Three Waterford businesses receive prestigious national award

Three Waterford businesses have been awarded the Ireland’s Best Managed Companies (BMC) accolade at the 17th annual awards programme.

This programme is run by Deloitte, and the event is sponsored by AIB, the UCD Smurfit Business School and the Business Post.

This year, Deloitte recognised 115 indigenous companies at the awards, representing 25 of the 32 counties across the island of Ireland.

 The network of companies has a combined turnover of more than €22 billion and provides employment to over 62,000 people across a range of sectors from technology and healthcare to construction.

 The winning Waterford companies this year were Suir Engineering, RelateCare and Keltech. RelateCare achieved Gold status at the awards, having qualified for Ireland’s Best Managed Companies accolade for the fourth consecutive year, while Suir Engineering achieved the award for the first time this year.

Keltech received an award at the Best Managed Companies event for the third consecutive year.

 RelateCare is a healthcare communications agency with branches in Waterford and Tralee, as well as in Cleveland and Little Rock in the US.

Suir Engineering is an electrical and instrumentation engineering company.

It employs 1,300 people and has an annual turnover of around 300 million euros. Keltech is a manufacturing chain supply company.

They have recently begun to specialise in sustainable manufacturing materials such as solar panels.

A thorough judging process precedes the recognition each year, evaluating the entire management team and the business strategy of each company.

The judges examine a wide range of areas when assessing Ireland’s top privately-owned businesses, considering each business’ strategic planning, governance standards, and financial performance, in addition to each organisation’s culture, talent strategy and how they are innovating year on year.  

Lead Partner for Ireland’s Best Managed Companies Awards Programme Brian Murphy, said:  “Congratulations to all winning companies on their achievement.

"Irish indigenous businesses continue to impress, demonstrating unwavering resilience and commitment to excellence in an ever-changing economic landscape.

"As a vital part of our business ecosystem, it is essential that they are supported to grow and scale into the future, and the Best Managed programme hopes to support them as they do. "

This year’s Family Business Award was awarded to JJ Rhatigan & Co. The Family Business Award is a separate individual award category honouring a family business within the network that has stood out in how they have demonstrated resilience throughout their years in business.  Members of this year’s judging panel included Glenn Shanley, Head of AIB Corporate Banking, Prof. Anthony Brabazon, Dean of UCD Michael Smurfit Business School and Sarah Murphy, CEO of Business Post.