VEHICLE engineering firm Allied Vehicles Group has been crowned Most Outstanding Business at the 22nd annual Glasgow Business Awards, in the most prestigious accolade of the night.
The company, which has an annual turnover of £139 million and employs over 680 people, was chosen as the winner against competition from 57 other businesses across a wide variety of sectors.
The Glasgow-based company also won Family Business of the Year and Best Performing Large Business after going head to head with five other businesses in each category.
The Herald is the media partner for this year’s event, which is hosted by Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland.
READ MORE: Craft whisky boom boost
Comedian Fred MacAulay compered the event which took place at the Doubletree by Hilton Glasgow Central, with a total of 16 awards presented in front of 600 guests.
The awards champion the major achievements and innovations of the city’s business community through 13 hotly contested awards, in addition to a public vote for Glasgow’s Favourite Business, sponsored by the Evening Times, sister title of The Herald.
This year, Glaswegians voted SWG3 as their favourite against strong competition from Loganair, Scottish Ballet, The SSE Hydro, Battlefield Rest and Eusebi Deli.
Premiership Experience and Silver Cloud both claimed two wins for Entrepreneur of the Year and International Trade, and Best Performing Small-Medium Business and Young Business Leader of the Year, respectively.
READ MORE: Scots technology pioneer to take on Google with ad-free internet search engine
Recently retired Edrington chief executive Ian Curle received Glasgow Chamber’s Lifetime Achievement Award, commending his 15 years in the role which saw the company’s staff numbers expand from 900 to 3,000.
The awards, which have a rich history, commenced in 1997 when they were held in the then Thistle Hotel, to an audience of around 250 people.
Since then, the awards have grown significantly to become the champion of major achievements and business success in the city, and a considered prestigious across business community.
Richard Muir, deputy chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said: “A massive congratulations to each of the winners, particularly Allied Vehicles on winning the Most Outstanding Business award, a highly deserved accolade.
“As always, it’s been great to celebrate another round of tremendous achievements which have taken place across the city’s business community and we’re thrilled to have welcomed so many new faces in our 22nd year.
“Thank you to Royal Bank of Scotland for another year as our headline sponsor, to each of our category sponsors, and to the Herald for joining us as media partners.
“At a time of uncertainty, it’s fantastic to take time to look back at the successes of the last year. We’ve seen incredible initiatives, exceptional growth and international success across entries from each of the categories, underpinning Glasgow’s business community as one that is thriving and diverse.”
RED MORE: Scottish motor dealer warns car sector faces no-deal disaster
Mr Muir also said: “We continue to be in awe of the superb work taking place across the city, highlighting the entrepreneurial charge, the keen desire to trade internationally, the great initiatives that support employees and the overall success of the business landscape.”
Malcolm Buchanan, chair, Scotland Board, Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “The Glasgow Business Awards consistently inspires and delights, and this year was no exception.
“Congratulations to this evening’s winners, all illustrate the quality, depth and diversity of businesses who make this city their home, and each individually show the impact individuals and organisations here in the West of Scotland make domestically and internationally.
“This is the third year that Royal Bank of Scotland has partnered the Glasgow Business Awards and we are delighted to have been part of an event which truly celebrates the best that Scottish business has to offer.”
Full results:
Excellence in Communications
Sponsored by Hugh Stirling Ltd
Oor Wullie’s BIG Bucket Trail
Commendation: First Group
Innovation in Business
Sponsored by Circular Glasgow
EGG Lighting
Healthy and Active Workplace
Sponsored by Sustrans Scotland
Glasgow Airport Ltd
Entrepreneur of the Year
Sponsored by Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP
Kieran Coyle – Premiership Experience
Green Champion
Sponsored by Scottish Power
Technology and Innovation Centre, University of Strathclyde
Family Business of the Year
Sponsored by Get Living
Allied Vehicles Group
International Trade
Sponsored by 29 Studios
Premiership Experience
Commendation: T30 Fitness Training
Sustainable Development
Sponsored by Scottish Water
Ideeas Ltd
Young Business Leader of the Year
Sponsored by City of Glasgow College
Tony Quinn – Silver Cloud Ltd
Fair Work (1-50)
Sponsored by Glasgow City Council
Connect Three
Fair Work (51 +)
Sponsored by Glasgow City Council
LifeLink
Commendation: Hugh Stirling Ltd
Best Performing SME
Sponsored by Beam Digital and Design
Silver Cloud Ltd
Commendation: Gie it Laldy
Best Performing Large
Sponsored by Dell Technologies
Allied Vehicles Group
Commendation: BIG Partnership
Glasgow’s Favourite Business
Sponsored by Evening Times
SWG3
Most Outstanding Business
Sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland
Allied Vehicles Group
Lifetime Achievement Award
Sponsored by Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
Ian Curle
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here