Golden moment for pawnbroker firm Ramsden's Financial

Nov 26 2010 by Iain Laing, The Journal and Mike Hughes, Evening Gazette

THE man who led the expansion of his family’s Teesside-based pawnbroker firm into a massive nationwide business was last night named the North East Business Executive of the Year 2010.

Stewart Smith, who has transformed Ramsden’s Financial since taking over the 60-year-old business in 1994, was given the region’s highest business accolade in Newcastle last night.

The 27th North East Business Executive of the Year Awards, run by The Journal and the Evening Gazette, took place last night at the Newcastle Marriott Hotel, Gosforth Park.

The award caps an extraordinary year of growth for Middlesbrough- based Ramsdens which is on course to have 340 staff and 83 stores by the end of this year.

Turnover has already jumped from £13m in 2008 to £27m last year and is forecast to hit £36m this year.

The firm started by Smith’s father has grown both organically and after a series of acquisitions in recent years and its executive chairman and owner plans to boost staff numbers to 470 within two and a half years and extend branch numbers to 103 across the North East, Yorkshire, Scotland and Wales.

Journal editor Brian Aitken said: “There are some illustrious names on the list of the winners of the North East Business Executive of the Year Award and Stewart Smith’s stands up there with the best of them.

“His company has been a phenomenal success and it is only fitting that his achievements are being celebrated in this style tonight.”

Smith, who also won the Teesside Business Executive of the Year title, narrowly beat Tyneside and Northumberland winner Andrew Esson and Durham and Wearside winner Tony Cleary to the overall trophy.

Also in the running for the Teesside crown were Vikki Jackson-Smith, managing director of J&B Recycling in Hartlepool and Mike Matthews, managing director of Stockton-based Nifco UK.

Esson has led his Ashington-based company ContiTech Beattie to become a market-leader. He has led a dramatic increase in the company’s revenues and its exports alone have doubled to £23m in the last three years.

Cleary founded Stanley-based Lanchester Wine Cellars 30 years ago with his wife Veronica and it has grown to be the UK’s fourth-biggest wine suppliers. It currently fills 30,000 bottles an hour and its products are found on the shelves of off-licences and supermarkets not only across the UK but around the world.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Dr Herbert Loebl. The son of a Jewish manufacturer, he was born in Germany but fled to England with his two sisters aged 16 when the Nazis came to power.

He gained a place at King’s College, Newcastle, where he met fellow graduate Robert Joyce. Together they created companies which employed hundreds of staff, and led to the creation of about 40 other businesses.

He founded Britain’s first voluntary support agency – Enterprise North. His passion for helping businesses saw him establish an export academy at Newcastle University Business School.

The Young Business Executive of the Year Award was won by Darren Williams who runs County Durham firm Hair X-tensions with his partner Angela Place.

And the winner of the Non-Executive Director of the Year Award was Stewart Vaughan.

Roll of honour

North East Business Executive of the Year - sponsored by Dickinson Dees: Stewart Smith, Ramsdens Financial, Middlesbrough

Teesside Business Executive of the Year - sponsored by Teesside University Business School: Stewart Smith, Ramsdens Financial, Middlesbrough

Tyneside and Northumberland - sponsored by KPMG: Andrew Esson, managing director, ContiTech Beattie

Durham and Wearside - sponsored by Sunderland City Council: Tony Cleary, managing director, Lanchester Wine Cellars

Lifetime Achievement - sponsored by Deloitte: Dr Herbert Loebl

Young Business Person of the Year - sponsored Newcastle University Business School: Darren Williams, Hair X-tensions, County Durham

Non-Executive Director of the Year - sponsored by a consortium of local businesses: Stewart Vaughan

A 16-page awards supplement will be published in the Evening Gazette and in The Journal on Tuesday.