Over 500 of the county’s leading businesspeople, judges and VIPs gathered for the annual Sussex Business Awards ceremony, held at The Grand Brighton. Celebrating thirty years in 2018, the awards are the most sought-after accolade by organisations from every sector in Sussex.
This year saw a record-breaking number of nominations for each category, with representatives from sixteen towns across the county making the shortlist of just fifty-one finalists.
Judges had an enormously difficult task, as the entries were of such a high standard, but World of Books Group, finalists in two categories, Large Business of the Year and Company of the Year, beat stiff competition to take home the prestigious headline award for Company of the Year.
Introducing the award, Mike Bailey, partner at Mazars UK said that when judging the nominees, “one company stood out for its all-round performance, its growth, its work with its people and also its impact on society and the community.”
Colleagues celebrated alongside as CEO, Stephen Boobyer and CFO & COO, Graham Bell, accepted the award.
Other nominees for Large Business of the Year award (sponsored by Allied Irish Bank), include Rayner Intraocular Lenses and Rinkit homewares.
Other nominees for the evening’s top prize, Company of the Year (sponsored by Mazars), were Allaero, Bird & Blend Tea, Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, Chandlers Building Supplies and Rayner Intraocular Lenses.
Notes for Editors
Sussex Business Awards: http://www.sbawards.org.uk/?page_id=951
Large Business of the Year (£10 million+) Sponsored by Allied Irish Bank This Award is open to businesses with an annual turnover between £10 million+ which are at least three years old and have an operational base in Sussex. This company should demonstrate a healthy financial performance and a strategic plan for growth.
Company of the Year Sponsored by Mazars This Award is not directly entered but chosen by the judge from businesses entering SME of the Year and Large Business of the Year. The winner is crowned thus because they have excelled in every part of the awards criteria.
World of Books | https://wob.com World of Books is a Sussex based circular economy company that sells quality used books at competitive prices to millions of customers worldwide each year. Established by a group of dedicated book lovers, with an ethos to do good, over the past 10 years World of Books has seen its inventory grow from 1,000 books to over 3 million in stock. They are pioneers in the re-use and recycling of unwanted books, recycling about 70 million books each year, equivalent to 442,000 trees.
World of Books purchases significant volumes of donated books from UK charities – boosting revenues for these good causes and saving them waste disposal costs. This business model has generated over £12m for UK charities in the last 5 years. The core focus of the business is to develop wob.com and continue to improve the service they offer to their customers.
Over the past couple of years World of Books has gone from strength to strength, they are the UK’s largest seller of used books online and continue to be one of the fastest growing companies in the UK.
For more information, contact:
Amy Greenacre | [email protected] | T: 01903 507544