Asperity Employee Benefits named NatWest Fast Growth Business of the Year
Asperity Employee Benefits walked away with the top prize at the Fast Growth Business Awards (FGBA), organised by Growing Business.
Asperity, which offers integrated employee benefits to over 500 of the UK’s employers – including IBM, Vodafone and BskyB – and over 1.5 million employees, picked up the NatWest Fast Growth Business of the Year trophy, after earlier receiving the Service Business of the Year award.
The company was chosen by a judging panel, which included Shortlist Media boss Mike Soutar and angel investor and founder of the Forsyth Group, Rosemary Forsyth, in recognition of a remarkable year which has seen turnover increase from £28.5m to £79.2m, and profits rise more than three-fold.
Category winners
Nicko Williamson and Rosemary Forsyth
Nicko Williamson’s green taxi venture Climate Cars took the title of Young Entrepreneur Business of the Year award which was presented by Rosemary Forsyth.
Other winners included Zoopla.co.uk, who received the Innovative Business of the Year award; Ella’s Kitchen, which was named International Business of the Year, Aydya Ltd, which claimed the New Business of the Year prize and IT and technology consultancy firm Gibbs S3 was named Family Business of the Year.
Magmatic, creator of the ride-along Trunki suitcase, claimed the Product of the Year award, while P2i, which has developed a waterproof nano-coating for shoes, iPods and other consumer staples, emerged triumphant in the Best Use of Technology category.
Sarah Wood of Unruly Media was crowned Female Entrepreneur of the Year, after her company produced prominent campaigns for clients such as T-mobile, including a viral video spoof of the Royal Wedding.
The prestigious awards, which entered their fifth year with headline sponsorship from NatWest, as well as accountancy firm Smith & Williamson and the web-based human resources service Xpert HR, were announced last night at a gala ceremony at The Marriott Hotel, in London’s Grosvenor Square.
Explaining the choice of winners, Growing Business editorial director and FGBA judge Ian Wallis said:
“Fast growth in business is borne of ambition, innovation – and sheer guts and determination. The quality of entrants for this year’s Fast Growth Business Awards was outstanding across the board and made the final selections more difficult than they have ever been.
“Asperity Employee Benefits was the deserving winner of the NatWest Fast Growth Business of the Year. In five years the company has gone from a standing start to owning around 20% of its market, grew turnover by 177% in the past year, and raised profits 218% in the same period. That offers some insight into the calibre of companies we were judging this year – businesses that may not be household names today, but are the drivers of the economy and the ones the government is relying on to cure the ills of the public purse.”
On Tuesday, 1 November 2011, global law firm Orrick will host a panel discussion on the current trends in the use of stock incentives by growing companies. The event will focus on practical rather than technical aspects and will bring together a number of experts in the field. Topics will include: current market rules of thumb for grants to attract talent; getting the valuation you need agreed with HMRC; trends in vesting schedules; cautionary tales on missing out on EMI treatment; and claw-back for leavers after the Skype controversy.
