A PRESTIGIOUS award has been handed to the founders of a North Somerset business by Lady Gass.
The Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, who is a representative of the Crown, visited Espiner Medical in Clevedon to hand over a Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
Earlier this year it was announced the Kenn Road firm would receive the award in recognition of its rapid expansion.
The company was set up in 1990 by surgeon Harry Espiner. He and Jim Howard of Cameron Balloons designed and produced an innovative piece of equipment used in gallbladder removal operations and this has since become a global success, being exported to countries all over the world including America, Australia and Canada as well as in Europe.
Espiner Medical now produces four different products, has recently doubled its manufacturing floor space and is targeting markets in a number of new countries.
In the past six years its sales have increased by 1,517 per cent and this growth is the reason the company was chosen for such a prestigious award.
In a statement, Jim and Harry said: “It is a credit to our staff, distributors and partners, all who have contributed and continue to contribute to our success.”
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