Business

Firms named among European champions

FOUR Northern Ireland firms have been announced among national champions in the European Business Awards.

Pharmaceutical companies Randox Laboratories and Almac will join medical devices manufacturer TG Eakin and Hill Engineering in the second phase of the competition with more than 700 firms from 33 countries.

The awards, sponsored by RSM International, attracted 24,000 entries.

David Watters, managing partner of RSM McClure Watters said: "It is very pleasing to see how many of the Northern Ireland entrants have been successful in this year's National Awards. This highlights the world class quality of enterprises based here and reiterates the fact that Northern Ireland is more than capable of competing on a global stage.

"I would expect some of these companies to perform strongly when the European Winners are announced in June 2015 and we at RSM McClure Watters wish them every success in the European round."

Adrian Tripp, CEO of the European Business Awards said: "Congratulations to all of these businesses from Northern Ireland. It is a great achievement to be named National Champion in this tough competition where the standard is very high. The next part of the competition is when things get really exciting."

The next round requires the national champions to make a presentation video, telling their unique story and explaining their business success.

The judges will view all of the videos and award the best of this group the coveted 'Ruban d'Honneur' status meaning they will then go on to be part of the grand final in 2015.

Separately, the National Champion videos will be made public on the European Business Awards website www.businessawardseurope.com as part of a two stage public vote, which will decide the 'National Public Champions' for each country.