Kelowna tech company back in the big leagues

KELOWNA – A local technology company is back playing with Canada's big boys after it was named one of the top 500 fastest growing companies in Canada by Canadian Business magazine.

QHR Technologies Inc. lands at number 215 in this year’s Profit500 which ranks the country’s fastest growing companies. The company has a five-year growth rate of 263 per cent—most of that in the past year. It employs 210 people, mostly in Kelowna.

Its share price on the Canadian Venture Exchange has followed the revenue. In just the last year, it moved to $1.25 per share from $.60 per share—up 108 per cent. Billed as Canada’s top electronic medical records software company, QHR has a market capitalization of $60.61 million with annual revenues between $20 million and $50 million.

In May, it reported a 16 per cent year-over-year jump in revenue when it reported quarterly results of $6.8 million.

President and CEO Al Hildebrandt has been with the company since 2000 and shepherded the company through the dot-com bubble burst that threatened many high technology companies. The company’s share price tanked to $.10 in 2002 from its high of $2.10 in 2000. It never regained a $1 share price again until last November.

QHR was also selected for the TSX Venture 50 and Hildebrandt was named 2013 Tech Exec of the year by a Canadian technology magazine.