74 percent of firms reported revenue gains for 2008.

• Position: TOP 250 private companies - Financial report

The sputtering U.S. economy has taken its toll on Colorado businesses--not to mention workers who have suffered job losses in record numbers in 2009--but those hardships aren't fully reflected in the ColoradoBiz Top 250 Private Companies ranking, which is based on 2008 revenues. Nearly three-fourths of the firms in the ranking reported higher sales in 2008 than they did in the previous year.

Topping the list for the third straight year is Englewood-based CH2M Hill. The global engineering giant with more than 25,000 employees generated revenues of $6.4 billion in 2008, a 10 percent gain over the previous year.

The annual ranking of Colorado-based private companies is based on self-reported revenues. This year it took a minimum of $2.2 million in revenues for a company to crack the Top 250. A total of 475 companies were contacted for the ranking, with most responding by logging onto www.cobizmag.com and filling out an online form.

Of course, the flip side of 184 firms in the ranking reporting year-over-year gains is that more than one-fourth--66 companies--reported a revenue decrease in 2008. Not surprisingly, that includes three of the four car dealerships on the list that suffered a drop in sales. No. 3 Burt Automotive, No. 10 Mike Shaw Automotive and No. 11 Ralph Schomp Automotive all reported sales declines in 2008, ranging from 2 percent to 17 percent. The only dealership in the ranking to post a year-over-year increase was No. 55 Alpine Buick Pontiac GMC. The four-year-old Denver dealership owned by Ivette Dominguez reported sales of $47.8 million in 2008 for a 19 percent gain.

This year's ColoradoBiz Top 250 hail from 38 Colorado cities, led by Denver with 87 companies represented, followed by Boulder with 17, Englewood with 16 and Colorado Springs with 13.

For more information on the ColoradoBiz Top 250 Private Companies ranking and other annual lists, go to www.cobizmag.com and click on the "ColoradoBiz Lists" tab.

