AXA - Be Life Confident

Applied Language Solutions, which offers transcription and translation services in more than 140 languages, goes forward to the grand final of the prestigious National Business Awards, dubbed by Gordon Brown as the 'Business Oscars', at the Grosvenor Hotel in London on 13 November.

The AXA Small to Medium Sized Business of the Year Award recognises businesses for their entrepreneurship and innovation and highlights the importance of management excellence in maintaining a successful business today and continuing to grow it in the future.

Douglas Barnett, the North East Regional Judge, said: "Although it was a hard decision with such strong competition from the region, we chose Applied Language Solutions because they have introduced innovation into a tradition sector resulting in fantastic growth from customers ranging from individuals to well known global companies. This has been achieved by ensuring that their most important asset, their staff, are continually recognised for their part in delivering a highly successful business. We wish them every success in the final."

Applied Language Solutions now goes through to the National Final, where they will compete against the other regional finalists to win the title of AXA Small to Medium Business of the Year. These are:

• Point Source, Southampton (www.point-source.co.uk) - Manufacturers of laser solutions for precision instrumentation.
• Tyrrells Potato Chips, Leominster (www.tyrrellspotatochips.co.uk) - Producers of gourmet snacks to over 5000 independent retailers in the UK and last year’s regional winner for the second time.
• Quartix, Newtown (www.quartix.net) - Producers of a vehicle tracking system to commercial fleet operators, and finalists for the second year running.
• Valueworks, Wigan (www.valueworks.co.uk) - Provider of tailor-made supply chains that remove cost inefficiencies and controls purchasing behaviour across organisations.

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