For Immediate Release

ELLICOTT DREDGES ON TENTH ANNUAL ICIC – INC. MAGAZINE INNER CITY 100
 

Boston, MA, May 1, 2008, 8 pm – Today, the 2008 ICIC-Inc. Magazine Inner City 100 list was released, and Ellicott Dredges is ranked 35th on this list of the 100 fastest growing inner-city companies in America. Extraordinary growth is the predominant trait of the 2008 Inner City 100, a ranking created by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and Inc. Magazine.

Now in its tenth anniversary year, the Inner City 100 list provides unmatched original data on the fastest growing inner-city businesses in the U.S. For the 2008 list, over 6500 new nominations were received, the most in the program’s history. The 2008 Inner City 100 winners grew at a compound annual growth rate of 47 percent and at an average rate of 472 percent between 2002 and 2006. Collectively, the top 100 inner city businesses employ nearly 21,500 people and created over 15,000 new jobs over the past five years. Both of these employment figures are the highest in the program’s history and show signs of continued growth. The average Inner City 100 company’s revenues were $23 million.

“We are delighted to celebrate businesses like Ellicott Dredges that are playing a critical role in urban communities throughout the country,” said David G. Latimore, president and chief executive officer of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. “These high-growth businesses help create jobs, income, and wealth for local residents, and they prove our belief that the most effective way to create economic equality in America’s inner cities is to focus on sustainable business growth and investment.”

Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter, who founded ICIC over a decade ago, said of Ellicott Dredges: “They are innovative. They have discovered market niches where they have advantages. They are particularly progressive in work force recruitment and retention practices. For example, they offer all employees profit sharing and health care benefits.”

Ellicott Dredges is the largest American manufacturer and exporter of dredging equipment used for lake restoration, maintenance of canals, channels and ports, mining of commodities like sand and gravel, beach restoration, and waste water treatment plant pond work. Ellicott has manufacturing plants in Baltimore, MD and New Richmond, WI. Ellicott exports its IMS, Mud Cat, LWT and UMI branded dredge products to over twenty countries each year. Ellicott attributed its growth to its ability to design and build high quality, reliable dredging equipment demanded by a worldwide clientele.

The 2008 Inner City 100 winners operate from 58 cities in 31 states. Nineteen winners are based in California, the most ever for a single state; Texas and Massachusetts each have seven, and New York and Maryland each have five. Baltimore City, where Ellicott is based, has five companies listed on the Inner City 100, second-most of any city.

The list is proof of the concept that doing business in an inner city area holds distinct competitive advantages. ICIC has been studying the economic condition of the largest 100 American cities for more than a decade and is working to revitalize inner cities across the USA.

The 2008 Inner City 100 companies received their awards at the Inner City 100 Summit in Boston, a two-day event culminating including work at the Harvard Business School and a gala awards dinner at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center attended by more than 1,000 guests.

Highlights of the 2008 Inner City 100 list include:

• Inner City 100 companies are 33 percent minority-owned. Nationally, just 8 percent of companies with annual revenues over $1 million are minority-owned.
• The 2008 Inner City 100 companies are 19 percent owned by immigrants.
• Twenty-six percent of the 2008 Inner City 100 are women-owned, the highest representation of women on the list to date. Nationally, only 10 percent of companies with over $1 million in revenues are women-owned.
• The 2008 Inner City 100 boasts an average workforce that is 52 percent minority.
• The 2008 Inner City 100 pay an average of over $15 per hour to hourly employees and $51,000 per year to salaried employees.
• The 2008 Inner City 100 employ inner city residents for 43 percent of their jobs. According to ICIC's State of the Inner City Economies project, just 23 percent of all inner city jobs nationwide are held by inner-city residents.

The record number of new nominations (over 6500) received this year was due to the active involvement of Inner City 100 National Program Sponsors Merrill Lynch and Staples, and nominating partners such as the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

About the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City
The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) is a national not-for-profit organization founded in 1994 by Harvard Business School professor Michael E. Porter. ICIC’s mission is to promote economic prosperity in America’s inner cities through private sector engagement that leads to jobs, income and wealth creation for local residents. ICIC brings together business and civic leaders to drive innovation and action, transform thinking and accelerate inner city business growth and investment.

Inner City 100 Sponsors: Chevron, Merrill Lynch, and Staples Foundation for Learning

For more information, contact:
Myrna LaBarre at Ellicott Dredges
410-545-0209
mlabarre@dredge.com