Intercede Reaches 6th on Deloitte & Touche Fast 50 Midlands List

Deloitte & Touche, the UK's fastest growing professional services firm, has unveiled its fifth annual ranking of the Midlands' fastest growing technology companies. Intercede was placed 6th in the region's rankings.

Deloitte & Touche created the Technology Fast 50 to reach out to UK technology companies and champion innovation in the sector. The programme tracks the growth rates of technology companies in seven regions in the UK and Ireland, culminating in a national ranking in December 2002. This year's event is also co-sponsored by techMARK, the London Stock Exchange market for innovative technology companies, and supported by Intellect, the association for the UK's IT, telecommunications and electronics industries.

The Technology Fast 50 programme seeks out those companies that have shown impressive growth rates in the telecommunications, hardware, software and biotechnology markets over the last three financial years. All companies considered for the award must be headquartered in the Midlands region, must be technology-intensive or use unique technology in problem solving, or must devote a high percentage of effort to research and development.

Chris Robertson, Technology, Media and Telecommunications partner for Deloitte in the Midlands said, "In a year of extraordinary adversity and when achieving growth remained the single biggest challenge the technology sector faces, these companies have demonstrated how to achieve excellence in niche markets. While 2002 was a period of retrenchment and soul searching for technology companies, during which many elected to rethink their core business strategies, these finalists have continued to reinvent themselves in difficult circumstances."

"It is all the more vital that the companies who continue to demonstrate strong growth are recognised accordingly for their strong management teams as they are the key to innovation and employment growth in the region and the UK as a whole," Chris Robertson added.

Richard Parris, Chairman and CEO of Intercede, said, "We are delighted to have been included in the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 50 listing for the second year running. This award endorses not only Intercede's recent technological achievements but it also proves that a Leicestershire based company can produce world class software that rivals offerings from top companies based in Silicon Valley."

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About Intercede
Intercede Group plc (IGP LN) (IGP.L) is a leading developer and supplier of digital identity management software. Intercede's edefice™ provides service providers and end-user organizations with the tools required to quickly deploy, maintain and manage smart cards, hardware and software tokens, biometrics, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology and other digital credentials. Intercede's customers cover a range of industries and include ActivCard, AIB, Bank of Ireland, Barclays Bank, Colt Telecommunications, Datakey, Dexia Bank, Fujitsu Services, Lloyds TSB and the NHS. For more information, visit Intercede's home page at http://www.intercedegroup.com/ or call +44 (0) 1455 558 111.

About the Deloitte & Touche
Deloitte & Touche is the UK's fastest growing major professional services firm in 23 locations, with over 10,000 staff nationwide and fee income of £713.6 million in 2001/2002. It is the UK practice of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a global leader in professional services with over 100,000 people in 140 countries and fee income of $12.4 billion for the year ended 31 May 2001.

For further information on Deloitte & Touche, you can access our website on www.deloitte.co.uk

About the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 50 Programme
The Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 50 Programme is part of a national campaign designed to recognise, reward and raise the profile of the UK's fastest growing companies. The company criteria for Fast 50 eligibility is based on financial performance and revenue growth and companies will be ranked on percentage growth in turnover over three years 1999-2001.

For more information on Deloitte & Touche UK Fast 50 listing www.fast50.co.uk

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