Best of Yorkshire businesses honoured at 2015 Business Masters
LORD HASKINS was named as Yorkshire’s Ambassador of the Year at the 2015 Business Masters awards last night.
Ten businesses from across the region picked up trophies at TheBusinessDesk.com’s awards dinner hosted by the BBC’s Damian Johnson in front of a packed audience at Leeds’ Queens Hotel.
Lord Haskins, the former chairman of Northern Foods, was honoured for his long and distinguished career that continues today as chairman of Humber Local Enterprise Partnership and as a champion of Yorkshire business within Whitehall.
Xercise4Less, which is disrupting the gym business, picked up the Fast Growth Business award as it accelerates its growth from £3m turnover in 2012 to being on track to achieve ten times that this year while it eyes European expansion.
Hull-based Cranswick, which turns over nearly £1bn and employs 3,000 in the region, was named Listed Business of the Year, while Sheffield Forgemasters won the Apprentice award for its long-standing scheme that receives 40 applicants for every place.
Ramsden International, the Grimsby business which exports 23,000 grocery products all over the world, was named Large Exporter, with textiles business J&C Joel picking up the Small Exporter award for its work that included the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Quorn was one of three food and drink businesses honoured as its £30m investment in its North Yorkshire headquarters and strong growth, in the UK and overseas, secured the Large Manufacturer award. Astonish, which has been manufacturing cleaning products for 40 years, won the Small Manufacturer award as it continues to grow and develop its Bradford site.
Yorkshire Building Society won the Pride/CSR award for the huge charity fundraising effort which marked its 150th year while AIM-listed Xeros Technology Group took home the Innovator award as it takes its first steps into the American market with its revolutionary washing machine.
YESSS Electrical, the electrical wholesaler which has a large distribution centre in Normanton and 85 branches across the country, won the Newcomer award for the huge impact it has had since it arrived in the UK in late 2012.
Alex Turner, editor of TheBusinessDesk.com Yorkshire, said: “It was a fantastic night which highlighted the range of excellent businesses operating across our region.
“We received a record number of entries for the awards which was reflected in the quality of the shortlisted companies and each winner can be justifiably proud of their achievements.”
The winners and shortlists were selected by a judging panel which included previous winners Keith Loudon of Redmayne-Bentley, Daniel Gill of Dine and Alan Paterson of Premier Farnell, alongside the Bank of England’s Will Holman and Mark Robson from UK Trade and Investment.
The evening was organised in conjuction with Out There Events and supported by our sponsors, Brewin Dolphin, Hays Recruitment, KPMG and Leeds Beckett University.
