Inaugurated in 2013, the Small Cap Awards is an annual event celebrating and rewarding the finest in the sub-£350m market cap quoted company sector.
The Awards celebrates those professionals and companies that work within the AIM and Aquis communities and is attended by listed companies, institutions, fund managers, brokers and advisors.
The 2024 Awards will take place on Thursday 13th June 2024 at One Moorgate Place in London.
The nominees for Technology Company of the Year are:
IQGeo
IQGeo is a leading global provider of geospatial solutions to telecommunication and utility operators. Its award-winning network management software is “Building Better Networks” through greater collaboration and process efficiency across the operational lifecycle, from planning and design to construction, operations, and sales optimization.
The IQGeo software is strategic to organisations deploying and modernising the critical utility infrastructure that delivers digital equity and renewable energy resources to communities around the world. IQGeo’s mission is to provide operators with the innovative software needed to manage the increasingly complex fibre networks and electric grids that are fundamental to the net-zero carbon economy of the future.
IQGeo partners with a diverse range of over 530 clients including large multinational telecommunication and utility companies and smaller regional and private network operators to deliver the digital innovation required to increase network resilience, operational safety, and business ROI.
Filtronic Plc
Filtronic is the market leader in high-performance mmWave technologies for the aerospace, defence, space and telecoms infrastructure markets. It designs and manufactures Radio Frequency (RF) components and subsystems for mission-critical communication networks. Its clients depend on the Company’s ability to deliver high-performance RF solutions that solve challenging technical requirements, accelerate market entry, reduce development costs, and provide a significant competitive advantage. The Company’s sub-embedded system products are critical to a range of challenging applications including 5G telecommunications infrastructure deployment, aerospace and defence electronic warfare, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space infrastructure, and critical communications.
Importantly, it has been able to capitalise on several positive sectoral trends and has benefitted from growing European defence budgets. The UK is now budgeting £3.2bn for defence (2.3% GDP) with commitments to increased spending on electronic warfare, jet radar systems and space communications all falling into Filtronic’s TAM. Closely linked to budgets, is a growing desire for sovereign capability in the defence supply chain driven by geopolitical instability. Filtronic’s secure UK facilities with full defence accreditation is a significant benefit for many of its customers.
The Company ended 2023 in the enviable position of serving the market leader in each of its four target markets, has invested to strengthen its sales capabilities, and continues to deliver on its technology roadmap. Importantly, the Company is well aligned with the UK Government’s investment priorities, and that of governments more generally. Since December 2023 the Company has announced a slew of contracts totalling £34.9m, including agreements with leaders in LEO and major UK defence primes.
Its most recent achievement is a Strategic Agreement with SpaceX to supply its Starlink constellation and a long-term partnership with SpaceX in the LEO space market. This includes an initial irrevocable purchase order of £15.8m and scope for SpaceX to establish a 10% stake in the Company. FY2024 revenue will now be marginally ahead of expectations and EBITDA will be significantly ahead. Both revenue and EBITDA for FY2025 are expected to be significantly ahead of previous market expectations.
The Company has been at the forefront of RF communications for over 45 years and currently operates from three global manufacturing sites, with two engineering centres of excellence covering the full RF spectrum. Filtronic’s product range and wider technology capabilities are supported by secure IP, in-house knowledge, and an extensive patent portfolio. Its vision is to innovate and push the boundaries of what Is possible with RF, Microwave and mmWave communication, delivering transformative wireless solutions through design and manufacture leadership, connecting everyone everywhere.
The momentum built through 23/24 is the product of a strategy that targets long-term sustainable financial growth and focuses on strategic re-investment in the business. Filtronic operates in a highly specialised corner of the market, and is unique in its ability to design, develop, and manufacture turn-key solutions to the highest standards and can ramp production quickly to meet demand. It remains committed to building and developing an organisation that can develop technology roadmaps, undertake customer developments and service the opportunity pipeline.
Beeks Financial Cloud
Beeks Financial Cloud Group is a leading managed cloud provider exclusively within the global finance sector. We offer low-latency, private cloud solutions, providing the flexibility to deploy and connect to exchanges, trading venues and public cloud for a true hybrid cloud experience. Based in the UK with an expanding network of global data centres, Beeks supports international customers at scale in leading financial hubs such as New York, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore and Australia. Beeks has enjoyed double-digit growth each year since listing and sales growth has continued to increasingly accelerate this year, Canaccord raising their full year forecasts at the interim results.
Success this year has been driven by our growing blue-chip customer base and the substantial addressable market opportunity. The financial markets are increasingly adopting cloud solutions, and thanks to our unique offering, we have been able to address the cloud computing needs of the largest financial services organisation in the world.
Our most recently launched Exchange Cloud, a multi-home, fully configured and pre-installed physical trading environment fully optimised for global exchanges to offer cloud solutions to their end users, has brought in significant new Tier 1 customer wins. This includes an extension to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the signing of a third large global exchange. The nature of our offering means there is significant opportunity for further expansion with existing customers after their initial signing, which we have seen with our Proximity Cloud customers this year.
We are now consistently targeting and securing the biggest financial organisations as customers. With three already signed, we have proven our ability to win deals with the world’s largest exchanges. With our proven offering, growing reputation, and strong margins and cash generation, we have never been better placed to seize the opportunity and continue achieving growth acceleration.