Advanced Computer Software Group makes The Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250

Advanced Computer Software Group Ltd. (Advanced), one of the UK’s fastest growing software providers, has secured a ranking on The Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250 league table for the first time. The table ranks Britain’s private mid-market growth companies with the biggest sales. 

One of the UK’s top business success stories, Advanced has grown its revenue to more than £200m in six years, and ranks #135 in the league table. Advanced, which employs 2,000 members of staff, is the third largest UK-based software and IT services provider to the UK market. Over the last year alone, the Group has seen operating profits rise by 22%.

Top Track 250 is compiled by Fast Track, a research and networking events company focusing on top private companies, and published in The Sunday Times each October. 

The list recognises companies which have sales ranging between £140m and £650m, representing the next tier down from the sister Top Track 100 biggest private companies. Businesses typically have between 100 and 5,000 staff and are owned by established families, entrepreneurs and private equity firms. 

Gordon Wilson, CEO of Advanced Computer Software Group Ltd. says: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted for The Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250, which recognises our excellent sales growth over the last financial year. 

“We will continue to drive our success by further investing in our products and continuing to provide excellence in innovative technology and customer support, leading us to our goal of becoming a world class organisation.” 

Norman Armstrong, Partner at Grant Thornton UK LLP, the title sponsor of the league table, praised the companies for their performance: “It’s inspiring to see such a diverse range of businesses creating growth opportunities both at home and abroad and positively contributing to the UK economy. 

“Many of the businesses highlighted are recognising that the best way to grow and create sustainable profits is by developing new, innovative ways to serve their customers, alongside making a broader contribution to society.” 

Advanced provides software and services to both public and private sectors, which enable organisations to improve efficiency, reduce costs and drive growth. The Group was acquired by private equity firm, Vista Equity Partners (Vista) for an enterprise value of £750 million in March 2015. 

Top Track 250 was launched 11 years ago to recognise the success of Britain’s private mid-market growth companies. Since its launch more than 800 British companies have appeared in the league table, which is sponsored by Grant Thornton and Barclays. 

Shared parental leave will benefit economy

Plans to include grandparents in shared parental leave will benefit the UK economy, according to Rethink Group. 

The specialist recruitment and talent management consultancy has outlined how permitting grandparents to take parental leave will provide highly skilled professionals with greater support in returning to their job roles rather than feeling they have no option but to resign to juggle childcare. In addition, it should also encourage grandparents to remain in employment rather than quitting to assist with childcare. The Chancellor, George Osborne recently highlighted that more than half of mothers rely on grandparents for childcare when they return to work. 

Rebecca Trowell HR Director of Rethink Group comments:

“The plans are very encouraging and another step forward to achieving greater support for our parents returning to work which is welcomed in UK industry. Shared parental leave has already had a positive impact since its introduction in April and we’ve seen benefits both internally and with our clients. In the longer term the move could also help us to tackle skills shortages. There are skilled and experienced professionals who choose to retire early to help raise their grandchildren and allowing them to take parental leave could mean many remain in, or even return to work.”

“We have to look to utilise all areas of the workforce, particularly at a time when so much stress is being placed on our available resources. It’s well known that a number of key industries are suffering from skills shortages so it’s imperative that we make the most of all available skills. Almost two million grandparents have given up a job, reduced their hours or taken time off to care for grandchildren and those individuals could make a real difference to UK productivity.”

Sonova Investor & Analyst Day 2015

Sonova Holding AG, the provider of innovative hearing care solutions, today holds its fourth annual Investor & Analyst Day. Senior management will explain the significant value creation potential of the company’s innovation strategy and the power of new products in both hearing instruments and cochlear implants. Sonova will also provide an insight into the development of its next generation 2.4 GHz wireless technology platform, which enables unmatched compatibility and flexibility in terms of future direct communication and connectivity solutions. The event is once again attracting significant interest from the international investor community with over 80 participants expected to attend the day at the headquarters in Stäfa, Switzerland.

