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Kolak continues to enjoy 37 years of unbroken growth whilst being recognised as a quality snacks manufacturer supplying leading UK retailers. Since 2014 the company has grown from £54m to over £200m, has invested in a new manufacturing site in Stevenage, whilst also investing £5m every year in facilities improvement and the latest technologies. They now have 1200 employees across both sites. In 2016 Kolak was acquired by Europe Snacks with 4 factories in France and 2 in Spain. The combined group has a turnover of €400M. Kolak UK represents over 65% of this turnover. In 2020 the company embarked on a business transformation program, including employees’ ideas and suggestions. Over 150 different initiatives from various workstreams including Commercial, Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Procurement were put forward. By the end of 2021 all suggestions were implemented resulting in a saving of over £5m. We are committed to investing in our employees’ development and they are offered continued personal improvement training at least once a year. In October 2022, Kolak was awarded an Outstanding Workplace Award after achieving an 83% participation rate and 85% engagement index in their Engagement Survey. They are a fantastic example of a local run, innovative and responsible business with ambition and aspiration in the heart of London’s Park Royal.

Westfield London, a pillar of the community for the past 14 years and actively contributing to the Economic regeneration of the borough investing over £177m on local transport and other infrastructure to better serve our communities. 8,000 additional jobs created since the centre’s expansion in 2018, bringing the total workforce up to 20,000, with 52% of employees from West London boroughs. Featuring large indoor/outdoor events areas, which host free and accessible experiential, cultural and educational events such as Jubilee and Pride Festivals, Eid and Christmas Celebrations, The Big Gig, Black history month and half-term events. In 2018, 89 affordable homes were provided in line with the mayor of London’s initiative and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the centre hosted a local test centre, and care packages were distributed to the local community. Westfield London is ISO-14001 and BREAM accredited, and sustainability is at the heart of what we do. Reducing our carbon footprint by having Zero to landfill and encouraging customers to support initiatives such as recycling textiles, not using single-use plastic, or Virgin Pure water refill stations saving 220,000 plastic bottles. We have over 6900 square metres of green space including green roofs and 68,000 plants in our Living Walls to improve Biodiversity within the borough. Supporting Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility through initiatives such as Quite Hour, Sensory Packs, and centre services. UK Working Families Association has recognised URW’s family-friendly practices with 3 awards: Top 30 Employer for Families, Best for Fathers, and Best for Mothers.

The Polish Bakery’s winning entry in 2017 centred around its epic expansion journey since its establishment in 2003, supplying four major supermarket chains and opening a new gluten free bakery in 2017. In 2017, the judges commented, “The Polish Bakery’s multiple awards this year are a reflection of how and why they have expanded well beyond the London Polish community to go UK wide and to get rave reviews from the many non-Poles who have discovered them too. Combining traditional methods with modern production and marketing has proved a recipe for success”.

Everglade Windows is a business 42 years’ young. Our roots are firmly grounded in the capital and our business has gone from strength to strength since it was founded in 1980. The second-generation leadership team took the helm of our family business in 2015, coinciding with our 35th anniversary and coming soon after the launch of our flagship product aïr – the most impressive range of aluminium bi-folding and lift & slide doors. We’re a business built on family values – we’re devoted to being a sustainable, successful partner for our customers and developing strong supplier relationships to deliver the highest service levels possible. We’re innovative in our manufacturing processes and £6 million investment programme in the best software and machinery over the last couple of years has transformed our 65,000 sq. ft. of space intone of the most automated and future-proof facilities in the UK window and door industry. We’re dedicated to our people too – we have excellent staff retention. More than half of our team hold formal qualifications gained through our skills and training programmes and we partner with Ealing Council and West London colleges and universities to find young local talent. 2022 has been a year of reconnecting, with our ‘Road to 2030 Customer Conference’ in May bringing more than 150 customers, partners and suppliers back together to plan for the future, look at how we can circumnavigate the next challenge and, crucially, have a big party to celebrate our 40th birthday!

