Plymouth has many great businesses, but only a few can claim to have been named the best of the best. During the past 11 years Plymouth Live and The Herald have rewarded the city’s business elite and are keen to add to the impressive list of past winners with new names in 2022.
So, why not enter the PlymouthLive Business Awards this year? Nominations are being received now, across 12 categories, and if your firm wins it will be in illustrious company. Here are 10 firms that have tasted glory in the past decade by winning the accolade of Business of the Year. It’s a roll call of the brightest and best Plymouth has to offer.
And you can join them on the podium. Entries can be made from now until July 14, and the process has been made easier than ever. To join the pantheon, simply click here.
Services Design Solution
Winner of the SME Business of the Year in 2021, this engineering consultancy went on to even greater success by being honoured by the Queen with the highest award for a business: the Queen’s Award for Enterprise. The company, based at the Millfields in Stonehouse, was lauded for its outstanding achievements in sustainable development. It is among the most successful engineering consultancies in the country and has worked on many impressive projects including the Nightingale Hybrid Facility, in Exeter, during the Covid pandemic and is involved in the creation of Plymouth’s Health and Wellbeing Centre at Colin Campbell Court.
Wolferstans Solicitors
A two time winner, this law firm was named Large Business of the Year in 2021, four years after it took the Medium Business of the Year prize. That is because it has grown and employs more people. It has a head office on North Hill, with satellites in Plympton and Plymstock. It can trace its history back to 1812. Its solicitors specialise in residential conveyancing, wills, trusts and probate, family law, business services, medical negligence, personal injury, armed forces. It has also been presented with the Employment Recognition Scheme Gold Award by the Ministry of Defence for its outstanding contribution to the Armed Forces Community.
ENTER THE PLYMOUTHLIVE BUSINESS AWARDS HERE
Rittal-CSM Ltd
Metal enclosures firm Rittal-CSM Ltd won the Large Business of the Year honour in 2019. The manufacturing and engineering facility, based in Roborough, is a 27,500sq m plant with fabrication, painting, assembly and logistics on site. It is one of 11 manufacturing sites in the Rittal Group with 11,000 employees worldwide. It employs more than 400 employees in Plymouth and its turnover of nearly £64m placed it at number 41 in the Western Morning News’ list of the region’s biggest businesses in 2021.
Burts Snacks
The Roborough-based snack producer is another firm to be named Plymouth’s business of the year twice in two different categories – showing how much it has grown. The company was named Large Business of the Year in 2018, after being Medium Business of the Year five years earlier, again because headcount had grown, shifting it into the upper category. In September 2021 it was revealed that Burts Snacks Ltd shifted £57.3m of crisps in a year and became the UK’s fastest growing independent “snacking” company - despite the Covid pandemic. The firm saw sales jump by more than £7m in 2020, from £51m in 2019.
This led to an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation), a measure of profitability, of £2.6m for 2020 - up from £1m in 2019. All this is a far cry from when Burts began life in 1995, with Richard Thomas Burt and his wife Linda travelling across Devon and Cornwall to farm shops, delis and pubs to sell their potato chips made from local ingredients.
Bailey Partnership
Winner of the Medium Business of the Year trophy in 2018, this company, set up in 1971 as a small quantity surveying practice, has grown to become a UK top 100 construction consultancy offering multi-disciplinary property and construction skills.
A former Building Magazine Award winner for UK Construction Consultant of the Year, Bailey Partnership has worked on many significant projects in Plymouth including the new headquarters for The Range, at Derriford, the regeneration Bath Street to create the Millbay Boulevard, and installation of a new sprinkler system and replacement cladding in the three high-rise tower blocks in Devonport. The company provides architecture, interior design, building surveying, quantity surveying, mechanical and electrical services engineering services.It makes Bailey Partnership the largest architectural and building surveying team south of Bristol.
Computech IT Services
Triumph in the Small Business of the Year category in 2018 came a year after the Saltash-based software development house joined an elite group of businesses when it won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise. The award recognises businesses which have excelled at international trade, innovation or sustainable development and is the highest award for British businesses. Computech’s flagship product, BusinessMan ERP, a comprehensive business management software suite, has achieved phenomenal success, particularly in the US market. Set up in 1991 the company has competed well in the States, particularly as it faces competition from much larger software development houses.
ENTER THE PLYMOUTHLIVE BUSINESS AWARDS HERE
Princess Yachts
Another double winner, cruising to the Large Business of the Year honour in 2015 and 2013, the company is currently more than merely buoyant – it is now Britain’s largest luxury boat manufacturer. Princess Yachts sold £64m of vessels at just one boat show in the USA earlier this year. The firm said it enjoyed “exceptional commercial success” at the five-day Miami International Boat Show where it sold 12 vessels. These sales brought in more than US$84m (£64.16m) and the triumph was followed by further success at the Dubai International Boat Show in the United Arab Emirates. In October 2021 the company revealed a US$1bn order book and said production is struggling to keep up with demand. It said almost all production through to the end of 2022 and more than 60% of 2023 production was already covered by orders.
This year it has already sold 20 of its flagship Superfly X95 and has 57 orders for the new Y72 model which launched this summer.
The company is now poised for further growth with the new Y95, X80,and V50 already in production, as well as five further new model launches by the end of 2022.
CATERed
The co-operative trading company owned by Plymouth City Council and 67 schools, to provide school meals, was named Large Business of the Year in 2017. More than 86% of its menu is made from scratch every day, using fresh, seasonal, local and organic ingredients. CATERed works with suppliers to ensure they treat animal welfare as a priority and also works with and supports local growers and producers. Using only free range eggs it holds the Good Egg Award.
iOutlet
Matt Green and Liam James formed tech refurbishment firm iOutlet in Plymouth in 2013, and since then the business has grown rapidly and garnered them a clutch of awards, including the 2016 Herald Business Award for Young Business Person – and a year later landing the Small Business of the Year gong. The company, which made £3million in its first two years, also leaped into the top five in a list of Britain’s 100 best start-ups. It was placed at number 11 in 2015, and number 21 in 2014, before cracking the top 10 in 2016. In 2021 the founders sold the business to its management team but remained involved with the venture. James Green Ltd, which trades as The iOutlet, was sold by directors Matt and Liam to Lewis Cox, Ollie Green, Greg Jones and Russell Jones in a management buyout.Set up in 2012 by Mr Green and Mr James, in a kitchen with a kitty of just £5,000, The iOutlet has developed into one of the UK’s leading multi-channel retailers of refurbished or pre-owned phones, having sold close to £100million worth of products to date.
Plymouth Science Park
Medium Business of the Year in 2016 Plymouth Science Park is a world-class centre of excellence for ground-breaking research, business and laboratory innovation. The 25-acre campus, at Derriford, is the region’s largest science and technology centre and has benefited from five impressive phases of development over the past 25 years. A vibrant and thriving community of innovators, with a global reach, Plymouth Science Park is home to international businesses, start-ups and academics and a hub for inspirational health tech, advanced engineering, marine and technological advancements.
Judges will meet and announce the shortlist for the Plymouth Live Business Awards 2022 on July 29. So time to get nominated now. Finalists will be invited to a drinks reception on September 8 and winners will be announced at the glamorous black-tie awards ceremony on October 6. It is being held at a new venue this year: Plymouth Argyle’s Home Park Stadium. The awards are supported this year by category sponsors BD Plymouth, YGS Landscapes and Cornwall College, with headline sponsors City College Plymouth and the University of Plymouth.
