Marco

Hart and Murray Hilborne, also of Marco

Machinery company Marco has won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for 'outstanding business achievement' in international trade.

Two representatives from the firm will be invited to Buckingham Palace later this year for a special reception.

The winners were announced yesterday (21 April), the Queen's birthday, and the prize represents one of the highest accolades that a UK business can receive.

Marco has been honoured for the successful implementation of a business strategy over the last three years focusing on export markets with the objective by 2015 to have over 60 per cent of all sales coming from overseas territories.

The timing of the award also coincides with Marco’s expansion plans, which will see the company’s UK headquarters move to larger premises during the summer. Such has been the recent growth for Marco, especially in the fresh produce area, that the company has outgrown its current premises in less than a year.

Marco MD, Mandy Hart, said: “This is a fitting reward for our staff and management team, who have worked extremely hard to develop our international business over the past five years.”

Marco was established in 1985, and employs R&D, production, sales, marketing, software and support teams in its offices and manufacturing facilities across its three sites within the UK.

The company designs, builds and installs equipment and software aimed at making fresh produce packhouses and food manufacturing environments more productive, efficient and profitable.

Recent examples of successful export markets include Spain, France, Italy, Kenya, South Africa, Chile, Guatemala, and the US.