Ahead of our time, Powerday has always sought to manage our business responsibly. In the last decade, we have grown significantly, increasing turnover by 67% to £52m. What makes us unique is how we have used this sustained growth to support our communities. Since 2013, we have sourced and invested £14 million into London boxing, helping 80 clubs and projects, enabling 400 volunteers to do more. The impact has been profound, improving wellbeing for over 50,000 participants in the most marginalised and socio-economically challenged areas of London. It has negated antisocial behaviour and assisted safer communities through voluntary sport community clubs that provide a social glue. An independent family, waste management business, we have always worked to minimise our environmental impacts, diverting 100% of non-hazardous waste from landfill. Our environmental ambition goes beyond this though. We work continually to move waste up the hierarchy, including with innovative solutions that keep rigid plastics in the circular economy. And we are taking impactful steps to reduce our carbon footprint. Five out of six sites run on renewable energy and all our company cars are electric. By end 2022 we will have a net zero target for Scopes 1 and 2 and a roadmap in place to deliver against this. Our approach to responsible business continually evolves. In 2020, we defined five pillars to support us in putting sustainability at the heart of our business. Every year, we set clear objectives under each pillar to help us achieve our ambitions and track progress.

Over the past decade, West London Business has championed change around sustainability and adapted to economic challenges to support local businesses and in turn, local regeneration. Wrapology has truly benefitted, and we continue to celebrate this infrastructure which has resulted in employing more residents, 4 years of university internship, scoping and evidencing our 2029 net carbon target via the Better Futures programme, feeding back to the Bank of England on local challenges on pricing, import/ export and employment. We were also a WLB delegate at COP26. Our journey since winning West London Business of the Year in 2020 has culminated in increasing our growth by over 50%, quadrupling our corporation tax due to 5 times EBITDA growth, and winning a Queens Award for Enterprise 2022 (International Trade) a few months ago. Directors provided Angel Investment into local business to promote sustainable change (MAGWAY).

Fit Out’s winning entry in 2021 demonstrated that they were an exceptionally innovative and agile company, as well as how their business practices could translate into a large positive external impact. Their successful construction of a Tesco Express Supermarket to service an adjacent Nightingale Hospital in just 9 days was a particular highlight, made possible by their impressive integrated self-delivery model. “Tesco’s Managing Director of Convenience Formats said of the fit out: “I’ve never experienced a more positive and meaningful collaboration than I did in observing the way that you and your teams came together, to quickly react and respond to the challenge… demonstrating once again, what we can achieve, when we all pull together.” “A leading interior fit out contractor and relocation services provider, based in Park Royal since 2006, Fit Out made a significant investment in infrastructure to enhance their metal fabrication capability, joinery machinery, logistics fleet expansion and the development of their material requirements planning (MRP) system helping to increase turnover by 37% in the year.

Starting out as a man-and-van operation we have grown year-on-year to being crowned West London Company of the Year in 2022. This coincided with our 20th Anniversary and expansion to our new Heathrow warehouse to unify sales and operations. We were also named ‘Logistics Business of the Year’ for the 3rd time having previously won in 2017 and 2019. We collected the ‘Responsible Workplace Award’ for the second time and are proud to have won the ‘Community Investment Award’, an award which underpins the ethos of the company. Alexanders strives to be a socially responsible business. Giving back to the local community in West London has not only benefitted the charities we support but has brought together employees across different departments of the company for a unified purpose. Our team has been supported by management and given the resources to make a real difference to local families. Over the pandemic, we delivered over 200 tonnes of food and supplies for local foodbanks. In December 2021 we organised a collection of over 300 presents for vulnerable children and in April 2022 we packed 160 Easter Hampers for vulnerable families in Hounslow. Alexanders continues to grow. Turnover is up 29% this FY compared to last and this year in the first 6 months revenue is up 16% with an operating margin of 20%. Our financials are strong, but the company considers the work we do in the West London community to be as critical to the business success as anything else.