Orange County’s fastest-growing private companies saw sales rise 37% in the past two years to more than $23.3 billion, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
The list is our sixth annual of fastest-growing private companies based here. It ranks 154 businesses by revenue growth for the 12 months through June compared with the same period in 2010.
This year’s list is our largest to date; prior lists topped out at 100 or fewer entries.
The larger number of listings this year reflects in part the strides entrepreneurial OC companies have made since the end of the national recession, which ran from late 2007 to mid-2009.
Last year’s list, by comparison, included 100 companies and was based on a minimum two-year growth rate for revenue of 11%. This year’s cut-off on the two-year growth rate was 15%.
Last year’s 100 entries combined for a two-year sales rise of almost 40%.
The top 100 on this year’s list notched an increase of about 150%.
The businesses on this week’s list also reported an impressive total for job growth, combining to employ nearly 15,400 here, an increase of about 28% from two years ago.
This year’s list has multiple entries in several core segments of OC’s economy—including homebuilders, lenders and construction companies—that were rarely represented in the past few lists amid the worst downturn in generations.
The return to form includes a notable new entry on this week’s list: Newport Beach-based City Ventures LLC, a homebuilder that kicked off operations in 2009 and has been one of the region’s most active buyers of residential land the past few years.
Those land deals are now paying off: City Ventures had revenue of nearly $82 million last year from home sales, an increase of more than 900% in two years. The homebuilder, ranked at No. 5 on the list, is one of three builders the top 20 along with long-time Costa Mesa-based Warmington Group (No. 14) and SC Homes Inc. (No. 15) in Corona del Mar.
The local financial industry also made a big list comeback, with more than a dozen companies represented. Irvine-based Opus Bank was the highest-ranked in the category at No. 2, thanks in large part to acquisitions that drove two-year revenue growth of more than 1200% (see related story, Irvine’s New Rep, page 1).
Cross-Section
The remainder of the list includes a cross-section of the county’s economy, with several big and midsize companies.
Some notable names on the list include Newport Beach-based telecom infrastructure company Mobilitie LLC (No. 50), Irvine-based burger chain Habit Restaurant LLC (No. 64), and Irvine-based frozen yogurt chain Yogurtland Franchising Inc. (No. 94).
Strong years by two of OC’s largest private companies by sales went a long way toward boosting overall total for this year’s list. Irvine-based Golden States Food Corp. ranked No. 130, with a 39% growth rate to $5.6 billion in sales last year. Newport Beach-based Pacific Mutual Holding Corp. is No. 146, with a 23% growth rate to $7 billion.
Those two combined to add almost $2.9 billion in sales over the past two years, nearly half the total gain seen on the list.
A total of 20 companies on the list saw sales of $100 million or more last year, while an additional 39 companies had between $10 million and $100 million.
Smaller companies, which are more apt to post big percentage increases on relatively low bases of revenue, make up the majority of the entries on the list. More than 50 companies had less than $5 million in sales last year and 10 earned less than $1 million.
Smaller companies on the list include numerous technology companies, marketing firms, manufacturers and Internet service companies.
The No. 1 company growth during the past two years was Irvine-based search-engine optimization outfit 29 Prime, which had $8.7 million in revenue in the 12-month period ending in June, a nearly 2000% increase from two years earlier.
29 Prime is one of several entries on this year’s list from the hotly competitive field of search-engine optimization firms. Others in the sector include No. 13 eGumball Inc. in Irvine, No. 73 Local Splash in Santa Ana and No. 134 Global Marketing Resources LLC in Tustin.
Irvine served as headquarters for the most companies on the list, at 44, followed by Newport Beach with 12.
The list begins on page 36. Stories on some of the companies listed are included throughout this edition of the Business Journal.
