Weld company tops list of state’s fastest-growing techs

LONGMONT — Applied Films Corp. (Nasdaq: AFCO), a Weld County company that piled up sales after the statewide tech-sector slump, sits atop the list of Colorado’s fastest growing technology companies.
Three other Northern Colorado companies join Applied Films on the 2005 “Fast 50” list compiled by national accounting and consulting firm Deloitte & Touche USA LLP.
Front Range Internet Inc. and Cheetah Advanced Technologies Inc., both of Fort Collins, and Heska Corp. of Loveland also landed on the list.
To qualify for the Fast 50, companies must have had operating revenues of at least $50,000 in 2000 and $1,000,000 in 2004.
Applied Films, a company that makes thin-film coatings used in products ranging from cell phone displays to architectural glass, posted a five-year revenue gain of 3,103 percent – an increase of more than 30-fold.
True enough, Applied Films came from almost nowhere, having been flattened during the early years of the technology slump by falling orders for electronic components that use its products.
And, as is often the case, big revenue increases don’t always translate into rising profits or share prices. Applied Films’ stock price slipped during five years from an average of $26 during October 2000 to $19.88, Thursday’s closing price.
Applied Films is located adjacent to Interstate 25, just south of Colorado Highway 119 in southwest Weld County.
Front Range Internet claimed the No. 34 spot on the list with a revenue gain of 61 percent during the five-year period measured by Deloitte & Touche.
Front Range CEO Bill Ward said that his staff’s ability to maintain high-quality customer service while at the same time adding layers of new technology was key to the company’s growth. While growing sales, FRII has also grown its workforce from five to 50 in its 10-year existence. This year’s appearance on the list is the fourth consecutive year for the company.
Cheetah Advanced Technologies, a maker of software used by estimators in the heavy construction industry, posted 43 percent growth in revenue to land in the No. 40 spot on the list. Heska, a veterinary pharmaceutical and diagnostic equipment company, cracked the list at No. 47 with a 29 percent sales gain from 2000 to 2004.
Heska, founded in Fort Collins in 1989, moved to Loveland’s Centerra development earlier this year.

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