Eight West Virginia Companies among Inc.'s 5,000 fastest growing

    NEW YORK — Inc. magazine this week announced its fourth annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent-minded entrepreneurs. Music website Pandora, convenience store chain 7-Eleven, Brooklyn Brewery, and Radio Flyer, maker of the iconic children’s red wagon, are among the prominent brands featured on this year’s list.

    In addition, eight West Virginia based companies were named to the Inc. 5000 list. 

    They are:

    • No. 392  Cenergy with a 3-year growth rate of 750 percent and revenue of $12 million;

    • No. 638  HMS Technologies with a 3-year growth rate of 477 percent and revenue of $31.2 million;

    • No. 764 The McEvoy Administration with a 3-year growth rate of 400 percent and revenue of $2.1 million;

    • No. 1508  McKinley Carter Wealth Services with a 3-year growth rate of 190 percent and revenue of $2.8 million;

    • No. 2426  Reliable Environmental Transport  with a 3-year growth rate of 101 percent and revenue of $7.1 million;

    • No. 2642  Performance Results with a 3-year growth rate of 88 percent and revenue of 13.8 million;

    • No. 2715  KeyLogic Systems with a 3-year growth rate of 84 percent and revenue of 16.1 million;

    • No. 3236  Advanced Technical Solutions  with a 3-year growth rate of 60 percent and revenue of $8 million.

    Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/5000 . 

The Hottest Regions for Fast-Growing Companies
Once again, California tops the Inc. 5000 with the most companies of any state with 684. The Golden State is followed by Texas (404), New York (353), Virginia (293), and Florida (262). All 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, are represented on this year's list.

New York boasts 410 Inc. 5000 companies, making it the top metro area, followed by Washington, D.C. (363), Los Angeles (262), Chicago (203), and Boston (189).

The Inc. 5000 at a Glance
The Real Estate sector, although small, was the top-performing industry, with a total growth rate of 189 percent. Software was second with a growth rate of 126 percent, and Telecommunications was third with 119 percent.

In total, the companies on the Inc. 5000 have created 1.4 million jobs. The Health sector is the top employer with 287,726 jobs, followed by Business Products & Services (230,066), Food & Beverage (108,344), Human Resources (107,924), and Retail (96,858).

Business Products & Services had the most companies on this year’s list with 640, followed by IT Services (607), Advertising & Marketing (410), Health (396), and Government Services (336).

This year’s fastest-growing company is Ambit Energy, a Dallas-based firm that buys electricity and natural gas at wholesale prices and resells the energy to customers acquired through a direct sales channel. The company saw $325 million in revenue in 2009 and a three-year growth rate of 20,369 percent.

The top woman-run company is Lexicon Consulting (No. 4 overall), based in El Cajon, California. Lexicon creates mock Iraqi and Afghan villages used to train military personnel. The firm, founded by Jamie Arundell-Latshaw in 2005, recorded revenue of $17.9 million in 2009 and a three-year growth rate of 14,018 percent. The top minority-run company is WDFA Marketing (No. 5 overall), a San Francisco–based firm that specializes in guerrilla, grass-roots, and micromarketing. WDFA, founded by Raj Prasad, posted revenue of $38.4 million in 2008 and a three-year growth rate of 13,350 percent.

The Inc. 5000 posted an aggregate revenue of $321.6 billion in 2009, up more than 50 percent from the previous year. The top five industries by total revenue are Business Products & Services ($84.7 billion), Health ($48.3 billion), Consumer Products & Services ($26.4 billion), Retail ($22.3 billion), and Government Services ($15.1 billion).


Methodology
The 2010 Inc. 500|5000 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2006 to 2009. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by June 30, 2006. Additionally, they had to be based in the United States, privately held, for profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2009. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2006 is $80,000; the minimum for 2009 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. The top 10 percent of companies on the list constitute the Inc. 500, now in its 29th year.