An agricultural engineering company is celebrating a royal seal of approval after winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

Agrimech, based at Three Holes near, Wisbech, close to the Norfolk / Cambridgeshire border, was one of a handful of winners across East Anglia, including six in Norfolk and Suffolk.

The company was praised for its outstanding progress in the international sales market.

Agrimech, which supplies weighing, sealing and packing machines for farming businesses, was founded in 2009 and only entered the export market in 2018, targeting North America.

Since then, the family-run business has seen overseas sales grow by more than 200pc, moving from 3.9pc of the company’s total sales to 13.4pc.

The firm's export success focused on the lucrative US potato industry, and over the next five years it hopes overseas sales will account for up to 40pc of its business.

Co-founder Belinda Smith said the award is "such a thrill for everyone on the Agrimech team”.

“The dedication and hard work that everyone has put in over the years to build up such a good reputation for quality machinery and excellent customer service has earned us awards before, but recognition like this, for our success on the global stage, takes things to another level altogether,” she said.

Darren Smith, the company's other co-founder, said lessons learned in the US are also proving beneficial closer to home, with the Agrimech trademark now registered in 28 countries across Europe.

“In 2018, we recognised that to prosper and progress, we needed to look at different markets for opportunities to build our brand name internationally and we felt it would help drive us to continue to innovate and introduce new products to our range,” he said.

As well as the prestige of winning the award, Agrimech will join 224 other winners in being invited to a Buckingham Palace reception in July, hosted by the Prince of Wales.

Entries are now open for the annual Suffolk Business Awards, organised and hosted by Archant, publisher of the East Anglian Daily Times and Eastern Daily Press. For more information and to enter, see www.suffolkbusinessawards.co.uk/