A STOCKTON engineering firm has been named the number one North-East company in a league table of the country's most successful businesses.

Moore Control and Engineering's impressive growth figure of 494pc over a five-year period made it one of only five North-East companies to make the Inner City Top 100, an annual business index listing the 100 fastest-growing inner-city enterprises in the UK.

MCE specialises in automation and electrical engineering, serving a variety of industries and clients on- and offshore, nationally and internationally.

Since it began trading in 1994, the company has grown to five service divisions and 18 service departments, covering consultancy and design, procurement, installation, maintenance and shutdown support. The workforce has grown accordingly and in just seven years has increased from four to about 230.

The company has won orders in 21 countries - 56pc of the company's goods and services were exported in 2001 - and has a subsidiary, MCE Middle East, based in Bahrain.

Alan Moore, managing director and founder of MCE, and its five directors all have their roots in the Tees Valley.

A major focus for the business has been the acquisition of several local companies, which in turn has secured a number of local jobs. They have included TIES Engineering, Techflow, A J Ramsey & Partners, Fox Hydraulics, and Morgan Power International, as well as the company first formed in 1976 by Alan Moore, Morgan Moore Engineering.

Graham Turner, account manager at Business Link, has helped MCE in a number of areas over the past two years. "MCE faces the problems of the manufacturing sector and tackles them with a passion to succeed," he said.

"They focus on the key objectives of the business and direct all efforts into making existing processes more efficient, generating new product and service ideas and backing the winners."

Business Link has also part-funded ongoing research with both Sunderland and Durham Universities, through the Innovation Action Fund, enabling MCE to provide valve management systems to the UK power and petrochemical industries.

Mr Moore is delighted with the accolade, which recognises the hard work put in by the company over the past seven years and he is grateful for the support he has received from Business Link and other Government and Tees Valley agencies.

"Without the business advice and support from Graham Turner and his colleagues at Business Link we could not have developed valve management systems with the universities," he said. "It was particularly useful to be able to tap into the technical skills available."

He also acknowledged the assistance given by the Tees Valley Development Corporation and Stockton Borough Council.

The Inner City 100 Award was presented at a ceremony in London attended by Chancellor Gordon Brown.

MCE was named the Northern Offshore Federation's company of the year in 1999 and has won several safety awards. In 1997, financial controller Nicola Rhodes was awarded the Swan (Successful Women Achievers for the North) award