Nottingham Funeral Directors wins Coutts prize for Family Business

A W Lymn named ‘Best UK Family Business, Northern England Region, £5-25m turnover category’

Funeral directors, A W Lymn based in Nottingham were last night named ‘Best UK Family Business, Northern England Region’, in the £5-25m turnover category, of the Coutts Prize for Family Business. The business will now go on to compete in the £5-25m turnover category, at the national finals to be held in London on 6 June.

The Coutts Prize for Family Business recognises the best run family businesses in England and Wales, and compliments Coutts successful Family Business Forum that is held throughout the UK. Mark Evans, Head of Family Business, Coutts & Co, commented: “With a 300 year history of working with family businesses, Coutts has a special understanding of the enormous contribution family firms make to both the economy and society, as well as the specific challenges they face.

“Now in its second year the Coutts Prize for Family Business is only regional and national awards programme in England and Wales celebrating the overall best performing small, medium-sized and large family businesses. The interview process acts as a company health check.”

Established in 1907, A W Lymn celebrates a century in business this year, serving the bereaved of Nottinghamshire and the surrounding area. The family, consisting of ten family members, as well as, eight husband and wife teams and ten parents and child teams, strives to lead the way within the multi-cultural and multi-faith society, tailoring their services to meet those demands.

John Freeman, regional chairman of the evaluation committee commented: “The things that impressed the evaluation committee about A W Lymn included:

·the company’s response to the changing needs of the market such as the funeral requirements of the Eastern European, Afro-Caribbean and Asian communities;

·the selection of environmentally friendly ways of having a funeral, such as the range of coffins in cardboard, tulip wood, bamboo, wicker and recycled paper;

·the family’s investment in training with 30 qualified members of the British Institute of Funeral Directors, against a benchmark of 5, and their leadership role within the British Institute of Embalmers and the National Association of Funeral Directors; and

·the way the company has emersed itself in the community by providing free transport and shopping trips to nursing and residential homes to free training for staff to acting as a collecting agency for 10,000 spectacles a year.”

The Coutts Prize recognises firms in three categories (£1m-5m, £5m-£25m, £25m+) that demonstrate a combination of high standards of family governance and a corporate governance, a competitive market position and consistent financial growth, and a track record of charitable giving or involvement in local community. Entrants must be companies or firms where two or more family members together have control of over 25% of the voting shares and consider themselves as a family business.

More specifically, the independent evaluation committee was looking for examples of best practice including;

·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.

The independent evaluation committee is overseen by John Freeman, founder and Partner of Business Analytics, a management consultancy. John has extensive experience as a consultant to family and non-family businesses, and is a member of the Family Firm Institute.

The evaluation committee for the Northern England region includes: Lucy Armstrong, Chief Executive, The Alchemists (Northern) Ltd; Simon Berry, Managing Director and Chairman, English Lakes Hotels; John Josephs, Trustee and Treasurer, Tyne & Weir and Northumberland Community Foundation Network; David Molian, CREDO Co-Director, Cranfield School of Management; Barry Owen, Chairman, Mason Owen and Tim Watts, Chairman, Pertemps Ltd.

Winners were given a unique family business cartoon sketch, created by renowned cartoonist, Robert Duncan, depicting some of the more light-hearted moments of running a family business, and framed by acclaimed family business and jewellery designers, Boodles. Robert Duncan, will also create a unique cartoon for each of the winners, to tell their own story.

Coutts Prize for Family Business, Northern England Region

Nominations and winners

Turnover £1-5m	Turnover £5-25m	Turnover £25m+
Brainboxes	A W Lymn*	Pindar
Dovehaven Care Homes	Alpha Health Care	The Kerfoot Group Limited
Halsbury Travel	Alpha Hospitals	Meteor Group*
Horobin Limited	Broadgate Homes Limited	The Cains Beer Company
Plas Newton Estates Limited	Burbidge & Son Limited
Surepak	D R Group
Swann Systems*	Erodex
	Radford Jewellery
	Tanners Wines Merchants
	San Carlo Restaurants

*Winners.

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 Bath, 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.

·Calls may be recorded.

www.coutts.com