Biscuit maker Walkers Shortbreads received one of the top awards at this year’s annual JP Morgan Private Bank sponsored UK Family Business H...

Biscuit maker Walkers Shortbreads received one of the top awards at this year’s annual JP Morgan Private Bank sponsored UK Family Business Honours Awards. Altogther 19 family-owned businesses from across the UK were highlighted in the awards at the third annual event. The three major categories of awards – business success, social responsibility, and family governance – went to Walkers Shortbread, Bestway Group, and Ringtons Holdings, respectively. In addition to these awards, a special commendation was presented to OCS Group for overall excellence. The services company had been commended in every category over the three years of the programme. “In our search for excellent family firms we have discovered that some of the UK’s most dynamic, profitable and responsible companies are to be found in family hands,” said Chris Hancock, senior banker at JPMorgan Private Bank, in a statement. He added: “No matter their size, all family firms share a unique and specific set of issues and challenges that must be dealt with in order for the business to survive from generation to generation. Through this programme we look to help family firms share their knowledge, accumulated over generations, to increase their chances of success as a whole.” JPMorgan Private Bank created the Family Business Honours programme in 2003 in association with the Institute for Family Business and London Business School. More than 100 practitioners in the family business industry – financial services organisations, consultants, advisors and representative bodies – were asked to nominate family businesses they felt embodied best practices in any or all of the three categories.