Sponsored by Azets
TURNOVER
OVERALL
FINALIST
RADICAL FORGE , Middlesbrough
Andrew Moorby , regional managing partner of Azets , with Double Eleven ’ s Lee Hutchinson .
WINNER
DOUBLE ELEVEN , Middlesbrough
Double Eleven was crowned as the region ’ s fastest-growing business as turnover increased from £ 9.9m to £ 45.1m – a whopping 355 per cent !
Gamers worldwide are grateful for the knowledge and expertise Double Eleven brings to the gaming world .
Founded in 2010 by two former lead engineers of Rockstar in Leeds , its now 300-plus strong team has picked up awards galore , working from offices in Middlesbrough ’ s Boho One complex and Kuala Lumpur .
But , the multi-award-winning company stresses , it ’ s a place where “ people come first – despite the digital nature of our work , we ’ re still human at heart ”.
And after picking up the Overall Turnover prize – with finance and commercial director Kimberley Turner having earlier been presented with the Turnover Large Business prize – Double Eleven CEO Lee Hutchinson felt the double success was a testament to the firm ’ s policy of staying local and developing talent on Teesside .
He said : “ Through the years , there ’ s always been someone who would turn round and say , ‘ How do you get the staff in Middlesbrough ? And how are you going to get people to come to the Teesside area ?’
“ Usually , people are shocked when they hear how many people we ’ ve managed to bring here and about the talent we ’ ve grown here , so we ’ re super happy when it comes to something like turnover and staff because , after all , that ’ s what business growth is .
“ I ’ m so happy to do it on Teesside and prove people wrong .”
Turnover leapt from £ 306,000 to nearly £ 1.1m – that ’ s 257 per cent – in the latest filed accounts of games stars Radical Forge .
Starting out as two people making “ radical stuff ” to do with videogames in 2017 , this sharp , adaptive and daring Middlesbrough company continues to go from strength to strength .
Now an established name within the game development industry , it handles many projects across multiple platforms , including PC , Xbox , PlayStation , iOS , Android and Nintendo Switch . It has also worked tirelessly on its first original IP , Bright Paw .
FINALIST
SAMY , Middlesbrough
A 93 per cent growth in turnover – from £ 10m to £ 19.5m – leaves no room for doubt around the success of Samy .
One of the UK ’ s leading independent retail operators of convenience forecourts and standalone stores , Samy currently operates or manages directly 32 convenience stores or forecourts , with names such as Budgens , Spar , Londis and Premier in its portfolio , and around 180 people in the team .
Based in Middlesbrough but with stores in several parts of the country – and with ambitions to be a fully national operator – it continues an ongoing programme of store acquisition and conversion .
SPONSOR MESSAGE
Joanne Regan , regional managing partner at Azets , said : “ We were delighted to sponsor the inaugural VelociTees and to see Double Eleven win both the prestigious Overall Winner and Turnover categories . Over the last year , Double Eleven has recorded a 355 per cent growth rate to £ 45.1m , demonstrated growth and innovation and really exemplified the best of Teesside . There were some brilliant companies shortlisted and I ’ d like to congratulate them all . It was a fantastic afternoon and celebration of some of the best businesses on Teesside .”
40 | Tees Business