Allcooper Limited won the award in the GB pound 1-5m turnover category in the Coutts Prize for Family Business 2008/9.
The company will now go on to compete in their category in the national finals held in London on June 23.
Allcooper provides a full installation and maintenance service including fire systems, intruder alarms, CCTV, access control and physical security.
It has 62 full time staff and operates across the UK, servicing domestic and commercial clients and corporations, including a number of government departments.
Chairman of the evaluation committee, Ian Marsh, praised the company’s “strong family ethos”.
“As a successful second generation family business, the things that impressed the evaluation committee about Allcooper Limited included;
“The strong family ethos that comes across in everything they do and the family’s commitment towards the business and towards each other; their willingness to embrace outside input through the active use of Independent advisors and non-executive directors; the relationships formed by the business and their strong customer focus.”
He also praised “The family’s active involvement in the local community within which they operate; and The resilience of the family to work through challenges whilst remaining supportive to each other.”
Two members of the Cooper family operate on a daily basis within the company, Gerard, chairman, and Roman, managing director.
Gary Cooper, father and joint founder with Gerard in 1987, retired from the business several years ago.
Tim Cooper left the business in November 2005 after 15 years in the business, to explore other opportunities.
Senior family business adviser at Coutts, Juliette Johnson said “What really shines through is the strength of the family’s values.
“These influence how and why things get done and act as the glue binding the family and business together. These strong values, coupled with their conservative approach and long term planning, should give them the best possible chance to weather this current economic downturn.”
The Coutts Prize recognises firms in three categories ( GB pound 1m-5m, GB pound 5m- GB pound 25m and GB pound 25m+) that demonstrate high standards of family and corporate governance, a competitive market position, consistent financial growth, and a track record of charitable giving or involvement in local community.
Entrants must be companies or firms where two or more family members together have control of over 25 per cent of the voting shares and consider themselves as a family business.
