ANS Group's CEO scoops top regional business award

ANS Group plc was celebrating last week after CEO Scott Fletcher was crowned Manchester Young Director of the Year at the prestigious Institute of Directors Awards.

The annual Director of the Year Awards, held at the City of Manchester Stadium on the 18th September, brought together more than 600 of the North West’s business elite.

Fletcher headed off competition from Terry Bland of Godel Technologies Europe Ltd and Phil Jones of Brother UK Ltd, the other finalists in the category. Peter Folkman of MSP presented Scott with the award, which, this year, was sponsored by the Manchester Evening News.

Commenting on his award, Scott Fletcher said: "Even though we acknowledge that there is a slowdown in the economy generally this has been an excellent year of growth for us. Business has become more difficult to close but the group is operating in growth areas and has a large public sector client base. The people at the head of ANS have a strong grounding in the university of life and have raw passion to succeed we are strong, confident and optimistic about the next twelve months and whatever happens in this recession, we are in a good position to get through it."

This is the latest accolade for Fletcher who was named Entrepreneur of the Year for the North West at the National Business Awards in July.

Starting in business at the young age of 17, the self confessed entrepreneur ran various small businesses before founding ANS Group plc in 1996. The company has since gone from strength to strength, with an annual turnover of £10m with £1.4m net profit.

Darrell Matthews, Regional Director of the IoD in the North West, commented: "This is the fifth year we have run the awards and it has been fantastic to be reminded of the impressive expertise and range of industries we have here in the North West, especially in such economically turbulent times. The number of nominations has been a record this year and every individual was of an exceptionally high calibre. The winners and finalists are all well deserved and are true examples of the talent that exists in our region.