The Duke of Kent flew into Dorset, UK to present The Queen’s Award for Enterprise to BOFA International, a fume extraction technology specialist based in Poole.
The firm won the award earlier this year in recognition of its outstanding achievements in overseas sales and received the royal visit a couple of weeks ago.
The Duke of Kent was shown a presentation on the history of the company before receiving a guided tour of the manufacturing facility, when he stopped to speak to some of the 120 staff.
BOFA was started by David Cornell in 1987 and is run as a family business with his two sons Christian and Lawrence. The company designs, develops and manufactures extraction and filtration equipment for a variety of industries including electronics, laser engraving and marking, pharmaceutical, printing, dental and beauty.
All of the company’s products are manufactured in Great Britain and exported to more than 100 countries worldwide, with export sales accounting for 80% of revenue. Combined with subsidiary BOFA Americas, the company has a group annual turnover in excess of £12m.
“2012 has been a special year for BOFA. In the spring we celebrated our 25th anniversary and this was soon followed by the news of The Queens Award, which we see as the ultimate endorsement of our business success. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers, suppliers and staff who made this possible,” said chairman Dave Cornell.