26Oct2016
For a number of years, the Dagens Industri financial newspaper has been reporting on and awarding Gazelle companies from Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Now Nordic Business Report is reviewing the relative success of Finnish Gazelles, we thought it only right that we compare our results against those of our nearest neighbor, Sweden.
Below you will find the results of the top 5 Swedish Gazelles in the first 6 categories (unfortunately, there is no data on companies in the under €2.5M category, so comparisons can’t be made). The study Nordic Growth Entrepreneurship, conducted by Nordic Innovation and published in 2012, reported that Finnish Gazelle companies grown faster and become larger than their Nordic peers. The comparison would seem to support this assessment as the top 5 companies in Finland outperformed their Swedish counterparts in terms of growth percentage by a hefty margin. Having said this, with companies who’s revenue stream was under €25M the trend was reversed.
In the data available to us it also seems that there are far more high-performing Finnish companies in the €100M+ category than in Sweden, at a ration of 20 – 6. But yet again once you move down the categories Swedish companies start to overtake again at 35 – 57 in the €25-49.9M category, 91 – 202 in the €10-24.9M, 139 – 341 in the €5-9.9M category and finally 243 – 579 in the €2.5-4.9M category.
The comparisons between the two sets of results do suggest that Finnish companies are growing larger and more rapidly. However, one would assume that the higher number of companies in general in Sweden would also increase competition and so slow the progress of Swedish Gazelles. But then again with a bigger internal market it works both ways so perhaps this is not such a mitigating factor.
The Swedish company with the best percentage growth over the four-year period was Acacia Finans AB with 9908% growth. In the same period, the best Finnish performer was BMH Technology Oy with 16159% growth. With almost ever category in the data from both Sweden and Finland the industry sector that was most well represented was the construction industry.
The data for the Swedish Gazelle list was provided by UC AB. The list does not include incorporated data.
TOP 5 Gazelles €100M+ revenue
| COMPANY | REVENUE 2015 (€) | GROWTH 2012-2015 (%) |
| Axpo Sverige Aktiebolag | 179144758 | 2652 |
| Apoex AB | 180608490 | 679 |
| Microsoft Aktiebolag | 157514465 | 468 |
| Värmlandskraft-Okg-Delägarna Aktiebolag | 155755765 | 279 |
| Flygstolen Nordic AB | 164788050 | 126 |
Altogether 6 companies in this category
TOP 5 Gazelles €50M – €99.9M revenue
| COMPANY | REVENUE 2015 (€) | GROWTH 2012-2015 (%) |
| Kinnarps Sverige Försäljning AB | 67515933 | 1037 |
| The Wine Team Global AB | 55744340 | 755 |
| Skanska Financial Services AB | 70440252 | 478 |
| Sambus Aktiebolag | 91896646 | 451 |
| Riddermark Bil AB | 69354717 | 403 |
Altogether 22 companies in this category
TOP 5 Gazelles €25M – €49.9M revenue
| COMPANY | REVENUE 2015 (€) | GROWTH 2012-2015 (%) |
| Fb Internet AB | 34048218 | 3331 |
| Apple Retail Sweden AB | 49381237 | 3223 |
| Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB | 40410168 | 2060 |
| Robert Friman & Co Aktiebolag | 25664151 | 1264 |
| Nyab Sverige AB | 30687736 | 1110 |
Altogether 57 companies in this category
TOP 5 Gazelles €10M – €24.9M revenue
| COMPANY | REVENUE 2015 (€) | GROWTH 2012-2015 (%) |
| Acacia Finans AB | 10773899 | 9908 |
| Orab Entreprenad AB | 15471069 | 5246 |
| Pro4u AB | 12892138 | 4331 |
| Feo Media AB | 13242034 | 3419 |
| Ecobränsle i Karlshamn AB | 22145283 | 2834 |
Altogether 202 companies in this category
TOP 5 Gazelles €5M – €9.9M revenue
| COMPANY | REVENUE 2015 (€) | GROWTH 2012-2015 (%) |
| Ergoff Miljö AB | 8011845 | 5305 |
| Molöf Bygg AB | 7859329 | 3892 |
| Essaglas & Aluminium AB | 7079036 | 3735 |
| Holmgrens Plast AB | 7122013 | 3274 |
| Ambrion Finans AB | 5685430 | 2334 |
Altogether 341 companies in this category
TOP 5 Gazelles €2.5M – €4.9M revenue
| COMPANY | REVENUE 2015 (€) | GROWTH 2012-2015 (%) |
| Skindoc i Skandinavien AB | 4847589 | 2164 |
| Forest Trade i Göteborg AB | 3296226 | 2028 |
| Swemac Innovation AB | 4562055 | 1943 |
| Allegro Projekt AB | 4071384 | 1685 |
| Scandinavian Kiln Service AB | 3851363 | 1644 |
Altogether 578 companies in this category
