BARCELONA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Europe’s business elite gathered today to hear the 11 award winners in this year’s European Business Awards revealed.

Regarded as Europe’s toughest business competition, the victors were selected from the shortlisted 111 Ruban d’Honneur recipients participating from across the continent, in a programme which engaged with over 15,000 organisations in over 30 countries.

Showcasing the best in class, the European Business Awards winners represent a diverse range of industries including cosmetics, engineering, fashion, online businesses, manufacturing and transport.

Winners were congratulated by an audience comprising heads of state, leading industrialists, entrepreneurs, business leaders, media owners and academics from across 30 European nations.

Full list of winners 2011:

• The Employer of the year Award: Global Bilgi A.Ş. – Turkey
• The Award for Customer Focus: TAXIS G7 – France
• The Award for Environment and Corporate Sustainability: Mercator Group – Slovenia
• The HSBC Import/Export Award: Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd – UK
• The HSBC International Growth of the year Award: Software AG – Germany
• The Infosys Business of the Year Award with Turnover of €0-25m: Companeo – France
• The Infosys Business of the Year Award with Turnover of €26-150m: bigpoint – Germany
• The Infosys Business of the Year Award with Turnover of €150m or higher: H&M – Sweden
• The RSM International Entrepreneur of the Year Award: Maesa Group (Julien Saada & Gregory Mager) – France
• The UKTI Award for Innovation: SENER – Spain
• The Chairman's Selection: Byurakn LLC - Armenia

Belgium’s Prime Minister and EBA judge, Yves Leterme, along with Adrian Tripp, CEO of the European Business Awards hailed the 11 winners as ‘Lionhearts of the European economy’.

Adrian Tripp said, “The winners of this year’s European Business Awards have demonstrated that once again, the continent’s business leaders and their work force possess courage, resilience, ingenuity and agility. We’ve seen significant contributions from East Europe and Turkey with entrants not only weathering the recent economic storm but prospering. Participants represent a combined turnover of over €1 trillion Euros (8.23% of EU GDP)*, employing over 2.7 million people. Some may prefer to peddle gloom, but the role of the Awards is to spotlight success”.”

John Casey, HSBC Head of Commercial Banking, Continental Europe, commented, “Many congratulations to our outstanding European Business Award winners who excelled throughout a challenging judging process to reach the finale. These 11 businesses, representing a diverse mix of countries, sectors and sizes, are proof that there are exceptional organisations in Europe still thriving and growing, regardless of current economic fragility.

“The recent HSBC Trade Forecast revealed a strong external trade growth story for Europe over the next 15 years, with European trade set to grow by 77% versus a global figure of 73%. As a result we were particularly pleased to see so many of these businesses pursuing global growth opportunities to help them to reach their potential. As these winners attest, Europe has a great deal to be confident about. Highlighting these successful business stories is important to inspire, lead and encourage others to follow suit.”

The event also saw a Business Summit taking place, hosted by Hon. Karel De Gutch (EU Trade Commissioner), Janet Henry (Chief European Economist, HSBC) and Ira Gaberman (Partner A.T. Kearney). Attended by Ruban d’Honneur recipients, the event debated the current health of the European business community and how to improve it through sharing learnings from the achievements of the competition entrants.

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Downloadable photos from the event will be available from http://www.businessawardseurope.com/gallery

Broadcast footage will be available from Europe by Satellite http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/ebs/schedule.cfm?sitelang=en&page=3&institution=0&date=11/22/2011

Case studies of winners are available upon request.

Follow @EBAs2011 for live updates from the event.

*EU GDP incl. Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Kazakhstan