Ten businesses in running to be SME of the year at prestigious National Business Awards

This Award recognises the SME that has maintained consistent growth and strong financial performance, understands its customer, has full buy-in from staff with strong leadership, and is continually innovating and investing in research and development to support future growth. Finalists include –

[ilink url=”http://vitacoco.com/uk/”]All Market Europe Ltd -Vita Coco[/ilink]
[ilink url=”http://www.e-lites.co.uk”]E-Lites[/ilink]
[ilink url=”http://www.brightassessing.com”]Bright International Training[/ilink] E-Lites
[ilink url=”http://www.fever-tree.com”]Fever-Tree[/ilink]
[ilink url=”http://igloobooks.com”]Igloo Books[/ilink]
[ilink url=”http://www.lafosse.com”]La Fosse Associates[/ilink]
[ilink url=”http://www.newtoneurope.com”]Newton Europe[/ilink]
[ilink url=”http://www.realvnc.com”]RealVNC[/ilink]
[ilink url=”http://www.searchlaboratory.com”]Search Laboratory[/ilink]
[ilink url=”http://www.breadltd.co.uk”]The Bread Factory[/ilink]

Announcing the finalists shortlisted for the category Steve Pateman, Head of Banking at Santander UK, said: “That National Business Awards are a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the strength of the UK’s businesses. The standard and quality of entrants in this year’s Small to Medium Sized Business of the Year category has been fantastic. All the short-listed companies have demonstrated a strong vision, high growth ambition and an impressive financial performance driven by dedicated and innovative management teams. I have been really impressed with the calibre of all the finalists and I wish them all the best of luck in the next stages of the awards.”

Finalists were chosen from the hundreds of businesses that entered or were nominated for the titles. They will now prepare to make presentations to expert juries, including Business Matters Editor in Chief Richard Alvin and online editor Rebecca Jones, who will decide the category winners.

The overall winners across all 17 categories will be revealed at the awards ceremony on 12 November at the Grosvenor House, London.

Dame Helen Alexander, Chair of judges for the National Business Awards, said: “These organisations and leaders represent exceptional success over the past year. The environment has been tough; these are the firms leading the way to growth. There’s a broad spectrum of sectors represented, as well as organisations of very different sizes, reflecting the diversity of British business and the vitality of our economy. Congratulations to all our finalists.”

Alex Evans, Programme Director of the National Business Awards said: “The quality of finalists is outstanding every year – with Britain’s most promising new businesses and most impactful social enterprises recognised alongside top performing SMEs and the most sustainable mid market and large cap firms.”

This year’s shortlisted businesses have a collective global turnover of more than GBP341 billion, covering activities as diverse as telecoms, construction, entertainment, publishing and manufacturing. One fifth of the finalists turnover more than GBP1 billion annually – with the lowest turnover peaking at GBP30k and highest reaching GBP55 billion. They represent regions from all over Britain including London, Exeter, Glasgow and Cardiff.