TOP 250 PRIVATE COMPANIES Ranked by revenue 2009 2008 COMPANY '08 GROSS '07 GROSS % RANK RANK REVENUES REVENUES CHANGE (000'S) (000'S) 1 1 CH2M Hill $6,423,548 $5,819,600 10% 2 3 Hensel Phelps 3,441,160 2,519,300 37% Construction Co. 3 4 Burt Automotive Network 2,065,189 2,111,774 -2% 4 MWH Global Inc. 1,450,000 1,310,000 11% 5 5 CoBank 862,600 645,400 34% 6 Caridian BCT Inc. 500,000 400,000 25% 7 10 FCI Constructors Inc. 379,139 291,999 30% 8 Xanterra Parks & 310,901 313,245 -1% Resorts Inc. 9 7 American Furniture 310,000 350,000 -11% Warehouse 10 11 Mike Shaw Automotive 250,000 300,000 -17% Group 11 12 Ralph Schomp Automotive 246,908 267,980 -8% Inc. 12 21 Simpson Housing LLLP 246,138 224,081 10% 13 9 Republic Financial 234,930 314,510 -25% Corp. 14 17 Agland Inc. 211,263 194,768 8% 15 14 Shaw Construction 210,000 246,000 -15% 16 Interstate Highway 207,067 182,512 13% Construction Inc 17 2 PCL Construction 198,769 113,525 75% Enterprises Inc. 18 19 Alpine Banks of 186,780 191,134 -2% Colorado 19 24 Vitamin Cottage Natural 185,445 162,779 14% Food Markets Inc. 20 23 Holland & Hart LLP 183,200 163,500 12% 21 Neenan Co. 179,000 153,000 17% 22 29 Noodles & Company 176,000 140,000 26% 23 18 Tuff Shed Inc. 173,000 190,000 -9% 24 26 Terra Firma 166,067 163,045 2% 25 22 Policy Studies Inc. 153,000 175,000 -13% (PSI) 26 32 RK Mechanical Inc. 151,781 116,728 30% 27 25 Roche Constructors Inc. 144,385 163,852 -12% 28 Accuvant 142,000 112,000 27% 29 31 Cigarette Store Corp. 140,000 125,000 12% (dba Smoker Friendly/Gasamat) 30 27 Alpine Lumber Co. 137,000 148,000 -7% 31 R.A. Nelson & 136,131 131,720 3% Associates Inc. 32 Brownstein Hyatt Farber 133,500 N/A N/A Schreck LLP 33 33 Baxa Corp. 131,000 113,000 16% 34 28 Global Technology 125,959 139,490 -10% Resources Inc. 35 15 Andavo Travel 120,000 90,000 33% 36 Holme Roberts & Owen 115,429 113,050 2% LLP 37 34 Polk Majestic Travel 103,000 100,000 3% Group 38 37 Hercules Industries 98,066 88,345 11% Inc. 39 NetQuote Inc. 93,000 78,000 19% 40 New Belgium Brewing 89,000 83,000 7% 41 43 Merrick & Co. 83,500 67,700 23% 42 38 Cain Travel 83,468 78,030 7% 43 55 ViaWest Inc. 82,800 40,500 104% 44 45 Calcon Constructors 81,000 81,000 0% Inc. 45 Heating & Plumbing 80,000 72,500 10% Engineers Inc. 46 40 Correas International 79,509 73,655 8% Co. Inc. 47 36 Saga Petroleum LLC 77,968 45,670 71% 48 41 Publication Printers 75,293 72,900 3% Corp. 49 47 Vladimir Jones 67,766 53,368 27% 50 46 Denver Series of 64,000 58,000 10% Lockton Cos. LLC 51 35 Frederick Ross Co. 59,966 92,236 -35% 52 52 Intelligent Software 58,398 43,543 34% Solutions Inc. 53 54 Fiore & Sons Inc. 55,190 41,281 34% 54 Douglass Colony Group 55,000 50,000 10% 55 50 Alpine Buick Pontiac 47,757 40,000 19% GMC 56 Integrated Asset 46,265 26,501 75% Services LLC 57 53 Craters & Freighters 45,751 * 41,450 10% Franchise Co. * 58 57 Productive Data 42,867 40,136 7% Solutions Inc. 59 49 Van Gilder Insurance 42,000 47,000 -11% Corp. 60 59 HB Management Group 40,871 38,535 6% 61 51 Johnson Storage & 40,868 42,714 -4% Moving Co. Holdings LLC 62 FMH Material Handling 37,480 43,860 -15% Solutions Inc. 64 Acme Distribution 34,000 61,000 -44% Centers Inc. 64 64 Portable Computer $34,000 $31,100 9% Systems Inc. 64 67 Statera Inc. 34,000 29,600 15% 67 75 Education Sales 32,500 25,101 29% Management LLC 68 73 GlobaLinks LLC 31,500 25,500 24% 69 56 RNL Design 31,290 40,100 -22% 69 77 Synergy Services Inc. 31,290 24,245 29% 71 72 Slifer Designs 29,900 26,600 12% 72 82 MX Logic Inc. 29,100 22,000 32% 73 79 All Copy Products Inc. 29,061 25,318 15% 74 Houg Special Services 28,000 21,000 33% Inc. 75 83 ETI Professionals Inc. 27,640 21,270 30% 76 65 PrimeSource Staffing 27,600 30,070 -8% LLC 77 Dynamic Solutions 26,148 22,522 16% International Corp. 78 Camp Bow Wow 26,000 ** 14,000 86% ** 79 92 Computer Sites Inc. 25,887 17,287 50% 80 87 Softec Solutions Inc. 25,751 18,945 36% 81 100 Rocky Mountain Coin 24,292 13,793 76% Inc. 82 84 Managed Business 24,015 20,965 15% Solutions LLC 83 69 Nexus Corp. 23,800 28,600 -17% 84 48 DSP Builders Inc. 23,700 50,200 -53% 85 Kleen-Tech Services 23,556 21,683 9% Corp. 86 68 H&L Architecture 22,600 28,800 -22% 87 Discovery Outsourcing 22,015 16,719 32% LLC 88 Birko Corp. 21,905 19,457 13% 89 Blytheco LLC 21,800 14,200 54% 90 86 Good Day Pharmacy 21,000 19,000 11% 90 80 Rocky Mountain 21,000 23,000 -9% Instrument Co. (RMI Laser) 92 EMC Engineers Inc. 20,688 19,182 8% 93 98 First Western Financial 20,586 14,800 39% Inc. 94 78 CTL Thompson Inc. 20,203 24,174 -16% 95 89 Insurance Technologies $20,200 $18,700 8% 96 Affordable American 20,000 16,000 25% Insurance 97 Colorado Asphalt 19,000 22,000 -14% Services 97 120 Riverside Technology 19,000 9,000 111% Inc. 99 91 Swingle Lawn, Tree & 17,274 18,233 -5% Landscape Care 100 104 Setpoint Systems Corp. 15,900 12,100...