Ink Publishing was celebrating last night having won ‘International Company of the Year’ at the Growing Business Awards, organised annually by the CBI and Real Business magazine.

The Awards were presented in front of 700 entrepreneurs at a black-tie gala dinner at the London Hilton on Park Lane. The judging panel included the Go! airline founder and London Olympics bid winner, Barbara Cassani, as well as Fru Hazlitt (Virgin Radio), Peter Linthwaite (BVCA), David Storey (Warwick Business School), Gerard Burke (Cranfield School of Management) and Bob Jones (Equiinet).

Jeffrey O’Rourke, Chief Executive of Ink Publishing, stated: “We are very proud of all of our staff at Ink who continuously work to create incredible publications that engage readers, provide real value to advertisers and serve the needs of our airline partners. So, to see our company, staff and publications honoured in this way is truly a delight. We publish 25 publications in four continents from five offices.”

O’Rourke continued: “While our group publishing director, Simon Leslie, and our group editorial director, Michael Keating, were in London accepting this award, our group finance director, Hugh Godsal, and myself were hosting the launch of our Hong Kong office 8000 miles away. This speaks to the truly global nature of our business.”

The citation for Ink Publishing’s award, which was sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland, read:

“Ink Publishing has reinvented the inflight magazine. How? It pays the airlines to stock its products – not the other way round. It doesn’t confine itself to print either. Whether it’s branding on a tray-table, an ad on an airport trolley, or a sponsored PA announcement, Ink provides ads to a captive audience. The company has sold advertising in 89 countries in the last three months alone and with offices in London, New York, Atlanta and Singapore, plus freelance writers dotted around the globe, Ink is well placed to cater for its international clients. The company publishes magazines in English, Flemish, French, German, Hungarian, Khmer, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai, with Arabic and Chinese soon to follow, to try and appeal to most extensive market possible. Founded in 1993, Ink is today more popular among the airlines than ever. And why not? It provides work-free revenue. Winning ten new contracts in the past year, Ink now publishes 18 inflight magazines as well as several internationally distributed newsstand titles including CNBC European Business and CNN Traveller, bringing the total to 25. With big-name companies like easyJet and Bangkok Airways on its books, the company is slowly but surely conquering the globe. As easyJet has increased its flight destination from 12 to 76, Ink too has grown alongside, increasing print runs and including bespoke destination content. While the contract publishing sector is growing at a snail’s pace of 2.2 per cent, Ink has bounded ahead, increasing its turnover by 60 per cent this year to £11m, and making over £1m in profits. With the competition lagging behind – the second and third largest rival publishers only produce six and four inflight magazines respectively – Ink’s success is set to snowball.”

Simon Leslie, Group Publishing Director of Ink Publishing, said: “It takes a lot of perseverance, hard work and sacrifice to build a business at the pace we have grown. The recognition that comes with receiving an award like this makes it all worthwhile.”

Note to editors:

About Ink Publishing

Ink Publishing produces more inflight magazines for more airlines than any other company in the world. The company’s titles include AirTran Airways Go!, ATA Airlines Sights, Bangkok Airways Fah Thai, BMED Impressions, bmi Voyager, bmibaby Yeahbaby!, Brussels Airlines Spirit of SN, Brussels Airlines bthere!, Cebu Pacific Smile, China Airlines Sky Couch, easyJet Inflight, Jet2.com Jetaway, MyTravel Recline, Siem Reap International Airways Sarika, Sterling Airlines Sterling, Tiger Airways Tiger Tales, VLM Airlines Velocity and Wizz Air's wizzit magazine.

Ink is also the publisher of CNBC European Business magazine and CNN's bi-monthly travel magazines, CNN Traveller and CNN Traveller Asia Pacific. Ink publishes Bradmans Business Travel Guides to Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America. The Company has offices in Atlanta, New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Media contacts:
Richard Samuda
Marketing Manager
Ink Publishing
Tel: +44 20 7613 6958
Email: richard.samuda@ink-publishing.com

Advertising Enquiries:
Europe
Simon Leslie
Tel: +44 20 7613 6979 Fax: +44 845 280-2413
Email: simon.leslie@ink-publishing.com

USA
Phil Castle
Tel: +1 888 685 1681 Fax: +1 646 349-3844
Email: phil.castle@ink-publishing.com

Asia
Gerry Ricketts
Tel: +65 6324 2386 Fax: +65 6491-5261
Email: gerry.ricketts@ink-publishing.com