LAST year the boss of Middlesbrough-based pawnbroker Ramsdens was named Teesside’s leading business boss.

Executive chairman and owner Stewart Smith then went on to become the region’s champion of champions, being named the North East Business Executive of the Year 2010.

The son of Ramsdens founder Herbert Smith, Stewart has grown the company into a £37m turnover business employing 350 staff across 85 UK branches.

And annual revenues are set to rise to around £45m this year on the back of new contract wins and the recent seven-figure acquisition of Scottish pawnbroker Queenspark.

The meteoric rise of Ramsdens has attracted national attention with the firm listed in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 and in the top ten of the Sunday Times PwC Profit Track 100.

It also won recognition on a regional level when Stewart was crowned Business Executive of the Year last November.

Stewart is now looking firmly to the future as he attempts to find new growth opportunities for Ramsdens.

Growing up in Middlesbrough, attending Acklam Hall Grammar before completing a business studies degree at Teesside Polytechnic, Stewart joined Ramsdens in 1974.