AES Engineering has been named Company of the Year at the CBI's annual Growing Business Awards.

The award – dubbed "the business equivalent of the Oscars" by Prime Minister Gordon Brown – is the latest in a series of successes for the Rotherham based mechanical seal manufacturer.

In 2006 the company was named British Chambers of Commerce Business of the Year and Britain's best manufacturer in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers' (IMechE) prestigious Manufacturing Excellence Awards.

In the same year, founder and managing director Chris Rea was named Northern Entrepreneur of the Year and awarded the title 'Master Entrepreneur'.

In order to win its latest accolade, AES had to demonstrate it was "an outstanding business whose growth, ambition and quality of management had enabled it to out-perform its peers financially and had delivered on a compelling business strategy."

Judges said they were looking for a company that had out-performed its peers in sales and profits growth; created new, quality jobs; developed and trained its people; delivered an innovative and compelling business strategy; and launched, or successfully developed, its range of products and services.

Mr Rea said the award, which involves benchmarking nominees against some of the best British businesses, meant that AES – which trades as AESSEAL® – was on the road to excellence.

But, stressed Mr Rea, the company was not complacent and realised there would always be more to do.

"This award means we are doing well – but we'd always like to do better," said Mr Rea.

"We are competing with large international brands and brands are difficult to compete with.

"We have got to do things better than them to be successful."

"We've got some very, very innovative people and a pretty good global spread now which means we are unlikely to be facing difficulties in all our markets at the same time," Mr Rea added.

AESSEAL® selected as the UK’s Best Manufacturer, the Best Engineering Plant and the Best UK Business in 2006

(April 2008)

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