Seven of Northern Ireland’s most ambitious companies and two outstanding individuals have been honoured at the ninth annual Aer Lingus Viscount Awards in London.

The awards, held in the exquisite surroundings of the Institute of Directors’ headquarters and in association with Ulster Business, have grown to become one of the most respected events on the business calendar and reward organisations and individuals that represent the absolute best in their respective fields.

Companies were shortlisted in each of the following categories: Best SME, Best Start-Up Business, Employee Champion, Exporter of the Year, Innovation of the Year, Fast Growth Business of the Year, Business Person of the Year; Lifetime Achievement Award and The Aer Lingus Viscount Award for Overall Excellence.

The winners were: Best SME award -The Deluxe Group Best Start-Up Business - Equi-Nutritive Group Employee Champion Award- CDEnviro Exporter of the Year - MJM Group Innovation of the Year Award – Babocush Fast Growth Business Award - Mount Charles Business Person of the Year - John Toner, WIS Group CEO and Chairman.

The penultimate award, The Aer Lingus Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to John Donnelly, up until recently, the owner of Retland Manufacturing Ltd which was the umbrella group holding SDC Trailers and MDF Engineering.

The judges also acknowledged the incredible work he carried out as founding chairman of workspace Draperstown Enterprise Agency Ltd and the support he has given local community organizations and charities, which made him a very worthy award recipient.

The Aer Lingus Viscount Award for Overall Excellence was awarded to Allstate who thoroughly impressed the judges with their overall business performance and the impact they have had on the Northern Ireland economy, as well as their dedication to innovation, to cultivating an incredibly talented workforce and to their multi-award winning CSR strategy.

Managing Director, John Healy said; "Allstate is delighted to win the Overall Excellence Award at The Aer Lingus Viscount Awards. Our success is down to our employees and this latest honour underscores the high quality and commitment from all of them.

“We are committed to developing the next generation of cutting edge technology and technologists required to stay ahead of the development curve, competitors and new entrants in the insurance industry and this award is a wonderful recognition of the hard work and dedication of our entire workforce in Northern Ireland.”

Andrea Hunter, Business Development Manager of Aer Lingus NI said: “We were hugely impressed again by the calibre of this year’s entrants and while only seven companies left as Aer Lingus Viscount Award winners, the judges agreed that the immense talent and success of the companies present in the room was outstanding.

“Aer Lingus is proud to connect businesses with opportunities internationally every day via our Belfast City to Heathrow route and via Dublin Airport to our transatlantic destinations in the US, including our brand new route to Miami which starts flying on 1st September 2017.”

The Viscount Awards are supported by the Aer Lingus TakeOff Foundation, encouraging SME business success through a range of initiatives, promoting Culture and the Arts and introducing a new Charity of the Year programme.