THE team at banknote ID and document security specialists Andrews & Wykeham are celebrating after winning the Thames Valley Export Award 2011.

The company, set up in 2009 and based in Bilton Road, on Kingsland Business Park, Basingstoke, won the accolade at the event, which was attended by more than 350 business leaders from across the Thames Valley region.

The company’s managing director James Willis accepted the award from the former Minister of State for UK Trade & Investment Lord Digby Jones at the Royal Berkshire Conference Centre, at the Madjeski Stadium in Reading.

Chuffed with the award, especially as the business was set up during the economic downturn, Mr Willis said: “This prestigious award is an honour for our company and a great vote of confidence in the whole team who have made it possible.”

The rapidly growing business reports that exports account for 90 per cent of its sales.

Lord Jones, former director general of the CBI, and well-known champion of British industry, set the tone for the evening when he emphasised the importance of learning basic skills, and called on businesses to reach out and offer training and apprenticeships for tomorrow’s generation of employees.

He said: “As successful companies, we owe it to them to reach out and help take people to a place where they can achieve. We are the wealth creators and we need to be doing things in a way that we take the whole of society with us.”

Thirty-six companies were shortlisted for the six prestigious awards. The awards chairman David Murray praised all those who entered, saying the judges had had a tough decision choosing from an impressive stack of entries.

He said: “Your companies fly the flag for this region of ours, the Thames Valley, the powerhouse of enterprise, entrepreneurialism and corporate endeavour.”

Global cash management specialists Talaris, based in Crockford Lane, Chineham Park, was a runner-up for The Thames Valley Export Award.

And Phabrix, based in Burghclere, which designs and manufactures products for the professional broadcast market, won the SME of the Year award.