Frank Blin reports on how advisers can help with funding, tax and stategy when firms are expanding overseas. Rapid growth is rarely plain sailing. Success calls for ambition, drive and skill. In the past 12 months Fast Track 100 companies have faced many challenges, such as raising finance, expanding internationally in highly competitive markets or managing with resources that have been stretched by rapid growth.

At Price Waterhouse Coopers we strive to help managements find the best solutions to these and many other challenges. We have helped a number of Fast Track companies plan and implement their winning strategies.

Travelex, the foreign-exchange operator, has appeared in several past league tables. Last year my colleagues gave expert support to Travelex when it acquired its biggest competitor, Thomas Cook Global & Financial Services, for £440m in a debt-funded deal. Choosing and then securing the appropriate finance was important.

As everyone who has done a deal knows, despite the long hours and late-night sessions, the hard work starts after the deal is done. Hitting the ground running generates value. The details need to be ironed out in advance. Good due diligence helps management not only to evaluate the deal but also to plan post-deal tactics. It is also great when, as in this case, you save a company money through efficient tax structuring.

This year's Fast Track 100 provides good examples of the challenges faced by successful growth businesses. Pets at Home, the pet-products retailer ranked No92, was in a similar situation to Travelex. Anthony Preston, the founder, always had big ambitions. He fulfilled these in 1999 and demonstrated his leadership by his determination to take over a competitor nearly twice his size. Preston bought Petsmart UK, a southern rival that was part of a big American group, with £35m in venture capital. "It was a daunting task," he says, "but three years later it is paying off." Now Pets at Home has 145 superstores. Sales have grown from £36.1m in 1998 to £178.3m in 2001.

Europc, ranked No5, is a significant example of a dynamic fast-growing business. The Glasgow company is a large supplier of surplus, end-of-line and factory refurbished IT equipment. Our initial relationship started with corporate finance advice, and we have helped Dale Cumming, Europc's founder and managing director, devise the best plan for expanding his business with advice on tax, funding and strategy. Having already achieved great growth, increasing sales 20 times from £316,000 in 1998 to £ 6.5m in 2001, Europc is set to achieve its goal of becoming a household name.

Other younger and smaller companies focusing on a market niche have gone for international expansion at an early stage. This is particularly true for technology companies such as Actix, ranked No64. Rob Dobson, its founder, started developing software to help eliminate signal loss to mobile phones in 1997. With international mobile-phone operators such as Orange and Hutchison as its customers, the company was keen to expand internationally. Actix did this by opening offices in America, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai - 95% of 2001's sales came from overseas. Despite the difficulties in the telecoms sector, revenues are expected to double this year.

Actix financed its international expansion largely out of retained profits but there were other important areas to be tackled; attracting staff with local languages and experience, building a team with the right skills, establishing networks and business relationships in new territories and cultures. It can be lonely taking the first international steps. Dobson used Price Waterhouse Coopers' international reach and scale to good effect. According to Michael Berman, chairman, he sought out our services because we were able to offer local presence and consistent, high-quality advice in each of its three operating regions.

I continue to be enthused and encouraged by the ambition and success of companies such as those in the Fast Track 100. They raise their sights and their game and have a "can do" attitude that is compelling and inspirational.

* Frank Blin is head of UK regions at Price Waterhouse Coopers

Section: FEATURES