Canada's Best Managed Companies Show a Strong Investment Mindset

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - March 10, 2015) - Today, Deloitte announced the winners of the 2014 Canada's Best Managed Companies awards program, recognizing excellence in Canadian owned and managed companies. This year's winners are characterized by their continued focus on customer relationships as the foundation for growth. Best Managed companies have exhibited exceptional business performance and outstanding leadership in the Canadian marketplace, sharing an investment mindset that places them amongst the best in class.

Through the recession, Best Managed companies continued to invest while most companies mined cash flow and remained conservative on investments. The investment risk taken by Best Managed companies contributes to strong growth and financial performance, putting them ahead of other organizations that waited until the economy reset in the post-recession to make investing in their business a priority.

"Investing involves risk because the outcome is unknown," said Peter E. Brown, National Co-Leader of Canada's Best Managed Companies program and Senior Practice Partner at Deloitte. "However, remaining stagnant poses a greater risk than the risk of potential failure because investing is critical to growth."

Technology is a key investment area and priority for Best Managed companies whether it's systems implementation, consolidation or upgrades to the front end or the back office. Best Managed companies invest in technology to help maximize productivity. It also provides access to data to enable greater efficiency with business processes and to gather insights to help strengthen customer relationships.

"CIBC celebrates the accomplishments of this year's winners who have reached the highest levels of business excellence," said Jon Hountalas, Executive Vice-President, Business Banking, CIBC. "They demonstrate the significant impact that Canadian private companies make from coast-to-coast by pursuing innovation and investing in meeting the needs of their clients."

Best Managed companies also take innovative approaches to remain competitive forging strategic alliances and partnerships to enter a new geography or sector. M&A deals were predominately smaller and focused on horizontal and vertical integration to help with cost management and to secure a larger portion of the customer market from its competitors. The 2014 Best Managed winners are agile and adapt to customer needs and expectations by continuously challenging themselves to evaluate their strategy between focusing on a niche market or real diversification.

"Best Managed companies take a customer-centric strategy. The decision to diversify or take a niche approach will be unique to each company. What sets a Best Managed company apart is the ability to execute on the strategy," said Mike Runia, National Co-Leader of Canada's Best Managed Companies program and Ontario Managing Partner, Deloitte. "Goals become a reality when every individual within an organization is committed and understands what they can do to help actualize the strategy."

The 2014 Best Managed recipients include:

A complete list of Best Managed winners, Requalified winners, Gold Standard winners, Gold Standard requalified winners and Platinum Club winners is available here: https://www.bestmanagedcompanies.ca/en/meetourwinners/Pages/Home.aspx

About Canada's Best Managed Companies

Canada's Best Managed Companies continues to be the mark of excellence for Canadian-owned and managed companies with revenues over $10 million. Every year since the launch of the program in 1993, hundreds of entrepreneurial companies have competed for this designation in a rigorous and independent process that evaluates their management skills and practices. The awards are granted on five levels: 1) Best Managed winner (one of the new winners selected each year); 2) Requalified winner (award recipients that have re-applied and successfully retained their Best Managed designation for two additional years, subject to annual operational and financial review); 3) Gold Standard winner (After three consecutive years of maintaining their Best Managed status, these winners have demonstrated their commitment to the program and successfully retained their award for their 4th consecutive year); 4) Gold Standard requalified winner (Award recipients that have applied and successfully retained their Gold Standard designation for two additional years, subject to annual operational and financial review); 5) Platinum Club member (Winners have maintained their Best Managed status for seven years or more). Program sponsors are Deloitte, CIBC, National Post, Queen's School of Business and MacKay CEO Forums. For further information, visit www.bestmanagedcompanies.ca.

About Deloitte

Deloitte, one of Canada's leading professional services firms, provides audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services. Deloitte LLP, an Ontario limited liability partnership, is the Canadian member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and its member firms.