Top 200 Kiwi IT companies show record profitability growth

New Zealand's top 200 technology companies have achieved 38% growth in profitability in the past year, the fastest rise in profitability since the annual Technology Investment Network (TIN) Report first began in 2005.

These numbers are taken from a preview of this year's (TIN) Report which will launch later next month.

This rise marks an important milestone as many high-growth companies begin to fund expansion organically and achieve economies of scale.

Investors have responded positively to this news, with stock prices for the TIN200's largest ten listed companies by market capitalisation surging 57.3% in the past year.

"The sector is entering a new chapter in New Zealand's technology story", says TIN managing director Greg Shanahan.

"The rising profitability reflects the wealth of experience, capital and scale the sector has built up; creating the foundations for widespread and stable growth. It's important to stress also that this overall rise in profitability for the TIN200 has not been at the expense of revenue growth this year, but rather has been driven by these tech businesses now being more self-sustaining.

This year's TIN Report features a record 19 companies making a debut appearance on the "TIN200" - the ranking of New Zealand's top 200 technology companies according to revenue.

The number of new names joining the TIN200 list highlights the rising number of globally-competitive companies that New Zealand's technology sector is now producing.

"The advantage with technology as an industry is that, unlike dairy and tourism, it's not stymied by natural resource and infrastructure constraints, other than access to talent and capital," adds Shanahan.

The TIN Report monitors the performance of New Zealand's 200 (TIN100 and Next100) largest technology exporters in the areas of information and communications technology (ICT), high-tech manufacturing and biotechnology.

It is sponsored by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), Spark, EY, Absolute IT, James - Wells and Simmonds Stewart.

The fourteenth annual TIN Report will be launched at a gala awards event to be held at the Cordis Hotel in Auckland on October 24 and similar events will be staged in Wellington on October 29 and Christchurch on October 30.