Aliaxis was voted Company of the Year on Tuesday. The company from Brussels that makes plastic pipes succeeds the Aertssen Group, which was awarded last year. The prize was awarded to CEO Eric Olsen on Tuesday by Deputy Prime Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD).
President of the jury Michele Sioen referred to the extraordinary importance that Aliaxis attaches to a long-term vision, a sound strategy and a disciplined financial policy. Aliaxis is a world leader in its sector with 15,000 employees in more than forty countries. Last year it achieved a turnover of 3.7 billion euros.
Profitability is well managed even in a volatile environment, demonstrating the resilience and robustness of the business model, as well as the ability and flexibility to adapt to ever-changing and highly challenging market conditions.
In addition, Sioen also referred to Aliaxis’ contribution to the sustainability agenda “by focusing on the recycling challenge and the transition to renewable electricity”.
Since 1995, the Company of the Year competition has been organized by EY in collaboration with De Tijd and BNP Paribas Fortis. A professional jury, with representatives from the business and academic world, determines the winner.
Four family businesses nominated
The other nominees this year were Agristo (producer of frozen potato products), Galloo (recycling of metals and plastics) and Vandewiele (producer of textile machines). In all four cases, these are family businesses.
Scale-up of the Year is FEops from Ghent. This spin-off from Ghent University develops technology to simulate heart operations. The company is now also going to commercialize this technology beyond the borders. The prize was awarded on Tuesday by Flemish Minister of Economy and Work Jo Brouns (CD&V).
The Scale-up of the Year award comes from the Flemish government and goes to a young company that is believed to have the potential to become company of the year in the future.
French-language ‘Entreprise de l’année’
The French-language ‘Entreprise de l’année’ was already chosen on Monday. That title went to the food company Meurens Natural from Herve, which specializes in grains and dried fruit. The French-language Scale-up is Aerospacelab.
