UK Packaging Awards 2011 winners: SME of the Year

SHORTLIST

• AJS Labels
• Clifton Packaging Group
• Curtis Print & Packaging
• Swanline Print

2010 winner: Jubb UK
2009 winner: This was a new award in 2010

Click here to return to the UK Packaging Awards 2011 winners page

AJS Labels

AJS Labels made its mark on the UK Packaging Awards last year when it was highly commended in this category and was shortlisted in the Label of the Year award. But this year, the West Sussex-based firm has gone one better. And it’s well-deserved – while turnover grew by half, pre-tax profits more than trebled in the year under review. It has been what one judged described as an “astonishing” turnaround since Andrew and Jayne Scrimgeour bought the company in 2008 at the height of the credit crunch. At the time, it was losing hundreds of thousands every year; yet within a year it was back in the black. Alongside charity work in India, a key development of the year was a new website that has allowed the company to communicate with potential clients through social media which, the company says, has directly led to more than 50 new accounts.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Curtis Print & Packaging

Carton printer Curtis Print & Packaging impressed the judges with a 28% increase in turnover and a 14% growth in pre-tax profits in the year under review. As well as strong customer acquisition the company focused on innovation and enhancing its already high quality of product over the year. “An excellent performance and a company to watch,” one judge said.

DS Smith Packaging is part of the £2.5bn-turnover DS Smith Plc and is the UK’s leading producer of corrugated packaging.

The group’s product range offers a diverse range of corrugated products, from retail ready packaging, transit cases, consumer packs, and point of sales display, to heavy-duty industrial products and corrugated sheets.

The experienced and skilled workforce meets the needs of thousands of customers, improving customers’ supply chain efficiency and sustainability as well as helping them to enhance brand image to boost sales in-store.

www.dssmithpackaging.com