The winners of the 2017 Deloitte Top 200 Awards were crowned last night, with a who’s who of the New Zealand business industry in attendance at the awards ceremony.
The awards evening held at Spark Arena in Auckland acknowledged business excellence and noteworthy leadership across 10 award categories. The theme of this year’s event was ‘the spirit of resilience’.
Judging panel convenor Fran O’Sullivan (NZME editorial director – business) says the organisations and individuals that received the awards this evening are visionary leaders who are committed to their businesses and driven to succeed.
The Deloitte Top 200 judges selected The a2 Milk Company as the Deloitte & Marsh 2017 Company of the Year.
a2 No 1
“The a2 Milk Company’s meteoric rise is one of the most spectacular share market ascents in years,” O’Sullivan said. “It was once considered an ‘alternative’ player in dairy, but a2 Milk’s 250% share price rise in the year to September puts it squarely among the biggest companies on the New Zealand Stock Exchange.
Its point of difference is that its products come from dairy cows that only make the A2 beta-casein protein; a factor in its success in China and other Asian markets where sales grew 133% in the 2017 financial year.
a2 Milk’s revenue growth of 56% in the last financial year, and sales of over half a billion dollars of product, justify investor confidence in the company,” O’Sullivan said
“The a2 Milk Company is a success – not just because of the market rating – but because of the results based on the culmination of a strategy that was put in place by the company and led by its focused chief executive Geoffrey Babidge.”
CEO Simon Moutter
Deloitte and Orbit World Travel Chief Executive of the Year, Simon Moutter from Spark, impressed the judges with his relentless commitment to Spark’s future as a digital services business.
“Simon has sustained performance in an industry where is it difficult to grow the top line, achieving a 19% compound total shareholder return over five years,” O’Sullivan said. “His contribution goes beyond Spark to broader New Zealand objectives to back innovation and invest in local start-ups,” says O’Sullivan.
Fellow judge and independent director Sandy Maier says not only is there another set of really high quality finalists in this year’s awards, but there are some new names that have ‘refreshed’ several of the categories.
“This reminded us that there is innovation, disruption and tough competition among even our largest corporates,” Maier said.
The Sheffield Visionary Leader Award was presented to Rod Drury.
The judging panel also includes independent directors Jonathan Mason and Dame Alison Paterson, Forsyth Barr managing director Neil Paviour-Smith and MinterEllisonRuddWatts partner Cathy Quinn.
Mark Allan, Liam Dann, Steven Naude and James Bergin judged Young Executive of the Year.
The 2017 Deloitte Top 200 Award winners are:
DELOITTE AND MARSH COMPANY OF THE YEAR
Winner: The a2 Milk Company.
Finalists: Tourism Holdings Limited, Briscoe Group
DELOITTE AND ORBIT WORLD TRAVEL CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR
Winner: Simon Moutter – Spark
Finalists: Russel Creedy – Restaurant Brands, Geoffrey Babidge – The a2 Milk Company
MASSEY BUSINESS SCHOOL CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER OF THE YEAR
Winner: Steve Gray – Port of Tauranga
Finalists: Grant Ellis – Restaurant Brands, Paul Chambers – Meridian Energy
QBE INSURANCE CHAIRPERSON OF THE YEAR AWARD
Winner: Rob Campbell – Tourism Holdings Limited/Summerset Group/
Finalists: Jan Dawson – Westpac, Peter McBride – Zespri International
MINTERELLISONRUDDWATTS EXCELLENCE IN GOVERNANCE
Winner: Air New Zealand
Finalists: Sanford, Abano Healthcare
NZ HERALD MOST IMPROVED PERFORMANCE
Winner: 2degrees
Finalists: Xero, Datacom
2DEGREES BEST GROWTH STRATEGY
Winner: Zespri International
Finalists: Tourism Holdings Limited, The a2 Milk Company
MINISTRY OF BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND EMPLOYMENT DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Winner: Fonterra
Finalists: Stuff – Fairfax Media, Air New Zealand
EAGLE TECHNOLOGY AND IMNZ YOUNG EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR AWARD
Winner: Komal Mistry – Fonterra Ventures
Finalists: Sasha Lockley – Avanti Finance, Ed Hyde – Spark Ventures
SHEFFIELD VISIONARY LEADER AWARD
Winner: Rod Drury
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