Flourishing firms: Signature Group Real Estate honored as the fastest-growing

As a 10-year-old boy, Ravath (R.P.) Pok escaped Cambodia's killing fields, fleeing with his family to America for a better life.

He found it in California and then in Utah, where five years ago Pok founded Signature Group Real Estate.

On Thursday, the 41-year-old entrepreneur was honored by the MountainWest Capital Network and 1,200 of his peers for having the fastest-growing company in Utah.

The Midvale-based company was founded with an investment of $325,000. By the end of 2006, Signature Group Real Estate is expected to generate roughly $10 million in revenues, up from $7 million in 2005, according to James Western, chief executive officer of Mortgage Affinity Real Estate, the parent company of Signature Group.

Pok describes his company as a full-service marketing firm combined with a real estate company, specializing in sales of residential homes.

"It's like having an out-of-house professional marketing firm, in-house," Pok said. "That's the bright spot of Signature Group, our marketing."

Signature Group has roughly 120 real estate agents and has offices in Midvale and Park City. The company typically approaches new-home builders, helping to brand new subdivisions.

"We'll put together marketing campaigns for them because the builder is just trying to deliver the product to the market," Western said. "They really don't have time to determine what the most feasible way is to market."

Rounding out the top five fastest-growing companies were Sandy-based Precision Time, Orem-based ServerPlus, Provo-based Sewell Direct and Headwaters Inc. of South Jordan.

The 100 fastest-growing companies must be Utah-based, have reported a minimum of $50,000 in revenue in 2001 and have five years of operating history.

While fast-growing revenues may determine the winner of the Utah 100 event, it doesn't necessarily mean long-lasting success.

Last year, The LoveSac Corp., a Salt Lake-based furniture and fashion chain, was named the fastest-growing company. But less than four months later, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

"We don't measure profitability," said Todd Leishman, chairman of this year's Utah 100 program and a Salt Lake attorney. "What we do measure is revenue, which is a good benchmark for business growth, at least in one category. The fact that (LoveSac) filed for bankruptcy doesn't, I think, reflect adversely on the program."

MountainWest Capital Network also recognized 15 of the state's top revenue companies, which were measured in actual dollars rather than percentage growth. Topping that list was Salt Lake-based Huntsman Corp., the fifth-largest U.S. chemical maker. The company reported $6.5 billion in revenues in the first six months of 2006, with a net income of $331.9 million, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The rankings also recognized 15 "emerging elite" companies, businesses with promising future growth. Some of those companies included Lindon-based Costume Craze, Ogden-based TopTenREVIEWS and Salt Lake-based Control4.

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E-mail: danderton@desnews.com