2011 Top 100: Brighter Days

QP's top performers offer evidence that the economic recovery has begun in earnest

To download a PDF of the 2011 Top 100 list click here.

After bravely weathering the horrible economy of 2009, things are looking up for QP’s Top 100. Last year’s group took a precipitous plunge of more than 15%; the worst performance in the history of this study. And for some, there were more dark days to ahead. A handful of companies that have been part of the list in the past have either gone out of business or have been absorbed by larger firms. In other cases, sales simply fell so low that the companies no longer meet the Top 100 criteria. Most of the owners I spoke with asked me to keep the details of their situation confidential, and I will honor their wishes. But take to heart the lesson this teaches: even the most successful companies face challenges, and past success is no guarantee that a company will always be around.

The good news is that Top 100 sales in 2010 were up 3.85% for a total of $532,166,791. Of course, every year some companies drop out and new ones come in, so in addition to comparing them to last year’s study, we also measure these businesses against their own performance in the previous year. So, the better news is that this group posted a sales increase of 7.27% over its own performance in 2009.

To avoid skewing the numbers, companies that have previously reported sales of at least $5 million, but fail to report updated numbers, are kept in the list with estimated sales. Unless there is evidence to do otherwise, their sales are left at the last reported amount. If a company fails to report for three consecutive years, it is removed from the list. Brandon’s Printing was removed from this year’s list for that reason. Western Graphics and House of Printing are estimated for the second time this year. If they do not report next year, they will also be deleted. The other companies that are estimated this year are ColorNet/Rockville Printing, Print Tech, Elm Press, and MLI Integrated Graphic Solutions.

There are 15 new companies in this year’s list. The highest debut spot goes to Las Vegas-based A&B Printing & Mailing, which comes in at #29 with sales of $5.78 million. This also marks the first year since 1996 that the #100 spot is occupied by a company with sales less than $2 million.

Top of the World

The positions of the Top 10 companies are quite stable. Numbers one through four are the same as last year: CCI/Coakley Tech, Balmar/HBP Inc., ColorNet/Rockville Printing, and ASAP Printing Corp. The biggest move was made by Frank Gumpert Printing of Annapolis, which jumped from #11 to #5. That caused the next three on the list, #6 through #8 to shuffle into this order: Econoprint, Landmark Print, Western Graphics. Hatteras and Copy Central remain at #9 and #10, respectively.

Sales for the Top 10 companies totaled $161,302,927, which is 30.31% of total sales for the group, up by 12.67% . Much of that comes from the 59.86% growth posted by Balmar, which reflects the fact that it was acquired by HBP Inc. Three others also reported double digit growth: Frank Gumpert Printing grew by 26.2%, Landmark Print’s sales rose by 16.79%, CCI/Coakley Tech increased sales by 12%. ASAP Printing reported sales up by 8.73%, Hatteras grew by 3.4%, and Copy Central by 1.1%. ColorNet/Rockville and Western Graphics did not report, so they were estimated with stagnant sales.

These 10 companies also account for 50 locations, which is 26.6% of the total number. Copy Central has 19 locations, CCI/Coakley Tech has eight, and Hatteras has five. ColorNet/Rockville, ASAP Printing, and Econoprint each have four shops. Balmar/HBP and Frank Gumpert Printing have two locations each, and Landmark Print and Western Graphics are both single location operations.