Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire presents to LA International
Following the announcement earlier in the year confirming the award of the Queen’s Award for International Trade 2021, global recruitment & project solutions consultancy LA International was formally awarded the Grant of Appointment by the Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire, Ian Dudson, on behalf of her Majesty the Queen.
LA International had been honoured once again for its continuous achievement and growth in International Trade by winning its second Queen’s Award for International Trade for Outstanding Continuous Growth in overseas sales over the last six years. Securing their second Queens Award follows LA International’s previous win in 2015, presented to organisations with outstanding performance in international trade, innovation and sustainable development, recognising those businesses that make a valuable contribution to the UK economy each year.
During the presentation to Board of Directors members Jamie Davies and Paul Martin, in the presence of members of LA International’s International Divisions and the Rt. Hon Jo Gideon MP, the Lord-Lieutenant congratulated the Company, emphasising that all members of staff should be extremely proud of their achievement, in particular the rarity of a Queen’s Award for a second 5 year term.
Queen’s Award winners are chosen by a panel that includes the Prime Minister and leading figures from government and industry, making it the most sought after accolade and most prestigious business award any UK business can receive.
Commenting on the award, the Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Paul Lukic said “I am delighted and honoured that LA International has again received this internationally recognised and highly sought after award for a second 5 year term in recognition of our contribution to flying the flag of British enterprise. The Board of Directors are privileged to accept this award on behalf of LA International and all of our staff who, with sustained effort, have continued to drive the business forward and achieve our targeted expansion”.
This was echoed by Jamie Davies, Sales Director who formally thanked the Lord-Lieutenant for the award, and explained that “international trade has been at the heart of our Company since its inception in 1982, and will remain so long into the future. It is fair to say that recent trading conditions have been challenging for many industries operating internationally but thanks to the dedication, hard work and resilience of our staff, many of whom have been with us for 10-20-30 years+, we are in excellent shape as we enter 2022. We are very proud of our business, what we have achieved and most of all, of the people that we work alongside each day that make up LA International and that have been central to our success – truly a team effort”.
The growth in International Trade had resulted in the significant expansion of LA International’s overseas customer base and international operations over a sustained period. In particular, in August 2018 LA International became the only UK Company selected as one of ten Prime Contractors to NATO for the supply of all IT and Professional Services across NATO programmes, in addition to onboarding many new international clients including Nokia, Dell, and Ericsson.
The presentation at the Company’s recently acquired second building on Festival Park, housing its Recruitment Sales, Project Solutions and Academy functions, comes just ahead of the Company nearing its 40th year of trade. The focus has been on, generating continued growth and strong trade links both in the UK and in the international arena, demonstrating the Company’s constant drive for success, expanding both its UK and overseas markets as part of its strategy for long term growth in line with its current 5 year growth plan which will includes significant investment in facilities, infrastructure, technology and workforce with upwards of fifty new jobs being created in 2022/23.
Commenting, Paul Martin, Financial Director said “The Queens Award is testament to our strong business model and our ability to generate year on year organic growth in varying market sectors delivering strong underlying financial performance and sustained growth despite uncertain economic conditions.”
LA International began trading in 1982 and today, with a turnover in excess of £250 million, is the largest specialist ICT Recruitment & Project Solutions Consultancy in the UK, operating globally from the largest single site in the UK. As an approved Defence Contractor, LA International is the UK’s leading supplier of Security Cleared contract ICT resource to Her Majesty’s Government. With a successful track record spanning 40 years of delivering Recruitment, Managed Services and Project Solutions, LA International has been at the forefront of providing innovative ICT, Transformation and Project/Programme Management services and solutions to a broad range of clients, in over 90 countries and across 5 continents, ranging from SMEs to some of the largest and most respected global brands in Government, Defence, Health, Education, Technology and Telecommunications sectors.
As a market leader within the UK Government, Security and Defence space, LA International’s well established International Division was able to draw on its UK capability and with an innovative and clear growth strategy, was able to apply this expertise to the international market to achieve significant and sustained growth.
Today, LA International is recognised as Europe’s foremost supplier of Cyber, Cloud, Software Development, IT Infrastructure, Testing and Project/Programme Management expertise to organisations where security is of paramount importance.
Winning the Queens Award for a second term cements LA International’s position, having been consistently recognised as the benchmark in in its industry, regularly appearing in the Sunday Times International Top Track, winning a number of prestigious accolades at the Recruiter Awards for Excellence, including being named Best Public Sector Recruitment Company, receiving the ‘Winner of Winners’ Gold Award and being voted UK’s Best IT Recruitment Company three times.
