HUGHES’ DOUBLE WIN AT NORTH WEST FINANCE AWARDS

It was a rewarding night at the Macron Stadium in Bolton as Hughes Safety Showers scooped more gongs to take pride of place in the trophy cabinet, this time at the North West Finance Awards.

The Bredbury based Safety Shower specialist took both the ‘Outstanding Business Performance’ and ‘SME Financial Director of the Year’ awards, the latter being awarded to the Company’s FD; Stephen Dootson.

Hughes won the  ‘Outstanding Business Performance’ category against tough criteria and stiff opposition:  First Trans Pennine Express, Assetz, and SME Capital Ltd were second runners to Hughes who impressed the judges for their “Innovative approaches to business generation & client retention” and “Evidence of going beyond the norm and exceeding expectations”.

Financial Director, Stephen Dootson, also received his award up against strong opposition from the likes of Living Venture Group and Bell Trailers (Rental) Ltd. Stephen’s award was based on demonstrating skills such as Strategic Management, Commercial Awareness, Leadership & Motivation Skills and Problem Solving.

Former Queen’s Award for Enterprise winner, Investor in People Gold Champion, and Hughes Safety Showers owner Tony Hughes happily commented:

“I would have been happy with one award, but to come away with two was beyond our expectations”.
The qualified Mechanical Engineer turned CEO went on to say, “Similar to other businesses, we’ve had problems that we’ve had to struggle through. During the recent economic situation, some hard times, and lack of support from certain financial institutions we’ve achieved continuous substantial growth both here in the UK and overseas without outside funding. It’s nice to have this acknowledged in the form of these awards”.

On receiving the Outstanding Business Performance Award, the NWFA had this to say, “The judges thought Hughes had been a credit to the region, and, in the end, they felt they deserved the accolade on the strength of their resilience and continued commitment to improvement.” Whilst on Stephen Dootson’s award they added, “The winner of this award showed commitment and an excellent ability to cope with pressure.  He proved supportive of his colleagues and helped pull the Company together as a team.”

Steve Crohill of the NWFA offered congratulations to all fifteen winners covering all aspects of the finance professions.  He said: “In the five years of the awards to date, this has been the best year for competition.  The standard of entry was the highest yet, and the panel had a harder job than ever to select winners.”