“We are very pleased to once again share our growth oriented innovation strategy with such a large group of investors and analysts”, says Lukas Braunschweiler, CEO of Sonova. “Our confidence in the future growth potential of our business is underpinned by the continued global expansion of our sales and distribution network and by the success of the Phonak Venture and Unitron North product platforms. We continue to harvest the synergies between Advanced Bionics and Phonak as evidenced by the upcoming introduction of the new Naída CI sound processors. This, combined with our expanding eSolutions business model, will enable us to keep delivering attractive returns to our shareholders.”

A whole series of new products across all of Sonova’s businesses will be presented today and subsequently be showcased at the EUHA congress starting on 14 October. Among the highlights are:

Phonak

The new custom Phonak Virto V is the latest addition to the Phonak hearing aid portfolio based on the powerful Phonak Venture platform. Running on Phonak’s unmatched new AutoSense OS automation and superior Binaural VoiceStream Technology, Phonak Virto V delivers 15-30% better speech intelligibility1 in noise when compared to two high-end devices of main competitors.The new Floating Antenna enables devices with the full Venture performance to be built with a 25% smaller visible surface area2 than the previous generation. The new design features a faceplate with nano-coated battery doors, new volume controls and a push button which provides 20% better usability3 thanks to its innovative design and placement. Immediately available in four performance levels4, Phonak Virto V offers an even clearer and more natural sound quality as well as up to 30% less battery consumption than the previous generation of custom hearing aids. There is no other hearing aid as small as the Virto V-10 capable of this much performance.

Unitron

Following the introduction of its latest generation of RIC (receiver-in-canal) Moxi hearing instruments based on new product platform North back in April 2015, Unitron is rounding out its offering built on North with Stride, a family of freshly designed BTE (behind-the-ear) and ITE (in-the-ear) hearing instruments. The Stride family of BTE hearing instruments delivers natural sound and enjoyable conversations in all listening environments paired with Unitron’s patient-centric design philosophy aimed at achieving the perfect mix of aesthetics, comfort and intuitive functionality. Customized for comfort, the Stride ITE family offers all the benefits of the North platform in a small package, ranging from the tiny IIC (invisible-in-canal) all the way to full-shell super power instruments. Stride is paired with unique, industry-first solutions such as Flex and Log It All. Log It All enhances Flex by allowing hearing care professionals to gather information from a patient’s experiences wearing hearing instruments to create evidence-based conversations about their lifestyle and technology level choices. The new Unitron Stride products are available later this month in five performance levels.

Advanced Bionics

In the coming months, Advanced Bionics will launch the all-new and comprehensive Naída CI Q Series. With the powerful new sound processors, Advanced Bionics combines AB’s proven innovations with even more of Phonak’s most popular features relied on by hundreds of thousands of hearing aid users for better hearing in all situations. The Naída CI Q90 is the top-of-the-line processor and offers new advancements in automation and microphone technology for focusing on speech. New and current Naída CI Q70 recipients can also benefit from some of the advanced new Q Series features5, including innovations that automatically reduce obtrusive sounds and further improve hearing in difficult environments. Designed to meet the needs of certain select markets, the Naída CI Q30 offers proven technology that leads the industry for hearing in noise. Also new to the Q Series are PowerCel battery innovations that reduce size and improve battery life.

The slides of the Investor- & Analyst Day presentations are available on the Sonova website on 13 October, 2015 starting at 09.00am CET.

To access the presentations, please visit http://www.sonova.com/en/investors/presentations.

1 Hörzentrum Oldenburg “Benchmark study of modern custom-made hearing devices” (2015)

2 Compared to the previous generation. Phonak Research Center in Staefa

3 Validation, Phonak Research Center in Staefa; Push button in models Virto V-nano, Virto V-10 NW O, Virto V-10 O

4 Phonak Virto V-nano comes in 3 performance levels

5 Requires a programming appointment prior to use