WINNERS NAMED IN GRAND FINAL OF 2016/17 EUROPEAN BUSINESS AWARDS

DUBROVNIK: Europe’s 12 best businesses are celebrating after being named winners in the 2016/17 European Business Awards, sponsored by RSM, at an exclusive awards ceremony in Dubrovnik last night attended by prominent businesses leaders and European Ambassadors.

The winning businesses achieved their success after a year-long journey in Europe’s biggest and most prestigious business competition, which this year engaged with over 33,000 businesses from 34 countries and generated almost 250,000 votes from across the globe in its public vote.

Business VIPs presented trophies to the 11 category winners of the competition and the ‘European Public Champion’; the overall winner of the public vote. Additionally, Croatian business leader, Vjekoslav Majetic, founder and owner of Dok-Ing d.o.o received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in the engineering and manufacturing of specialized robotic systems.

Adrian Tripp, CEO of the European Business Awards said: "These companies are Europe's best. They demonstrate innovation, ethics and financial success and are brilliant examples of the growth potential for European business in a competitive global marketplace. Together they are creating a better future for us all."

Jean Stephens, CEO of RSM International, the sixth largest global network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms, and long-term sponsors of the awards, said: "At RSM, we believe it is important to champion business excellence as successful and thriving companies are an integral force in driving growth and stimulating economies. The Ruban D’Honneur recipients and overall category winners have demonstrated extraordinary entrepreneurialism, innovation, leadership and business acumen. All those involved are a credit to their country and we wish them every success for the future.”

THE WINNERS

The RSM Entrepreneur of the Year Award - Vicente Berbegal Pérez, Actui - Spain

The Award for Environmental and Corporate Sustainability - VAUDE Sport GmbH & Co. KG - Germany

The Business of the Year Award (T/O €0-25m) - Inclusion Housing - United Kingdom

The Business of the Year Award (T/O €26-150m) - True Potential LLP - United Kingdom

The Business of the Year Award (T/O €150m+) hosted by Sysdoc - AB Vassilopoulos - Greece

The ELITE Award for Growth Strategy of the Year - MARINE INSTRUMENTS S.A. - Spain

The Award for Customer Focus - Leroy Merlin España SLU - Spain

The Employer of the Year Award - Chas Visual Management AB - Sweden

The Import/Export Award - Alion Vegetables & Fruit Co Ltd - Cyprus

The Award for Innovation - Tangle Teezer - United Kingdom

The Chairman’s Selection Award - RINGANA - Austria

European Public Champion - The Insiders - Belgium

Lifetime Achievement Award - Vjekoslav Majetic, - DOK-ING d.o.o - Croatia

The 11 category winners went through a process of written submissions, video entry judging and face-to-face interviews, and were shortlisted as one of 636 National Champions and 110 Ruban d’Honneur recipients before reaching the final.

All EU member markets were represented in the competition plus Iceland, Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

RSM, with a presence in 42 European countries, has been a sponsor of the European Business Awards since its inception ten years ago. The competition’s primary purpose is to celebrate and promote business excellence, and support the development of a stronger and more successful business community throughout Europe. Additional sponsors and partners of the Awards include ELITE and PR Newswire. Further support on the night of the Awards came from SDL and Sysdoc.

For further information about the European Business Awards and RSM please go to www.businessawardseurope.com or www.rsm.global and follow us on twitter at @rsmEBA

Ends

NOTES TO EDITORS:

For further press information or for case studies/interviews, please contact:

EBA: Vanessa Wood at the European Business Awards on +44 (0) 796 6666 657 or email vanessa.wood@businessawardseurope.com

RSM: Gillian Hawkes at the RSM Executive Office - gillian.hawkes@rsm.global

About the European Business Awards:

The European Business Awards’ primary purpose is to support the development of a stronger and more successful business community throughout Europe. For all citizens of Europe, prosperity, social and healthcare systems are reliant on businesses creating an even stronger, more innovative, successful, international and ethical business community - one that forms the beating heart of an increasingly globalised economy.

The European Business Awards programme serves the European business community in three ways:

• It celebrates and endorses individuals’ and organisations’ success

• It provides and promotes examples of excellence for the business community to aspire to

• It engages with the European business community to create debate on key issues

The European Business Awards is now in its 10th year. This year it engaged with over 33,000 businesses from 34 countries and the public vote generated almost 250,000 votes from across Europe. Sponsors and partners include RSM, ELITE and PR Newswire. www.businessawardseurope.com.

About RSM:

RSM is the sixth largest network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms, encompassing over 120 countries, 793 offices and more than 41,200 people internationally. The network’s total fee income is US$4.8 billion.

RSM is the lead sponsor and corporate champion of the European Business Awards promoting commercial excellence and recognition of entrepreneurial brilliance. RSM is a member of the Forum of Firms, with the shared objective to promote consistent and high quality standards of financial and auditing practices worldwide.

RSM is the brand used by a network of independent accounting and advisory firms each of which practices in its own right. RSM International Limited does not itself provide any accounting and advisory services. Member firms are driven by a common vision of providing high quality professional services, both in their domestic markets and in serving the international professional service needs of their client base. www.rsm.global

About ELITE:

ELITE is a full-service programme designed to share best practice and increase growth opportunities for fast growing companies, with a focus on understanding the capital markets. ELITE is an innovative programme based on exclusive training and a tutorship model, supported by access to the business and financial community. Its aim is to prepare companies for their next stage of growth and investment.

For further information on the programme, companies and the full list of partners, please go to: www.elite-growth.com

About PR Newswire:

PR Newswire is the leading global provider of PR and corporate communications tools that enable clients to distribute news and rich content. We distribute our client’s content across traditional, digital and social media channels in real time with fully actionable reporting and monitoring. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimisation network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms,

PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in Europe, Middle East, Africa, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region. For more information on PR Newswire please visit www.prnewswire.co.uk

Additional partners at the Grand Final:

SDL Managed Translation:

SDL is the global innovator in language translation technology, services and content management. For the past 25 years, SDL has created transformative business results through nuanced digital experiences with customers around the world.

SDL Managed Translation offers its technology through a self-service cloud-based translation platform that enables users to create and manage translation projects from one easy-to-use online dashboard, making enterprise grade translation service and technology accessible and affordable to growing businesses who are looking to go global. For more information about our language services and technology, or with help going global quickly and efficiently, please email mantra@sdl.com or visit www.sdl.com/managed-translation

Sysdoc

Sysdoc is a global organisation delivering business improvement solutions to our clients that can be by characterized by integrity, commitment and simplicity. Our proven track record and honest ways of working have led to numerous long-term partnerships with clients, which include giants across global industries including automotive, manufacturing, telecommunications, banking, publishing and defence.

Aviation principles, which its approach is defined by - robust process, experiential learning and an emphasis on human factors - are global standards for success, and lead to real, sustainable results. To find out more, please visit www.sysdocgroup.com or contact us at: info@sysdoc.co.uk