FAQs about FT 1000: Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies 2019

The following updated information pertains to the 2019 ranking of the FT 1000. If you are interested in entering your company into the 2020 ranking, please email FT1000@statista.com

Do I have to pay to register? 
No. 

Do I have to pay to be included in the ranking? 
Not at all. If included in the ranking, your company is free to celebrate its success via a press release, social media or a company website. Only businesses that want to use the official seal featuring the FT and Statista logos with the title FT 1000: Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies 2019 have to pay a licence fee, in a one-off payment. The seal will be available after publication of the ranking. 

Do I have to purchase the FT 1000 — Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies 2019 licence in order to point out or make reference to my place in the rankings? 
No. All companies that apply and make it into the top 1000 are completely free to publicise this fact. The official seal FT 1000: Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies 2019, available for a licence fee, is merely an additional option for those who want to advertise and promote their achievement in a more visually striking manner. 

Is the creation of the FT 1000 ranking commissioned and paid for by customers? 
No, this project has two sources of revenue: the first from licence fees, as outlined above, and the second from advertisements in an FT special report where the ranking will be published alongside FT articles on European company growth trends and profiles. The special report, to appear as part of the FT in print and online, is an independent piece of journalism written and commissioned by FT journalists, drawing where relevant on the data collected for the ranking. 

Who is eligible to participate? 
In order to be included in the ranking your company must meet the following criteria: 

• Revenue of at least €100,000 generated in 2014¹
• Revenue of at least €1.5m generated in 2017¹
• Be independent (no subsidiary or branch office of any kind)
• Be headquartered in one of 32 European countries ²

¹Or currency value equivalent according to the average of the actual fiscal year 

² Eligible to participate are all companies from these countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom. 

My company is wholly or partly owned by venture capital, private equity firms or investment funds. Can my company still qualify for the FT 1000? 
Yes, as long as it complies with the aforementioned criteria. 

How do you verify the data provided by participants? 
Revenue data are verified through the signing off of this form by the managing director/CEO, the finance director/CFO or a member of your executive committee. The form may be forwarded via email, fax or post. 

When is the registration deadline? 
Registration through the online form can be completed between September 1 and December 31 2018.

On what criteria is the ranking of the 1000 companies in the FT 1000 ranking determined? 
The ranking is determined by the compound annual growth rate in revenue between the years 2014 and 2017. 

How will Statista calculate the average growth in revenue of a company? 

The calculation of company growth rates is based on the revenue figures submitted by the companies in the respective national currency. For better comparability in the ranking the revenue figures were converted into euros. The average exchange rate for the financial year indicated by the company was used for this purpose.

The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) was calculated as follows:

((revenue2017 / revenue2014)^(1/3)) - 1 = CAGR

The absolute growth between 2014 and 2017 was calculated as follows:

(revenue2017 / revenue2014) - 1 = Growth rate

The fiscal year of my company does not coincide with the calendar year. However, the survey and the form ask for the total revenue for the calendar years of 2014 and 2017. Which revenue information should I provide? 
Please provide the revenue details for the fiscal years that fall predominantly in the calendar years of 2014 and 2017. For example: 

01/06/2017 to 31/05/2018 → use this for 2017 as seven months were in 2017 

01/10/2013 to 30/09/2014 → use this for 2014 as nine months were in 2014 

If your fiscal years split the calendar years exactly in half: 

01/07/2013 to 30/06/2014 and 01/07/2016 to 30/06/2017 or 

01/07/2014 to 30/06/2015 and 01/07/2017 to 30/06/2018

You may decide which combinations of fiscal years to use. Just make sure you do not mix them. 

My company was founded in 2014. Can I still participate?
Yes, as long as it complies with the aforementioned criteria. Additionally, there will be a footnote stating that your first fiscal year was incomplete.

Which definition of revenue will be observed in the FT 1000 list? 
Net revenue adjusted for returns, excluding value added tax and derived solely from business activities (excluding any other operating income) as disclosed in your company report. 

Are further data, such as profitability, relevant for the FT 1000 ranking? 
As a minimum, we require data on revenue growth. However, we also encourage you to add any pre-tax profit information to the registration form. While we state that pre-tax profit is not required, such information will help us better understand your company. Moreover, such transparency is likely to attract more editorial attention to your company in the FT special report. 

When will the FT 1000 ranking be published? 
The ranking will be published in March 2019. 

Which information concerning individual companies will be published by the Financial Times? 
The following information will be released about the top 1000 companies: the company name; the average growth in revenue and the total revenue for the years of 2014 and 2017; the number of employees in 2014 and 2017; the founding date of the company; the URL of the company website; as well as the location of the head office and the pre-tax profit if provided. 

How will I find out whether or not my company has made it into the ranking? 
The results of our research will be published in the Financial Times and outside the paywall of FT.com so that the findings can be read and shared by everybody. In advance of this, the successful companies will be informed by post of their inclusion in the list. 

Disclaimer: The Financial Times and Statista retain the right to change the criteria and/or produce new criteria at any point in the project’s lifetime.