WHAT a performance!

That's Bury-based Flexsys (UK) which has achieved success at the double!

The Silver Street-based computer services company enhanced its tenth anniversary celebrations by capturing a top business "Oscar."

Flexsys (UK) was named as the Best Performing Bury Business at the Bolton and Bury Business Awards 2001 gala dinner at the Reebok Stadium.

More than 600 guests, drawn from the business communities of both towns, attended the ninth annual glittering event, organised by Bolton Business Ventures.

This was the first year the Best Performing Bury Business category had been included in the event where a total of £41,000 in cash prizes was up for grabs.

And it was the first time that Flexsys (UK) had entered the awards event.

The company was established ten years ago and moved to its present headquarters in Bury in 1997.

Flexsys (UK) provides software and development support services and is the largest of four companies in the Flexsys Group. It has clients such as Airtours, Asda and Reed Business Information. During the last decade, the business has expanded in leaps and bounds and its workforce has increased from nine to 42 with turnover soaring to around £2 million.

Flexsys, which also has offices in France, Germany and the USA, is heavily involved in the support, maintenance and development of clients' current and legacy computer applications.

They also operate clients' computers on their behalf as well as developing and maintaining their new software systems.

The company has a tie-up with Streamserve, a multi-national software firm based in Sweden, and plans to position itself in the top three resellers for output management solutions in Europe.

Last year, the Bury firm opened a £40,000 new state-of-the-art training suite and also achieved the coveted Investors in People status.

Flexsys (UK) is jointly owned by three of the present day directors who are Simon Holt, Allan Latham and Gerry Allan.

They were jubilant to be awarded the coveted business title at the awards which carried a £2,000 cash prize and trophy.

Managing director Gerry Allan said: "This was the first time we had entered.

"What has really made this award special for us is that it has come in our anniversary year, ten years to get our first one and, hopefully, a few more to come."

He added: "I think our standing as a good employer came into the reckoning for the award and having Investors in People keeps us continually aware of our responsibilities to our staff."

Mr Allan went on: "We are currently talking to some big names as far as our business is concerned and we feel very excited for the future.

"On the topic of future development, our most exciting current prospect is the promotion of the Streamserve Business Communication Platform."

He explained: "This product enables customers to maximise the efficiency of their business communications, transforming existing data into numerous formats like traditional fax, paper, e-mail versions but also enabling use of wireless and internet-based technologies."