How big is the Katalyst database?

Behind the data

How does Katalyst collect business data?

Maintaining a contact database of 18,000 companies and 40,000 contacts is not a simple task.

People come, people go, jobs change, companies and even entire industries restructure.

At Katalyst Business we keep our database current through a systematic program of research and updates. Simply put: legwork.

How do you choose companies to be listed in the database?

Katalyst lists business-to-business companies in its database, and important companies which are business-to-consumer.

We focus on the 8% of NZ businesses that account for 60% of all employees. We list companies like producers, manufacturers, importers, exporters, agents, distributors, business services and large wholesalers. Generally not retail (except chains and groups), and not cafes, restaurants, butchers or panel beaters.

Katalyst profiles the head office and senior management team. We do not list branches separately — branches are entered under the head office in the "Branch" field.

Our targeting

Which NZ businesses do we cover?

NZ enterprises by industry and employee-count size group. Shaded cells are the segments Katalyst actively targets.

Industry (ANZSIC06)	Employee count size group							Total
Industry (ANZSIC06)	0	1–5	6–9	10–19	20–49	50–99	100+	Total
A Agriculture, forestry, & fishing	48,240	15,750	2,241	1,317	609	156	72	68,385
B Mining	429	138	36	36	24	12	9	678
C Manufacturing	10,101	5,691	1,776	1,785	1,254	441	318	21,360
D Electricity, gas, water, & waste	618	303	51	66	33	15	33	1,122
E Construction	38,241	15,540	2,709	1,983	927	207	99	59,712
F Wholesale trade	9,552	4,668	1,278	1,167	663	225	129	17,685
G Retail trade	13,722	8,970	2,286	1,734	699	252	342	28,002
H Accommodation & food services	7,860	6,420	2,727	2,667	1,335	225	111	21,345
I Transport, postal, & warehousing	11,289	3,252	612	543	366	141	132	16,341
J Information media & telecommunications	4,437	837	165	135	75	30	33	5,709
K Financial & insurance services	34,683	2,034	276	153	87	39	60	37,332
L Rental, hiring, & real estate	104,811	4,971	534	348	180	21	39	110,901
M Professional, scientific, & technical	42,939	11,160	2,022	1,566	834	237	177	58,935
N Administrative & support services	11,775	4,008	693	564	372	153	177	17,739
O Public administration & safety	603	276	75	75	54	51	123	1,257
P Education & training	3,090	1,431	963	1,188	1,200	453	270	8,595
Q Health care & social assistance	11,439	4,263	1,200	1,167	744	282	237	19,326
R Arts & recreation services	6,960	2,037	363	354	231	63	45	10,047
S Other services	11,643	8,841	1,824	936	345	60	45	23,697
Total	372,429	100,590	21,837	17,772	10,029	3,057	2,457	528,168

Enterprise and employment size group data from stats.govt.nz.

How big is the database?

Katalyst Business covers 18,000 head offices nationwide.

How do you collect the data?

We use a wide variety of information sources to ensure the currency and coverage of the database:

We monitor major business publications.
We call every company at least once a year to confirm the contact details and personnel.
We invite all companies to update their full profile through our online updating system.
We manually codify all companies against the ANZSIC classification system.
We use the Government-to-Business service operated by the Ministry of Economic Development for timely access to statutory information from the Companies Office.

"I can find all this information on Google..."

There is plenty of information available for free on the internet, but your problem quickly becomes information overload and lack of time. Katalyst will save you time and money. What information can you actually find online?

Contact details — probably.
Management contacts — maybe.
Company activities, size (employees & turnover), quality ratings, import/export areas, branch locations, codified products and services — probably not.

All of the above in one simple document? That's Katalyst.

We do refer to Google in our research process, but it is not our only resource. We combine information from many different sources to produce a single, thorough, concise point of reference.

How about confining a search to a geographical region, or looking for manufacturers or exporters, or companies with more than 50 employees? Easy with Katalyst, almost impossible without.

What information do you collect?

Each company profile can include:

Company name
Physical address
Postal address
Telephone
Fax
Free phone
Email
Website
Senior management contacts and their job titles
Board of directors
Activity statement
Products and services, classified to the ANZSIC system
Employees
Turnover
Brand names
Agencies
Import countries / areas
Export countries / areas
Date established
Local branch locations
Bank
Business association memberships
Quality assessment (ISO ratings)
Parent company
Subsidiary companies
Joint venture companies
Overseas agents

Turnover data availability in NZ

Katalyst Business has turnover data for approximately 16% of the companies on the database — mainly publicly listed, foreign-owned, and private companies with something to boast about.

It is not a legal requirement for most companies to disclose this information and most companies would rather not. If you are trying to gauge company size, we suggest using employee numbers as a proxy (Katalyst has 98% coverage of this field), or on our desktop application you can use the Turnover Estimate figures.

Under the Financial Reporting Act 1993 (FRA) and Financial Reporting Amendment Act 2006, companies meeting any of the following criteria are required to file audited financial statements with the Registrar of Companies:

25% or more of total shares held by overseas companies;
Subsidiaries of overseas companies or persons ordinarily resident outside New Zealand;
An overseas company or a company classified as an issuer.