The biggest of the fastest-growing private companies in Orange County combined to boost revenue by 30% over the past two years to an estimated $15.7 billion.
This week’s Business Journal Special Report features the fastest-growing privately held businesses with headquarters in Orange County. We’ve identified a total of 153 businesses that fit the description of “fastest-growing”—those that had at least a 15% increase in revenue over two years. Percentage gains were calculated by comparing revenue for the 12-month span ended June 30 with that from the same period two years prior.
We then split the 153 companies into three categories based on revenue size for the recent 12 months. Companies with top lines below $10 million were in the “small” category; those with revenues between $10 million and $99.9 million were in the “midsize” category; and those with $100 million and more were placed in the “large” category.
The splitting of the lists by size, which the Business Journal began last year, is to provide fair representation of the percentage changes. The same percentage for companies of different sizes can mean big variances in dollar values. For instance, a 43% gain for a company in the “large” category represents a gain of $248.3 million, while a 43% increase for a company in the “small” category comes to an increase of $1 million.
The entries on each list are ranked by percentage changes, regardless of the dollar value of revenues.
The “large” list has 17 companies, which combined for $15.7 billion, up 30% from $12 billion. The group—which covers a wide range of industries, including healthcare, security services, homebuilding, information technology and food distribution—accounted for 12,241 employees in Orange County as of June 30, up 48% from two years earlier.
n Costa Mesa-based Solid Landings Behavioral Health was No. 1 on the large list, with a 1,036% growth in revenue over two years to $125 million from $11 million (see related story, page 1). The treatment center is a newcomer to the “large” category, although it’s been a fast grower for some time—it was ranked No. 2 on the “midsize” list last year. Solid Landings has added more than 1,000 employees in Orange County over the past two years for a recent total of 1,200.
• United Capital Financial Advisers LLC in Newport Beach is another company that jumped lists this year, moving to No. 6 on the “large” list from No. 38 on the “midsize” list last year.
The wealth advisory firm had a two-year revenue jump of 64.5%, notching $111.5 million. It had 42 OC employees as of midyear, up from 33 from two years earlier.
• Irvine-based real estate investment firm Passco Cos. debuted on the list at No. 2, with a 106% revenue jump to $309 million. The company had 47 employees here, up by two in 2013.
Passco is one of eight newcomers to the large-companies list; a few others are:
• Tustin-based mortgage lender New American Funding, which grew revenue 79% to $321 million, good for the No. 5 spot;
• M S International Inc., a stone distributor in Orange focused on flooring, countertop and wall tile products, which saw its revenue grow 40%—good for the No. 9 spot—to $707 million;
• and Shelly Automotive Group in Irvine, which grew revenue 15.5% to $626 million, good for the No. 17 spot.
Nine companies that were listed last year—continuing to notch significant percentage increases even as their base of revenue gets larger—count Golden State Foods Corp. as the largest. The Irvine-based company logged $7.2 billion in recent annual revenue, up about 16% from two years earlier.
• Golden State Foods manufactures and distributes meats, produce and sauces to fast food chains such as McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A and Taco Bell, among others.
“We’ve really diversified our customer base across the quick-service restaurant marketplace, whereas 12, 13 years ago, we were primarily serving McDonald’s in 50 to 60 countries,” said Bill Sanderson, chief financial officer.
Sanderson said the company also looked to diversify geographically and “became rather proactive around strategic acquisitions.”
“We saw that [for meats and produce], it would be difficult to pick up and move operations … but our liquid products—that’s the sauces and dressings—that’s something we feel is used by all of our customers in North America, and it’s something we feel we are best-in-class at, so we thought we could pick (it) up and put it in other parts of the world and deploy our systems and processes and leadership and execute it very efficiently without taking a lot of risks.”
Golden State Foods over the past few years has acquired majority stakes in companies in China, New Zealand and Australia, “which are beginning to contribute nicely in terms of sales and profits,” Sanderson said.
Golden State Foods had 116 employees in OC as of June 30, more than double the headcount two years earlier.
Sanderson said the change was largely due to the company moving its information technology team of nearly 60 from the City of Industry to its Irvine headquarters earlier this year.
• No. 4, Universal Services of America, was among the biggest job creators on the list. The Santa Ana-based security services provider has added about 900 employees in OC over the past two years for a recent total of 3,795. The company, which has been growing largely through acquisitions, had $1.3 billion in 12-month revenue through June, up 95% over two years.
• No. 10, Alliant Insurance Services Inc. in Newport Beach, has grown its OC work force by about 640 over two years for a total of 2,162. Alliant, the largest insurance brokerage firm here and one of the biggest nationwide, had $709 million in recent annual revenue, up 36%.
