Top 250 private companies: pent-up demand boosted staffing firms in 2010.

• Position: Company overview

In contrast to last year's Top 250 ranking in which fewer than half the firms reported a year-over-year revenue increase, more than three-fourths of the companies in this year's ranking - 197 of the 250 - reported improved sales numbers in 2010.

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Staffing agencies in particular stood out. with three Denver-based firms in that sector more than doubling revenues. Prodigy Resources, an IT-staffing specialist, grew 167 percent. hrQ Inc., an executive search and HR services firm, grew 153 percent. And Razor Tech Staffing grew 147 percent.

"I think it was kind of catch-up from the previous two years when companies didn't have the financial strength and weren't able to spend as much," said Brandon Brooks, co-founder and managing partner of Prodigy Resources. Prodigy, founded in August 2007, reported revenues of $6.2 million in 2010. Brooks says the company surpassed that number by July this year and should come close to doubling last year's revenue total.

Also helping firms like Prodigy, according to Brooks, is that Denver is consistently ranked among the top cities for tech-related job opportunities. He attributes that to Denver's central location on the map that facilitates travel from either coast, and Denver's relatively inexpensive business environment.

"The cost of running a business is a lot cheaper in Colorado than it is in California," Brooks said. "Silicon Valley and Washington, D C., are probably the top two (for IT employment), and those are two very expensive places to run a business. That's why a lot of IT is moving to Denver and Austin (Texas). We're in the middle of the country, and it's cheaper to set up shop and build out data centers or whatever it may be. And there are good engineering programs at the colleges."

Overall among this year's Top 250, Denver-based Allonhill, a third-party reviewer of mortgage loans, posted the top growth among companies in business at least three years with a 382 percent gain in 2010 over the previous year. Close behind was Denver-based Nimbl, an SAP (business software) consulting firm, with sales growth of 353 percent.

OtterBox continued its upward trajectory. The Fort Collins-based maker of protective cases for handheld devices increased sales 250 percent in 2010 after posting a 377 percent increase in 2009.

Englewood-based CH2M Hill topped all firms for the fifth straight year. The employee-owned global engineering firm reported revenues of $6.3 billion for 2010, unchanged from the previous year.

