FAMILY business Gate 7 has been awarded the Queens Award for Enterprise International Trade 2018.

The Queen’s Enterprise Awards are the UK’s most prestigious business awards and were announced this weekend on The Queen’s birthday. The UK division of the company is run by Kate Whickham, 35 who has been with the company since 2005.

The company, based at Princes Way, TVTE, Gateshead, is a UK based specialist component manufacturer supplying decals and vehicle livery worldwide to the automotive sector including to Bobcat, Volvo, Komatsu and JCB.

In addition to running the business with a team of 44 employees, Ms Whickham leads the overseas export in Europe, North America and India, currently accounting for 60 per cent of Gate 7’s revenue.

Ms Whickham, 35, was brought up in Sunderland and is now based in Newcastle said “It’s a huge honour to receive this award for the second time especially following the recent and significant increase of sales of 38 per cent. When Gate 7 last received the award in 2005, it was the spring board for the company’s success and credibility in a competitive exporting market. It is a credit to the team at Gate 7 and all the hard work they have put in and also testament to how far we have come. We expect continued growth through 2018/19 with our current customer base and new business acquired in 2017.”