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Surrey company wins Coutts prize
for family business
Surrey based funeral directors, Lodge Brothers
Funerals Ltd, was last night
named 'Best Family Business, South Region', in
the regional final of the
Coutts Prize for Family Business. The business
will now go on to compete in
the £5m-£50m turnover category, at
the national finals to be held in London
in June.
This year marks the launch of the Coutts Prize,
recognising the best run
family businesses in England and Wales, and complementing
Coutts'
successful family business forum, that is held
throughout the UK. Mark
Evans, head of family business, Coutts & Co,
commented: "Strong family
businesses do not just happen by accident, they
happen by design. The
Coutts Prize for Family Business has been created
to help family business
owners learn from each other by seeking out and
celebrating the very best
in the field."
Lodge Brothers is currently run by the seventh
generation of the Lodge
family. It has carried out funerals for over 200
years and now also
provides Memorial Masonry, Floristry and Pre-Paid
Funeral Plans.
Hugh Harper, Chairman of the Southern Regional
Judging Committee,
commented; "Lodge Brothers was outstanding
in its category. It is now in
its seventh generation of family ownership and
can demonstrate a high
quality of achievement across many of the dimensions
we were considering.
It not only has a formidable track record of growth
in recent years and a
well executed organic expansion plan, but it has
a professional and well
structured approach to the governance and management
of their business.
Lodge Brothers was also one of the few examples
of a structured approach to
corporate giving that formally involves front
line employees."
The Coutts Prize recognises firms in three categories
(£1m-5m, £5m-£50m,
£50m+) that demonstrate a combination of
best practice in family and
corporate governance, business succession, business
strategy, innovation
and charitable giving. Entrants must be companies
or firms where family
members have control of more than 25% of the voting
shares and think of
themselves as a family business. More specifically,
the independent
evaluation committee judging the awards, has looked
for examples of best
practice, such as the successful integration of
non-family executives, good
practice in educating family members entering
the business, examples of
challenges that businesses have faced and overcome,
and an understanding of
the business's approach to strategic giving.
The independent evaluation committee is overseen
by Roger Pedder, Chairman
of C&J Clark (Clarks Shoes) Ltd, one of the
UK's largest private family
companies. On the Coutts Prize Roger commented:
"The Coutts Prize for
Family Business recognises that family and private
businesses make up the
majority of the economy and better run family
businesses mean a better
national economy."
The committee for the South region includes:
Hugh Harper, Partner, McKinsey & Company,
John Thurley, Charities Aid Foundation, Robert
Hannington of Knight Frank, John Kingston, Venturesome,
Helen Moss of the Quartet Community Foundation,
and Paddy Walker, J. Leon & Co. Ltd.
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