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Vimsoft, Major Drilling make top 35 fastest growing companies list from Progress Magazine

Seven New Brunswick companies, including two from Metro Moncton, were honoured last night when Progress Magazine named its top 35 fastest growing companies for 2009.

Vinsoft of Dieppe and Major Drilling Group International of Moncton were among those awarded, at numbers seven and 20 respectively.

Progress Magazine rank Atlantic Canadian companies according to their cumulative revenue growth over a three-year period. The company that shows the most growth is named the fastest growing company in Atlantic Canada.

Atlantis Aviation of St. John's, N.L. was ranked number one for the second year in a row last night.

"The fastest growing company ranking identifies the region's high growth mavericks," Pamela Scott Crace, editor of Progress Magazine, said in a press release prior to the unveiling of the list.

"The further benefit of the survey is that it reveals the issues that are on the minds of business growers. Not surprisingly, the number one issue facing companies on the list this year is the broad spectrum of human resource challenges, as organizations strive to find ways to manage the challenges of growth in a tight labour market and in tougher economic times."

Businesses can submit to be considered for the list and they answer a survey relating to business issues.

When Joel DeWolfe, marketing director of Vimsoft, spoke to the Times & Transcript yesterday afternoon, he was not yet aware of where the company ranked in the top 35 list, and the Times & Transcript wasn't about to spoil it for him.

However, DeWolfe was happy the company made the list, noting that the company's revenues have shot up by several hundred per cent in the last few years.

"It's always nice to be recognized for our efforts," he says. "It's also important from the perspective that we're competing like other companies are not only for business but for employees."

Vimsoft creates information management software, computer programs that deal with asset management.

While the company is based in Dieppe, most of its clients to date are based elsewhere in North America. Broadcast engineering was Vimsoft's primary focus. They created software called VimBiz that allowed for more effective workflow processes related to managing assets and handling service requests.

Some of Vimsoft's clients include The Movie Network, American Forces Network, Major League Baseball Network, YTV, Harpo Productions and more.

Recently, the company began expanding into the warehousing sector on the local market.

DeWolfe says traditionally, warehousing companies required three types of software -- one to monitor activity within the warehouse, one for invoicing and one to handle payroll and accounting.

VimBiz handles all three. Cap-Pelé's Maritime Cold Storage uses the software to manage its assets. The entire company runs on Vimsoft software.

As that market continues to expand, Vimsoft will look at other sectors. DeWolfe says VimBoz was purposely built in a way that it was generic enough it could be moulded to fit the needs of a variety of businesses.

Remarkably, for a company named one of the fastest growing in Atlantic Canada, it only employs six people.

DeWolfe says the company is looking to grow soon and will be looking to hire more people, including experienced database administrators.

While economic woes are being talked about globally, it doesn't appear to be slowing Vimsoft down.

"When times are hard economically, the spotlight on our software doesn't really dim because people are looking harder than ever for efficiency tools, and that's what we provide," DeWolfe explains.

Major Drilling Group International is the other Metro company named among the fastest growing in the region. Certainly it is one of the companies with the greatest presence globally.

As one of the world's largest drilling service companies serving the mining industry, it maintains field operations and offices in Canada, the United States, South and Central America, Asia, Africa and Australia.

Other New Brunswick companies who made the list last night, and their rankings, include: Bulletproof Solutions of Fredericton (13), LuminUltra Technologies of Fredericton (14), Mariner Partners of Saint John (15), Professional Quality Assurance of Fredericton (25) and Plazacorp Retail Properties of Fredericton (30).