Top 250 Private Companies Ranked by revenue 2011 2010 COMPANY '10 GROSS '09 GROSS %CHANGE YEARS IN RANK RANK REVENUES REVENUES BUSINESS (OOO'S) (OOO'S) 1 1 CH2M Hill $6,300,000 $6,300,001 0% 65 2 2 PCL 4,984,868 5,428,641 -8% 105 Construction Enterprises Inc. 3 4 Hensel Phelps 2,021,000 2,953,000 -32% 74 Construction Co, 4 5 MWH Global Inc. 1,139,165 1,186,992 -4% 160 5 Flatiron 1,033,556 1,079,204 -4% 64 Construction Corp. 6 20 Global 307,153 153,968 99% 14 Technology Resources Inc 7 8 American 307,000 300,000: 2% 36 Furniture Warehouse 8 9 Xanterra 305,353 298,568 2% 135 Parks & Resorts Inc. 9 7 FCI 252,327 315,026 -20% 33 Constructors Inc. 10 11 Mike Shaw 252,088 197,946 27% 17 Automotive Group 11 10 Ralph Schomp 250,599 236,787 6% 70 Automotive Inc. 12 Mile Hi 238,033 234,422 2% 55 Foods 13 16 Accuvant 233,487 167,643 39% 9 14 23 Zayo Group 224,000 150,800 49% 4 Inc. 15 Noodles & 221,000 193,000 15% 16 Company 16 13 Holland & 198,000 193,000! 3% 64 Hart LLP 17 17 Agland Inc. 193,882 166,267 17% 106 18 15 Interstate 179,260 171,200 5% 55 Hiqhway Construction Inc. 19 38 OtterBox 168,900 48,200 250% 12 20 21 Baxa Corp. 156,800 149,600 5% 36 21 14 Alpine Banks 148,979 174,166 -14% 38 of Colorado 22 Yancey's Food 145,000 150,000 -3% 70 Service Co. Inc. 23 Mile Hi 139,582 141,306 -1% 13 Specialty Foods 24 22 Brownstein 137,222 130,751 5% 43 Hyatt Farber Shreck L 25 Policy 133,000 129,700: 3% 27 Studies Inc. (PSI) 26 25 Merrick & 125,000 105,000 19% 56 Co. 27 19 RK Mechanical 124,253 164,908 -25% 48 Inc. 28 18 Roche 101,897 165,364 -38% 40; Constructors Inc. 29 28 IMA Financial 81,780 80,935 1% 37 Group Inc. 30 35 Synergy 79,128 54,474 45% 10 Services Inc. 31 Viaero 76,000 73,000 4% 20 Wireless 32 LenderLive 70,000 30,000 133% 23 Network Inc. 33 39 Alpine Access 67,468 47,419 42% 13 Inc. 34 31 Hercules 67,100 66,000 2% 49 Industries Inc. 35 Publication 66,000 64,000 3% 32 Printers Corp. 36 34 Vladimir 64,744 61,058 6% 41 Jones 37 33 Denver Series 64,500 64,000 1% 31 of Lockton Cos. LLC 38 Envirotech 54,382 50,244 8% 22 Services Inc. 39 40 Market Force 53,100 44,900 18% 6 Information Inc. 40 41 Alliant 3. 49,971 41,771 20% 6 National Title Insurance Cc 41 Appliance 49,349 44,032 12% 22 Factory Outlet 42 54 R.A. Nelson & 47,709 31,734 50% 32 Associates Inc. 43 37 Douqlass 44,600 50,800 -12% 64 Colony Group 44 53 First Western 41,300 32,600 27% 7 Financial Inc. 45 47 C&D 40,646 35,850 13% 53 Enterprises Inc. 46 49 Alpine Buick 39,999 33,592 19% 6 Pontiac GMC 47 blue onion 39,571 27,731 43% 30 48 63 Smashburger 39,400 21,000 88% 4 49 RGL Forensics 38,880 35,100 11% 14 Corp. 50 58 Statera Inc. 38,200 29,200 31% 10 51 42 HB Manaqement 36,915 41,036 -10% 18 Group 52 UBS Inc. 33,000 29,000 14% 30 53 61 Source Office 32,170 26,500 21% 20 Products 54 51 Acme 32,000 30,000 7% 64 Distribution Centers Inc 54 Houq Special 32,000 25,000 28% 13 Services Inc. 54 70 Johnson 32,000 24,000 33% 112 Storaqe & Movinq Co. LLC 57 63 Riverside 31,800 25,300 26% 26 Technoloqy Inc. 58 60 All Copy 31,689 27,868 14% 36 Products Inc. 59 59 GlobaLinks 31,003 29,170 6% 21 LLC 60 63 Affordable 29,000 25,000 16% 7 American Insurance 2011 2010 COMPANY NO OF BUSINESS DESCRIPTION RANK RANK EMPLOYEES 1 1 CH2M Hill 23,000 Global enqineerinq, consultinq, construction and operations firm 2 2 PCL 9,315 General contractinq, Construction construction manaqement, Enterprises desiqn/build Inc. 3 4 Hensel Phelps 2,286 General contractor Construction Co, 4 5 MWH Global 7,000 Manaqement, technical Inc. enqineerinq and construction services in the wet-infrastructrue contractor 5 Flatiron 2025 Transportation and Construction infrastructure contractor Corp. 6 20 Global 198 Consulting solutions Technology integrator with broad IT Resources expertise Inc 7 8 American 1,450 Retail furniture and Furniture accessories Warehouse 8 9 Xanterra 7,000 National and state park Parks & concessioner Resorts Inc. 9 7 FCI 229 Reqional construction Constructors manaqement/qeneral Inc. contractinq 10 11 Mike Shaw 371 Retail automotive sales and Automotive service Group 11 10 Ralph Schomp 370 Automotive sales, service Automotive and parts Inc. 12 Mile Hi 225 Food distribution Foods 13 16 Accuvant 367 Information security and compliance manaqement consultinq 14 23 Zayo Group 443 Provider of bandwidth and Inc. Internet infrastructure and network-neutral colocation 15 Noodles & 5,600 Quick-casual restaurant Company 16 13 Holland & 903 Law...