Inc. magazine lists 24 in area as top growers

5,000 private companies cited; 18 in Huntsville

Eighteen Huntsville-based companies and one company each in Athens, Madison, Decatur, Scottsboro, Tanner and Rainsville made the first-ever Inc. 5,000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the country.

The Inc. 5,000 list, which is an extension of Inc. magazine's annual Inc. 500 list, includes many businesses that are too big to grow at the pace required to make the Inc. 500 as well as many smaller firms.

The area companies and their ranking:

DeciBel Research Inc., Huntsville, 213; Torch Technologies, Huntsville, 818; Eagle Support Services, Huntsville, 852;

Logicore Corp., Huntsville, 870; Summit Technology, Athens, 1,002; Open Biosystems Inc., Huntsville, 1,154;

Southern Construction & Design, Madison, 1,290; Suzuki of Huntsville, Huntsville, 1,349;

Radiance Technologies Inc., Huntsville, 1,626; Pro-Air Services, Decatur, 1,644; InfoPro Corp., Huntsville, 1,706;

Qualis Corp., Huntsville, 1,967; Gray Research Inc., Huntsville, 1,986; Brown Precision Inc., Huntsville, 2,142;

Meteor Express, Scottsboro, 2,270; Bevilacqua Research Corp., Huntsville, 3,072; Solid Earth Inc., Huntsville, 3,442;

Belzon Inc., Huntsville, 3,477; Intuitive Research & Technology Corp., Huntsville, 3,547; A-P-T Research Inc., Huntsville, 3,927;

Cornerstone Detention Products, Tanner, 4,221; Urethane Supply, Rainsville, 4,410;

Shearer & Associates, Huntsville, 4,736; AEgis Technologies Inc., Huntsville, 4,966.

The Inc. 5,000 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2003 through 2006. To qualify, companies must have been generating revenue by the first week of 2003, and be able to show four full calendar years of sales.

To qualify, companies also had to be U.S.-based, privately held and independent, that is, not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies, as of Dec. 31, 2006. (Since that date, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) Revenue in 2003 must have been at least $200,000, and revenue in 2006 must have been at least $2 million.

The magazine also published Top 100 lists for 26 industries.

In the defense contractors category, 11 Huntsville companies are listed. The firms and their rankings are Torch Technologies, 8; Eagle Support Services, 10; Logicore, 14; Radiance Technologies, 30; Qualis, 34; Gray Research, 35; Bevilacqua, 54; Intuitive Research, 60; A-P-T Research, 68; Shearer, 76; and AEgis, 79.

Southern Construction & Design is ranked 87th in the construction category. In health, Open Biosystems is ranked 67th; in real estate, Solid Earth is ranked 96th; and in transportation, Meteor Express is 51st.