Companies vie for export awards

By Yoke Har Lee

It may have been a flat year for exports but some local firms have managed sterling growth. The list of finalists for this year's New Zealand Trade Development Board export award bears testimony to that.

A high-tech software company, a company making old-fashioned steamed puddings and the Dairy Board, are among this year's finalists contending for the New Zealand Trade Development Board's 1999 export awards.

In the medium-size exporter category (exports of up to $25 million) Financial Automation, a software developer; Southern Spars, a specialist designer servicing the yachting industry; National Can (NZ) which exports empty cans, and Peace Software, are among the shortlisted finalists.

Winners will be announced on November 18, at a dinner in Auckland.

The Dairy Board will compete alongside Telecom for this year's DHL major exporter award (for companies earning over $75 million in exports).

Small company Old Fashioned Foods is one of four finalists in the small exporter category. Producing 40,000 puddings a day, the company has its puddings sold in 80 per cent of Australian supermarkets and about five per cent of English supermarkets through Sainsbury stores.

Consultancy firm Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner is a finalist in the services exporter of the year category, sponsored by Bank of New Zealand.

It earns around $23 million annually from overseas projects and has won work for a wide range of sectors in many locations, spanning from the North Sea to Central America and Asia.

In the best export commendation category, finalists include PSM Healthcare, a pharmaceuticals company and Mastip Technology, a producer of plastic injection moulding systems.

Sharon Murdoch of Peace Software and Michael Groves of Beca Carter will compete for a $15,000 study grant in this year's export scholarship award.

Fran Wilde, chief executive of Trade NZ, said it had been a challenging year for exporters, with the Asian downturn and tough global trading conditions.

"Our finalists should take great pride in the fact that they have grown their businesses, in some instances enjoying quite outstanding foreign exchange growth."

She said although growth had been flat, New Zealand's export outlook was promising.