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| Top 25 Canadian Software Companies |
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The Top 25 Canadian software companies had a total revenue growth of 18.3 per cent, down from the 23 per cent revenue growth seen last year. Total revenues for the Top 25 list as a whole increased from $2.87 billion in 2004 to $3.4 billion in 2005. In relation, the total revenues for all software companies on the Top 250 grew by 17 per cent from 2004. Overall, the top entrants have remained the same: Cognos, Geac, Open Text, Hummingbird and Constellation Software continue to appear on the Top 5 list, with positions unchanged from last year. In addition, nine companies who are new to the Branham300 are now appearing on the Top 25 Software list.
Ontario-based companies continue to dominate, but the increase in Quebec-based companies has seen Ontario’s complement decrease from 80 per cent last year to 72 per cent this year. Subsequently, Quebec now accounts for 24 per cent of companies, up from 16 per cent last year. British Columbia remains unchanged at four per cent. When we take a look at all of this year’s software companies on the Top 250, we see that British Columbia and Alberta have made greater contributions this year to the total makeup, with 17 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.
The top five companies in this category continue their strong activity in the IT world. Cognos of Ottawa continues to be Canada’s number one software company, growing 21 per cent over the year to earn $962 million. Recently, it has announced partnerships with IBS and Similarity Systems that will continue to strengthen its position as a worldwide leader in business intelligence. 2005 was a very important year for Geac Computer, whose shareholders have recently approved its acquisition by U.S.-based Golden Gate Capital. Thus, Geac will be appearing for the last time in the Top 250 as efforts are made to improve the company’s operations through this acquisition. It is reported Geac will be split into two separate companies: one to handle industry-specific solutions, the other geared towards financial applications. Nonetheless, Geac managed to earn more than $500 million this year. Enterprise Content Management solution provider Open Text had revenue gains of 43 per cent in 2005. The company made several advancements in the year, which included a new ECM platform, e-mail management solutions, a new BPM solution and new content- archiving software. Systems Xcellence of Milton, Ont., is one of the nine new companies to appear on the list. It provides healthcare transaction processing solutions geared towards the North American pharmaceutical industry and has grown by 59 per cent in 2005. Offerings include
retail pharmacy management systems, point-of-sale systems, remote distribution and a host of other provider services in addition to the company’s suite of pharmacy administrative solutions.
CIMTEK provides solutions for complex design and testing for electronics manufacturers. Traditionally focused on the automotive industry, the company has expanded to OEMs in the consumer electronic manufacturing area. With customers like Microsoft, DuPont, Honda and Celestica, the company has increased revenues by 98 per cent to a total of $35 million in 2005. Belzberg Technologies of Toronto, a provider of electronic equity and options trading software, grew by 24 per cent. In 2005, the company developed a technology that integrates its trading software with market data directly from all major North American stock and option exchanges. This caused a significant jump in the number of electronic options trading through its software, causing record results in the first quarter of 2005. Other new companies on the list include Avotus, Longview Solutions, Workstream, TECSYS, Versatile Systems and GIRO.
Software companies account for 38 per cent of all Top 250 companies, making them the largest category by number of companies in the Branham300. This continues to show Canada as a leader in software development. While the percentage of software companies has decreased from 47 per cent last year, the
increase in total revenues generated by this category shows size does not always matter when
looking at the overall success of a category.
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| Top 300 Issue |
 
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| Gadget of the Week (Canadian) |
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Where did I put that darn headset?
Cardo S-800
Bluetooth headsets are very useful - until you misplace them. When you lose the attractive little S-800, you use your phone to signal the headset to start buzzing.
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| Gadget of the Week (Japanese) |
Sounds of Japan
Why record just the visual when you can capture the sounds as well.
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