Chesterfield firm named best in county
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 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.”
Another Chesterfield business – Mitchells Chartered Accountants – also scooped an award on the evening for Best use of Technology to Improve Business Performance.
A spokesman at the firm said: “We are delighted to have won the award because it is at the very heart of what we do. Essentially, we are on a journey of development to transform our clients’ businesses using more than just accountancy skills.
“We’ll continue to blaze a trail in the effort to make business operations and growth easier for our clients. Our motto is ‘if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it’ – we think this is why the Chamber were kind enough to recognise us for this prestigious award.”
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.”
Source:Chamber of Commerce for Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire
