| Index of coverage | Top Ten 1. Teradyne Inc. 2. Analog Devices Inc. 3. LTX Corp. 4. EMC Corp. 5. Helix Tech. Corp. 6. ACT Manufacturing 7. Millipore Corp. 8. Talbots Inc. 9. Cytyc Corp. 10. FleetBoston Year's Best Company of year Highest Market Value Fastest Growth Biggest Stock Gain Comeback of the Year Highest Sales Contents Overall performance Banking Biotech Growth   1. ACT Manuf.   2. Provant Inc.   3. Analog Devices   4. Sapient Corp.   5. Foilmark Inc. Bulls and Bears   Bulls   1. J. Jill Group   2. Inverness Medical   3. Reebok Intl.   4. Bostonfed Bancorp   5. John Hancock   Bears   1. Aztec Tech.   2. Engage Inc.   3. CMGI Inc.   4. Telaxis Comm.   5. NaviSite Inc. Employment IPOs Profitability Sales The Globe 100 Market value 100 Sales 100 Return on equity 100 Growth 50 Highest leveraged Top employers Most productive Industry summary Biggest profits Biggest losses The Bulls The Bears Top profit margins Debt-free companies Street's darlings Street's wallflowers 2000 Mass. IPOs Recoveries Nose Dives All the charts for this year's Globe 100    | 2000 Globe 100 | Search the Globe: Today Yesterday

1. ACT MANUFACTURING INC. 'Faster and smarter' is key to success 5/22/2001     Growth Growth's rewards prove tough to sustain A look at this year's Growth 50 list shows that in the new economy -- whatever that may come to mean -- growth is unpredictable and hard to maintain. Continued 1. ACT Manufacturing Inc. 2. Provant Inc. 3. Analog Devices Inc. 4. Sapient Corp. 5. Foilmark Inc. The Growth 50 y helping its customers bring products to market ''faster and smarter,'' ACT Manufacturing is helping itself to a hefty share of the electronics manufacturing business. Since mid-1999, when the Hudson company set out to become a leading contract manufacturer of electronics, ACT has grown from a midsize firm to one of the largest players in the business. The company more than quadrupled its net income last year, acquiring operations in France and Thailand, and doubling its ranks to more than 8,000 employees worldwide. The company has offices in four US states, Asia, Europe, and Mexico. The secret to its success? Chief executive and president John A. Pino credits the company's attention to service as it caters to top players in high-tech fields, ranging from telecommunications and networking to computers and medical products. By bringing to bear cutting-edge technology to address clients' needs, Pino said, the company has been able to attract heavy hitters such as EMC Corp. that are contracting out more and more of their electronics manufacturing. Wall Street analysts expect ACT, ranked as The Globe 100's fastest-growing company for its performance in 2000, to grow revenues by another 30 to 35 percent in 2001. The more modest growth rate is still ahead of the industry average of about 20 to 25 percent annually, Pino said. ''In this space, the larger companies have grown faster than the smaller ones, so we set the goal of becoming larger,'' Pino said. ''We needed to become larger and more globally diverse to support companies with a global footprint.'' NAOMI AOKI

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