Date at the Palace for Queens Award winners

DUDLEY company Industrial Penstocks went to Buckingham Palace to celebrate its Queen’s Award for International Trade. 

They joined representatives from nine other West Midlands companies and 143 businesses from across  the UK, all winners of The Queen’s Award for Enterprise, for their achievements in international trade, innovation or sustainable development.

Industrial Penstocks, of Netherton, specialises in the design, manufacture and installation of penstocks and valves for fluid control. The company won The Queen’s Award for International Trade.

The company concentrates on fluid control primarily in the water industry but also have clients in the cryogenics, liquefied natural gas, chemicals and oil and gas industries. The company has nine employees.

Exports make up 80 per cent of its turnover and the company has developed markets in the USA, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Falklands.

Director Paul Higginson said: “We were delighted to win a Queen’s Award and the celebration at Buckingham Palace was a fantastic occasion as well as a superb networking opportunity. In particular, the Duke of Edinburgh congratulated me warmly and was very interested in the business.

 “Within hours of the announcement that we had received a Queen’s Award, I received an email of congratulation from a customer in Sri Lanka, promising to place another order with us later this year.

“Winning the award is the culmination of six years’ work, which began with excellent advice and support from UK Trade & Investment to get us started when we had never exported before.”

Joanna Hill, head of the Queen’s Awards Office, said:  “These awards are not given lightly - all the winners have shown they are amongst the very best in their own industry, and the whole country.  “This is a fantastic accolade which underlines the essential role of enterprise and business in our economy.”