Coutts National Prize For Family Business

‘And The Winner Is’……. Healthcare Provider From Kent Scoops
Coutts National Prize For Family Business
Active Assistance named ‘Best UK Family Business, £1-5m turnover category’

Kent based healthcare provider Active Assistance was last night awarded ‘Best UK Family Business, £1-5m turnover category’, at the Coutts 2006 Prize for Family Business. In a category with entries from a variety of industries including financial services, food and manufacturing, the family competed in the final stage of the competition against automotive parts company, Swann Systems and optometrists, Visioncare Eye Clinic to take home the top prize from the ceremony held at the Coutts headquarters in London. 

Established in 1992 by William Allan, Active Assistance is a second generation specialist care provider for people with high-level spinal cord injury (tetraplegia), now managed by William’s son Andrew Allan. The company was nominated by Robert Lovitt, Greenaway Chartered Accountants.

Roger Pedder, chairman of the Independent Evaluation Committee, commented: “Active Assistance is a good example of what the Coutts Prize is looking for in a family business. The things that impressed the evaluation committee about Active Assistance included:

• the emphasis given to quality and innovation by continually raising standards of care rather than growth for growth’s sake, yet with a cumulative growth rate of 30% over the last five years;
• the collaboration of the family in writing a shareholder’s agreement and the implementation of disaster recovery management in the hand over from first to second generation;
• the policy of remunerating staff in the upper quartile (top 25%);
• the setting of new standards in the provision of live-in services for adults and children and the creation of a new web site for clients and staff to communicate more effectively; and
• a strategic use of philanthropy to supporting two charities, one that is involved in lobbying and another that is involved in rehabilitation for people with spinal injuries, as well as making significant donations to both.”

Mark Evans, Head of Family Business at Coutts, commented: "Up to 75% of businesses in the UK are run by families and they account for a large share of the UK GDP and employment. They also enter each and every one of our lives far more than we realise, from the wine we drink and the cars we drive to the offices and homes we work and live in. Yet even today, much of their work goes largely unrecognised by society and they get very little help with tackling the unique challenges they face in areas such as business succession.”

“The Coutts Prize for Family Business is the only regional and national awards programme in England and Wales celebrating the overall best performing small, medium-sized and large family businesses. With a 300 year history of working with family businesses, we have an established track record in providing a range of private, commercial and charity banking services to this essential industry.”

The Coutts Prize recognises firms in three turnover categories (£1m-5m, £5m-£25m, £25m+) that demonstrate a combination of best practice in family and corporate governance, business succession, business strategy, innovation and charitable giving. Entrants must be companies or firms where family members have control of more than 25% of the voting shares and think of themselves as a family business.

More specifically, the Independent Evaluation Committee judging the Prize, has looked for examples of best practice, such as ethical standards reflecting family values, effective planning for succession of top family management and non-family members, a means of returning wealth to shareholders and a track record of innovation in products, services, technology and ways of doing business.

Each of the three winners, will choose between the opportunity to have the story of their family business written by Matthew Boyden, author of the Rough Guide to Opera and seven other books including biographies, or a photographic portrait or photo album by Dwayne Senior, a portraiture photographer, designed to capture the essence of the family and the business.

Mark Evans added: “Working within a family business can bring many valuable benefits such as putting you in control of your own destiny and wealth creation but it can also bring with it many hurdles, for example training the next generation and separating ownership and management control. We wanted to give the winners something that can be treasured now but that could also be passed down through future generations in recognition of their outstanding achievements.”

Over 250 people attended the awards and international cabaret act, Kit and the Widow performed a Cabaret Revue about each of the finalists. Inspired by the winners' good work, Coutts created a philanthropic finale to the evening by donating £5,000 to one of the family businesses, for the company to donate to a small independent charity or community organisation of their choice. To select which family would receive this donation, 250 envelopes were hidden beneath guests' seats and at the end of the ceremony, all attendees were asked to search for the winning envelope. The envelope was found by Ginette Hughes from MHI, an architectural and engineering design consultancy family business, based in the East Midlands. Ginette and her husband, Rodney, will be making a joint decision, alongside their staff on which small and local charity the money will be donated to.

The Independent Evaluation Committee is overseen by Roger Pedder, until recently chairman of C&J Clark (Clarks Shoes) Ltd, one of the UK’s largest private family companies.

The National Committee Members were: Lucy Armstrong, Chief Executive, The Alchemists (Northern) Limited; Simon Berry, Managing Director and Chairman, English Lakes Hotels Limited; Simon Bower, Managing Director, Pollards Tea & Coffee Limited; John Freeman, Partner, Business Analytics; Libby Gibson, Partner, Piper Private Equity; David Harvey, Chief Executive, Society of Trust and Estate Practioners (STEP); Michael Maslinski, Director, Maslinski & Co; Harry Moore, Managing Director, Moore Fleming; James Newitt; Co-Director, M Newitt & Sons Limited and Sir Robert Worcester KBE DL, Founder, MORI.

Nomination packs for the ‘Coutts 2007 Prize for Family Business’ will be distributed between 1 September – 31 October 2007. To reserve a pack email sarah.moriarty@coutts.com.

For further media information on Coutts contact:

Jo Thorne, Regional PR Manager, Coutts & Co on 0207 957 2650 or mobile 0776 6070 859 or e-mail joanna.thorne@coutts.com

Notes to Editors

·Coutts is the international private banking arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is one of the world's largest banking groups.

·Coutts manages the wealth of 96,000 high net worth clients worldwide through a network of over 40 offices globally.

·The first Coutts regional office to be opened was Eton in 1961. Today, Coutts has regional offices in Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Eton, Guildford, Hampshire, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford and Tunbridge Wells.

·Coutts offers clients a range of products and services covering sophisticated investment products together with expertise in trust and fiduciary services and UK tax and banking services.

·Coutts & Co is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Coutts & Co Registered in England No 36695Registered Office 440 Strand London WC2R 0QS.

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Coutts Prize for Family Business £1-5m turnover, nominations and winners

Northern England Region	Southern England and Wales Region	London and Home Counties
Brainboxes	Active Assistance*	Bowling & Co
Dovehaven Care Homes	Altrax Group Limited	Joskos
Halsbury Travel	The Copas Partnership	The NewFieldWork Co Limited
Horobin Limited	Cranmer Lawrence & Co	Premier Cru Fine Wines Investments Limited
Plas Newton Estates Limited	G&B Electronic Designs Limited	Visioncare Eye Clinic*
Surepak	Manorcourt Care
Swann Systems*	Shorts Group Limited
	TFM Networks

*Regional winners.