Six of the most impressive businesses in the Thames Valley SME Growth 100 ranking were recognised at an annual awards event hosted at Maserati Ascot.
The programme is an annual campaign highlighting and celebrating the top 100 SMEs with turnover under £25m that have grown significantly in the past year. The TV SME Growth 100 sponsors are Herrington Carmichael, Hicks Baker and Crowe UK.
Jo Whittle, Operations Director at The Business Magazine, said: “The ranking encompasses companies of all kinds and is a substantial list of diverse and exciting businesses who are driving innovation and growth.”
She added: “Thank you to all of our finalists for your willingness to get involved and for readily opening your doors and sharing your stories. Your passion and enthusiasm made for a long and difficult judging meeting.”
Welcoming guests to its showroom, Paul Eaton, General Manager, Maserati Ascot, gave a brief history of the world-famous automotive brand. He pointed out Maserati's long history in motorsport, from touring cars and endurance racing to the Formula E World Championships.
He said Sytner-owned Maserati Ascot was looking forward to "turning electric" and that the company had enjoyed the first six months at its showroom in the town.
The networking event culminated in winners being announced across six business categories.
And the winners are…
SME 100 Growth Award (under £10m)
Winner: TC Communications
“We constantly evolve and set the pace, crafting cutting-edge campaigns that deliver exceptional results, prioritising our people-first culture and authenticity. This award celebrates our team's drive to transform challenges into opportunities for our partners. As we approach our 40th year in operation, this recognition feels particularly special. In a world where AI, machine learning and emerging technologies are reshaping marketing daily, we continue to embrace latest the technology advancements, while it’s our people and close collaboration with our partners that truly sets us apart.” Jasmir Bains, Marketing Director, Tim Leney, Managing Director, TC Communications
Employer of the Year
Winner: CleanEvent Services
“As a cleaning services company, we have the challenge of being spread out with people working at locations from Inverness to Southampton. We scale up and down a lot. During Ascot Week we have 310 in the day and 140 on night shift which falls to eight on non-race days. We concentrate on offering employee benefits and services for our front-facing staff. One innovation is running a staff exchange for supervisors with a partner company in Australia that has helped us see supervisors promoted to managers, which boosts loyalty.” Tomas Gronager, CEO, CleanEvent Services
SME 100 Growth Award (over £10m)
Winner: Redstor
“Everything we have done over the last 12 months has been planned transformation – moving into new offices, being more diverse and accessing new markets. It’s really important for us to keep investing in our core solutions. We are an important part of the supply chain so our software needs to work when people want it to work. Our product investment is based on industry trends and what our partners and customers tell us they need. We sell to IT service providers where simplicity in our products is really important.” James Griffin, CEO, Redstor
SME Impact Award
Winner: Juice
“Recycling and reducing packaging for our technology accessories isn’t an easy process but we have figured out a way to do it just by doing it simply. We aim to remove all single-use plastic from our products and try to reuse plastic as much as we can. Employee welfare is another big priority for us – we try to make sure everyone is happy at Juice. Initiatives include weekly yoga and meditation sessions and every month we have a cultural Friday for learning something new.” Mohammed Said, 3D Designer, Kieran Bragg, Designer, Juice
Tech Company of the Year
Winner: Perspectum
“We have developed a novel biomarker for treating liver and bile diseases, diabetes and cancer. Our technology replaces traditional diagnostic methods to deliver more precise health benefits for patients. Our portfolio of products is expanding with a couple of new products just approved for UK use. As well as the US, we hope to expand the business in developing countries, particularly India, Japan and southeast Asia.” Ravi Pattanshetty, Medical Director, Perspectum
Resilience Award
Winner: Naturetrek
“We faced financial, logistical and operational challenges after the Covid-19 pandemic and it was a huge task for us to adapt. It took a while to process all the paperwork and refund people whose holidays were cancelled. We then took stock and thought about how we were going to generate revenue with the whole world closed down. My team coped admirably and I’m very proud of them all. Turnover has increased as the world opened up again for holidaymakers.” Andy Tucker, Managing Director, Naturetrek
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