Marine maintenance equipment manufacturer Cathelco has been named Derbyshire Business of the Year 2014 by the county’s Chamber of Commerce.
The Chesterfield-based firm which produces anti-fouling systems for seawater pipework received the award, sponsored by Insider Media Group, at the Chamber’s Derbyshire Business Awards at the Roundhouse on Friday. The company also won the Excellence in Innovation award.
In its 55-year history, Cathelco has completed more than 30,000 installations worldwide. Its success stems from its focus on two very specialised but essential safety systems for vessels in the harsh marine environment, namely its pipework anti-fouling systems and its hull corrosion protection systems.
Its Technical Director, Robert Field, said: “We are delighted to have won this award, which comes on the back of a great year for Cathelco. Our BWT system is going into commercial production and there is already strong interest from ship owners worldwide.
“As a result, Cathelco will be enlarging its production facilities and increasing its workforce. This award is testament to the hard work of all our staff in achieving this.”
Other big winners on the night were the Woodville-based Greenbank Group, which walked away with the Achievement in International Business and the Sustainability awards, Derby’s Anoki restaurant, which won the Excellence in Customer Service award and South Normanton-based Purpose Media, which was named Small Business of the Year.
Chamber Chief Executive George Cowcher said: “The Chamber’s congratulations go to all of this year’s winners. We had some stellar entries this year and the judging process was extremely tough, but all of the winning businesses thoroughly deserve their success.
“The standard of competition was extremely high this year which clearly shows that, following a year in which the local economy has made remarkable progress, we have some real success stories of Derbyshire businesses doing well.
“Over the past 12 months, businesses in Derbyshire have been busy investing, innovating, exporting and growing and these awards are testament to the quality of business we have in this city and county.”
