Business award finalists fight it out for glory

11:12am Tuesday 4th September 2007

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At last we can unveil the finalists of The Press Business Awards 2007.

More firms entered this time than in any of the 17 years since the event began.

According to the judges, the standard was massively high, but only three in each of 14 categories could earn their place at our famously glittering finals night at the Voltigeur Suite on November 15.

From the winners in each category we will choose who will triumph overall with The John Guy Memorial Award.

The top prize will bear the name of the man who made a massive contribution towards turning these awards into the ultimate benchmark of entrepreneurial excellence in this region.

Mr Guy, who died in April, aged 52, had been a stalwart judge, bringing to bear his immense experience as head of adviser services for Business Link York and North Yorkshire.

So who will be Lighting the Way - the theme this year?

Well, Catherine Paver and her son, Stuart, have lots of reasons to celebrate.

Catherine founded Pavers Ltd, the York-based shoe store empire which generated a net profit of £6.9 million last year and now has 62 outlets and counting. It is in the line-up for both Large Business Of The Year and Retailer Of The Year.

Stuart, a former finalist in the Business Personality of The Year category, is not only managing director of Pavers Ltd, but also the boss of Shoe-shop, com, whose sales on the internet and through catalogues are expected to hit £10 million, this year, with profits of around £2 million. It is one of the finalists in the Growth Business Of The Year category.

Challenging Catherine for the Large Business title are the 187-year-old Osbaldwick-based JH Shouksmith & Sons, whose 200 staff last year generated a turnover of £20.4 million; and Superbreak, which employs 275 people in the Ryedale Building in Piccadilly, York. By providing UK short breaks, they generate annual income of about £3 million.

Catherine Paver's competition for Retailer Of The Year is To Catch A Dream, the bed and linen shop in Harrogate's swanky Montpelier Quarter, and The Farmer's Cart, the farm shop and cafe in Towthorpe which attracts about 2,000 customers a week. By the way, its managing director, Edward Sykes, has also "done the double", by earning his place in the finals of the Young Entrepreneur Of The Year.

Other Young Business Entrepreneur hopefuls are Dan Savage, whose Artstop Studios in York creates architectural glass art for modern buildings, and Andrew Wilson, of YCP York Caravan Park. His four-acre Stockton Lane venture which took £200,000 investment and four years to set up, is also a finalist in the New Business Of The Year category.

Ranged against him will be new business contenders Purenet Solutions of York Science Park's IT centre; and Lattice Voice Technologies, of York, which has devised software that instantly translates for non-English speakers dialling 999.

For Stuart Paver, fierce competition in the Growth Business category comes from Gear4music. com, the musical equipment firm started by Andrew Wass, which in four years has generated 42,000 customers with 22 staff, while sales are expected to reach £4 million.

Then there is ScenecraftUK Ltd, surfing the boom in event theme prop hire. Its founders Rosie Ellis (a former Young Entrepreneur Of The Year) and Matthew East, expect turnover to soar to £750,000 by Christmas.

The Castle Howard Estate, the 18th century building whose carefully managed 10,000 acre estate near Malton is visited by 200,000 people a year, will also be in line for two titles - the Think Green Business Of The Year and the newly-introduced Tourism And Hospitality category.

Challenging for the Think Green title is Platinum Print Ltd, of Harrogate, which has invested hundreds of thousands of pounds on its "greening" process; and Vegetable Oil Services, spearheading a small revolution in the production and processing of biofuels at Storwood.

And competing with Castle Howard for the Best Tourism and Hospitality category are the 29-bedroom, 60 staff Middlethorpe Hall And Spa in Bishopthorpe Road, York, host last year to former Prime Minister Tony Blair; and Marmadukes Hotel, in St Peter's Road, York, which in a £5 million project was transformed from a backpackers' hostel into a 19-room boutique hotel.

The man behind that venture - and other daring property schemes under the de Bretton Group brand - was David Hattersley, who will also celebrate being one of the contenders for Business Personality Of The Year.

The other competing personalities will be Paul Berwin, founder of the £2.3 million turnover Berwin Solicitors of Harrogate, and Susan Johnson, the Helmsley businesswomen who started Balla di Notte, the mail order Italian lingerie firm.

Susan is also a finalist in the Women In Enterprise Award, competing against Lesley Brewer of The Introduction Company dating agency, based at Brawby, near Malton, and Jacqui Gernon, who has four Happy Jays nurseries - at Boroughbridge, York, Scarborough and Batley.

Battling for the Small Business Of The Year title will be Knaresborough online marketing company 9xb. com, a finalist in the same category last year; internationally-known York-based training organisation Purchasing Management Services; and Track Surveys Ltd, which provides company managers to gather feedback on their management skills via a tailored online system.

Hunters, the fast-growing York estate agency triumphed in the Progress Through People category in 2002. It has reached the finals again, having established its own estate agent's academy, which has been adopted as an industry standard for its management training. Its competitors are McMillan York Ltd, of York, which owns nightclubs bpm in Rougier Street and Tanner Row; and Welcom, the Harrogate bespoke software provider which won the Progress Through People title in 2005 and again last year.

The Science & Technology Business Of The Year is a straight fight between University of York "spinout" firm Xceleron whose work with atoms is helping to speed up drug development; Sawfish Software, York-based developer of SalesFlow and DebtFlow; and Mitrefinch of Clifton Moor, the time and attendance software systems company which was a finalist in the Large Business Of The Year category; and winner of The Best Use Of New Technology title in both the 2004 and 2005 awards.

Best Business And Education Link finalists are CPP of York, the Large Business Of The Year in 2005; Bag2School Ltd of Northallerton, which benefits schools by paying them money to collect used clothes for resale to Eastern Europe; and Creepy Crawlies play scheme at Clifton Moor.

There was a huge and encouraging response to our newly-introduced International Trade Business Of The Year.

Finalists are Cellhire, of Clifton Park, the mobile phone solutions provider; Sheppee International Ltd, the Elvington engineers to the world's glass manufacturers; and Pivotal Laboratories, of Clifton Moor, which provides laboratory services to the world's pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

The finalists at a glance

Small Business Of The Year

9XBPurchasing Managing Services Track Surveys Ltd

Large Business Of The Year

JH Shouksmith & Sons LtdPavers Ltd Superbreak

New Business Of The Year

Purenet Solutions Lattice Voice Technologies YCP York Caravan Park

Progress Through People

HuntersMcMillan Welcom Software

Growth Business Of The Year

Gear4Music. comShoe-shop. com ScenecraftUK Ltd

Business Personality Of The Year

Susan Johnson, of Bella Di NottePaul Berwin, of Berwins SolicitorsDavid Hattersley, of the de Bretton Group

Science & Technology Business Of The Year

XceleronSawfish Software Mitrefinch

Retailer Of The Year

Pavers LtdFarmers CartTo Catch A Dream

Think Green Business Of The Year

Platinum Print Vegetable Oil Services Castle Howard

Best Business & Education Link

CPP GroupBag2SchoolCreepy Crawlies

Young Business Entrepreneur Of The Year

Edward Sykes, of Farmers CartDan Savage, of Artstop StudiosAndrew Wilson, of YCP York Caravan Park

Women In Enterprise Award

Susan Johnson, of Bella Di NotteLesley Brewer, of The Introduction CompanyJacqui Gernon, of Happy Jays

Tourism & Hospitality Business Of The Year

Castle Howard EstateMiddlethorpe Hall Hotel Marmadukes Hotel

International Trade Business Of The Year

CellhireSheppeePivotal Laboratories