Healthcare boss wins Quoted Company Award

29/01/2009 James Crux

Colourful former nurse Kate Bleasdale waltzed off with the coveted Entrepreneur of the Year prize at last night’s Quoted Company Awards dinner, run by Growth Company Investor in association with accountant Grant Thornton.

The great and good of the smaller company scene gathered in London’s Grosvenor House hotel for this highlight of the quoted company calendar, which honours the achievements of companies quoted below the FTSE 350 Share Index during a turbulent 2008.

The no-nonsense Bleasdale was rewarded for driving forward Healthcare Locums, which she founded in 2003 and has made the country’s largest specialist healthcare staffer. The company, which boosted first-half profits 260 per cent to £5.8 million, now has annual sales of more than £176 million.

Former Marks & Spencer and Arcadia high-flier Charles Wilson, chief executive officer of Booker, the UK’s biggest cash-and-carry operator making strong progress in a challenging market, was named Chief Executive of the Year. René Gawron, the genial German finance chief at acquisitive software testing star SQS Software Quality Systems, carried off the Finance Director of the Year award.

Investor of The Year went to astute smaller company stockpicker Gervais Williams, who runs the Gartmore Growth Opportunities trust. David Rasche, who led insurance software specialist SSP to a successful stint on AIM before its well-priced private equity takeover, bagged the Chairman of the Year award.

The IPO of the Year gong was handed to Hugh O’Donnell, head of the fast-growing AIM-traded oil services, engineering and construction play Kentz. Andrew Buchanan, former head of the Close Investment Small Cap and AIM team who decamped last year to the Octopus group, was recognised with the Lifetime Achievement Award 2009.

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