Populis Scoops the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 in Ireland

DUBLIN, October 24, 2011 -

Digital Media Company Comes First in Prestigious Growth Award

In recognition of the phenomenal growth experienced in the period 2006 to 2010, Populis is delighted to announce that it has scooped first position in the coveted Deloitte Technology Fast 50 in Ireland (www.populis.com).

The prestigious award, now in its twelfth year in Ireland, honours business growth, technological innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, ranking the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in Ireland based on percentage revenue growth over a five-year period.

Now staking the claim as Europe’s largest producer of vertical content in 8 languages, Populis has enjoyed double digit revenue growth since 2006, which on average has doubled each year culminating in 2010 revenues of 57.7 Million Euros. Innovation in online publishing practices has also resulted in a steady growth of traffic and content production.

The Group, which owns and operates over 600 websites through its media brands Excite Europe, Better Deals, Blogo and Blogosfere, as well as 700,000 websites in the mokono network, drives over 35 million unique users every month to its portfolio of web properties.

Producing over 35,000 items of content with a blended business model of quality, crowdsourced content on demand via its platform Populis Create, and premium content on some of Europe’s top professional blogs and vertical websites, its growing network of media properties is attracting ever more attention from consumers and advertisers alike.

Investment into strategic acquisitions has also significantly strengthened the Group’s assets and this year alone successful acquisitions have included Germany’s largest blog network mokono and Italy’s largest blog network Blogo.

Accepting the award on behalf of Populis was Group CFO John Slyne, “We are absolutely delighted to have come in first position at this year’s Deloitte Technology Fast 50. It is with great pleasure that I accept this award on behalf of all the team who have worked so hard over the last five years to make Populis the innovative media company it is today.”

John concluded, “With headquarters in Dublin, we’ve had access to a pool of incredibly talented people from across the world, essential for the success of an online publishing company with multilingual content production at its heart. We are looking forward to an interesting phase of innovation over the coming year as the industry evolves and consolidates across Europe.”

Announcing the winners of the Technology Fast 50 programme, David O’Flanagan, Partner, Deloitte said: “Looking at the list of Deloitte Fast 50 winners in 2011, it becomes clear that we are witnessing the second wave of Irish technology companies starting to mature. In 2001, companies such as Conduit, Horizon Technologies and Iona were riding high as Fast 50 winners; ten years on and there are new kids on the block who mirror their predecessors in having great ideas and understand that to grow they have to go global.”

The awards took place in the Dublin Convention Centre on Friday 21^st October.  Industry figures speaking at the event included Maurice Mortell, Managing Director, Telecity Group Plc (former CEO Data Electronics) and Regina Moran, CEO, Fujitsu. Sponsors of the event were William Fry and Tughans.

Details of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 ranking list are available to download at www.fast50.ie.    

About the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Programme

To enter the Fast 50 Awards, companies must meet the criteria listed below. 

Entry Criteria:

• Entrants must have been operating for a minimum of five years, with a turnover of at least €50,000 for 2005.
• Entrants can be public or private companies but the parent company must be headquartered in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland. Subsidiaries or divisions do not qualify.
• Each entrant must be a technology company defined as producing technology; manufacturing technology-related products; being technologically intensive or using technology in problem-solving; or devoting a high percentage of effort to the research and development of technology.

About Deloitte

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/ie/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and its member firms.

The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.

Deloitte’s 1,100 people in Dublin, Cork and Limerick provide audit, tax, consulting, and corporate finance services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. With a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries, Deloitte brings world-class capabilities and high-quality service to clients, delivering the insights they need to address their most complex business challenges.

Deloitte’s approximately 182,000 professionals are committed to becoming the standard of excellence.

About Populis

Populis is one of Europe’s fastest growing digital media companies (GP Bullhound Media Momentum Awards 2010, 2011) and European leader in the production of multilingual vertical content. Populis crowdsources, distributes and monetizes over 35,000 items of compelling content in 8 languages per month for a vibrant network of 600 fully owned and operated blogs, websites and web portals including Excite Europe, Better Deals, Blogo, Blogosfere and over 700,000 sites in the mokono network.

Populis is a pan-European company with a team of over 130 working across offices in Ireland and Italy, active in the UK, Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, US, Australia, Russia and Brazil.

www.populis.com

For further information please contact: Amanda Lorenzani, Head of Communications, Populis, lorenzani at populis.com , tel no. +44(0)79-00-255-970