NZ’s top 200 tech firms achieve 38 per cent growth over the past year: report

Unlike dairy and tourism, technology is not stymied by natural resource and infrastructure constraints, other than access to talent and capital Greg Shanahan, Technology Investment Network

New Zealand’s top 200 tech companies have achieved 38 per cent growth in profitability in the past year, according to this year’s Technology Investment Network (TIN) Report.

This is the fastest rise in profitability since the annual TIN Report first began in 2005, marking 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 10 listed companies by market capitalisation surging 57.3 per cent in the past year.

“The sector is entering a new chapter in New Zealand’s technology story”, says Greg Shanahan, managing director of TIN.

“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,” says Shanahan.

The 2018 TIN Report, which will be launched next month, 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,” says 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.

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

TIN managing director Greg Shanahan at a launch of the TIN100 report in Auckland (Photo by Divina Paredes)