8Sep2015
Gazelles Discovered in Finland – Who Leads the Pack?
by: Anniina Turunen
We recently discovered a herd of gazelles running around the Finnish economy, so Nordic Business Report began a study to see just who was leading the pack. Thanks to our successful expedition, we have the privilege of presenting you with our list of the Finnish Gazelle Companies 2015.
When we set out to look for the Finnish gazelle companies, first we had to adjust the definition of a gazelle company. As you may well know, a gazelle company is a high-growth company that has doubled its revenues over a four-year period. We applied the most commonly used definitions of a gazelle company and ended up with the following:
– The company has a financial statement from 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014.
– The company’s revenue has grown by 100% from 2011 to 2014.
– The company’s revenue was over €135,000 in 2011.
– The company’s profit has been positive each year (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014).
The Finnish Gazelle Companies list is based on the information provided by Asiakastieto as of September 3rd 2015 and includes only companies with calendar year as their accounting cycle. All in all 1,200 Finnish companies met the criteria. In 2013 there were 283,290 companies in Finland (source: Statistics Finland, excluding agriculture). From this list only 0.4% of Finnish companies could be classified as gazelles. The most common industry represented on the list is construction (both residential and other buildings).
Clearly it is not easy to become a gazelle. It was surprising that two notable companies were missing from the list, Supercell and Rovio. For Rovio, their biggest revenue growth occurred just before the 2011-2014 period. However, during that time their revenue still grew by 97%, falling only narrowly short of the gazelle criterion.
Supercell, on the other hand, has experienced a staggering 1,023,379% revenue growth during 2011 to 2014 (in 2011 revenue was €151,000 – in 2014 revenue reached €1,55 billion). Despite this, Supercell’s success started slightly too late to meet the gazelle timeframe. In 2011 Supercell’s revenue was only €151,000 and the company had a €1,8 million loss, causing it to miss out on the list. Without this setback it would have naturally surged to the top of the rankings. It is highly likely Supercell will be leading the list next year.
As we know it is easier to multiply your revenue when the figures you are dealing with are small, but when your turnover is already a €100+ million, this is a different story altogether. For this reason, we also examined the companies based on their revenue and divided the companies into 7 categories. Not surprisingly, it turns out that the higher the revenue, the fewer gazelles we found. There are altogether 743 companies with less than €2.5 million in revenue, but only 13 companies with more than €100 million in revenue.
You can view the top 5 gazelle companies in each revenue category below. View the entire Gazelle 2015 list here »
TOP 5 Gazelles €100M+ revenue
| COMPANY | REVENUE 2014 (€) | GROWTH 2011-2014 (%) |
| Kamux Oy | 197 902 299 | 587 |
| NCC Property Development Oy | 195 259 000 | 301 |
| International Paper Nordic Sales Company Oy | 157 480 000 | 266 |
| Energi Försäljning Finland Oy | 181 026 773 | 217 |
| Graniittirakennus Kallio * | 143 760 413 | 203 |
Altogether 13 companies in this category. *Information based on consolidated financial statement
TOP 5 Gazelles €50M – €100M revenue
| COMPANY | REVENUE 2014 (€) | GROWTH 2011-2014 (%) |
| Teknopower * | 74 853 817 | 836 |
| Almaco Group Oy | 58 293 568 | 377 |
| Fimlab Laboratoriot Oy | 88 054 393 | 346 |
| Crayon Oy | 58 618 000 | 283 |
| Elisa Appelsiini Oy | 64 233 000 | 241 |
Altogether 15 companies in this category. *Information based on consolidated financial statement
TOP 5 Gazelles €25M – €50M revenue
| COMPANY | REVENUE 2014 (€) | GROWTH 2011-2014 (%) |
| Prosapia Ab | 31 128 000 | 10834 |
| Haanpaa Oy | 33 282 662 | 7396 |
| Laattapiste Oy | 29 497 808 | 4818 |
| Serres Group * | 28 160 434 | 1550 |
| Auratum Asunnot Helsinki Oy | 25 005 000 | 1253 |
Altogether 41 companies in this category. *Information based on consolidated financial statement
TOP 5 Gazelles €10M – €25M revenue
| COMPANY | REVENUE 2014 (€) | GROWTH 2011-2014 (%) |
| Auto-Outlet Helsinki Oy | 22 489 252 | 2840 |
| Wise Group Finland Oy | 20 697 548 | 2683 |
| Turun Seudun Vesi Oy | 19 352 000 | 2356 |
| Touhula Varhaiskasvatus Oy | 15 682 247 | 1337 |
| Orava Asuntorahasto Oyj | 15 383 703 | 1082 |
Altogether 70 companies in this category.
TOP 5 Gazelles €5M – €10M revenue
| COMPANY | REVENUE 2014 (€) | GROWTH 2011-2014 (%) |
| Ab A. Kastén Oy | 5 065 000 | 3518 |
| TLT-Building Oy | 9 476 000 | 2387 |
| Vaaka Partners Oy | 7 377 000 | 1682 |
| Bayerncar Oy | 6 460 000 | 1614 |
| Blue Water Shipping Oy | 5 265 504 | 1367 |
Altogether 124 companies in this category.
TOP 5 Gazelles €2,5M – €5M revenue
| COMPANY | REVENUE 2014 (€) | GROWTH 2011-2014 (%) |
| Pohjanmaan Talotekniikka Oy | 4 879 254 | 2770 |
| Arelia Invest Finland Oy | 3 593 000 | 2395 |
| EmCe Yritysjärjestelmät Oy | 3 469 000 | 1796 |
| Filippa K Oy | 3 655 000 | 1755 |
| Lion Music Ab Ltd | 3 270 000 | 1717 |
Altogether 194 companies in this category.
TOP 5 Gazelles < €2,5M revenue
| COMPANY | REVENUE 2014 (€) | GROWTH 2011-2014 (%) |
| Askelmerkki Oy | 1 925 000 | 1210 |
| Ab Ess-Ma Oy | 1 842 920 | 1089 |
| Wirmax Oy | 1 793 000 | 1049 |
| X-Group Oy | 1 879 000 | 1046 |
| Ab DU-tec Oy | 2 342 681 | 1000 |
Altogether 743 companies in this category.
View the whole gazelle list here »
Did you find your company on the list?
All companies who made it to the gazelle listing can request a Gazelle logo to be displayed on their website at info@nbreport.com.
