe bet that, given the persistently high level reached by fuels (Vega Carburanti manages filling stations throughout Italy), its run is still far from over.