Change in economy since 9/11 reflected in Fantastic 50 list

Virginia Business
May 2006

This year’s Fantastic 50 shows the dramatic effect that federal spending on security and intelligence has had on Virginia’s economy since 9/11. The company at the top of the annual list of the state’s 50 fastest-growing companies is Reston-based SpecTal, a company that supplies expert consultants to intelligence agencies. SpecTal experienced revenue growth of more than 4,000 percent from 2001 to 2004, the four-year period measured in the competition.

SpecTal is one of five companies profiled in the following pages. The other four companies are Coldwell Banker Professional, Realtors of Virginia Beach, the Fantastic 50 service company winner; Germane Systems LC of Chantilly, the manufacturing winner; Applied Predictive Technologies of Arlington, the technology winner; and Blinc Inc., the retail/wholesale winner.

Now in its 11th year, the Fantastic 50 honors privately held, Virginia-based companies with the highest revenue growth over a four-year period. The Virginia Chamber of Commerce started the recognition program, which this year held its awards banquet at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly. To be eligible for the list, a company must have revenue of at least $200,000 in 2001, the base year. In addition, the company must have a positive net income by 2004 and have revenue of less than $100 million in its most recent year.

The 2006 list included 22 companies that had never been in the Fantastic 50 before. In fact, four of the top five companies are new to the list.
Companies from Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads continued to dominate the Fantastic 50 as they have for several years. Thirty-one of the 50 companies are based in Northern Virginia, up from 28 last year. Hampton Roads is home to 15 companies, up from 12 in 2005.

Of the remaining companies on the 2006 list, two were from Central Virginia, one was from the Shenandoah Valley and one was from Southwest Virginia.

The average growth rate of the companies on the list was 463 percent. That figure, however, was skewed somewhat by the growth of SpecTal, Coldwell Banker Professional and Germane, all of which were over 1,000 percent.

About half the companies on the list were started after 1995, with eight companies opening since 2000. There are exceptions, however. Bay Electric Co. Inc. of Newport News (No. 37) started in 1964. ERA Kline and May Realty of Harrisonburg began just six years later in 1970. It is the granddaddy of the top 10, coming in at No. 6.