Acorn Stairlifts beats off tough competition from across Britain to scoop national export award
A national award for exporting has been won by Yorkshire-based mobility business Acorn Stairlifts, which exports its UK-made stairlifts to around 110 countries worldwide.
Founded in Bradford in 1992, Acorn has grown to become a global business dedicated solely to the manufacture, direct sale, installation and maintenance of home stairlifts with its wholly-owned subsidiary businesses operating on five continents.
That sustained and ongoing global growth has now seen Acorn beat off tough competition from across Britain to win the Insider Made in the UK Export Award 2024. It was presented during an awards dinner at the Titanic Hotel in Liverpool, celebrating the UK’s manufacturing excellence and hosted by former world cup winning rugby player Kyran Bracken.
Nine leading UK business were shortlisted for the Export Award, which was one of 13 national category awards presented on the night. Judges praised Acorn’s impressive overseas logistics networks and the way it creates job opportunities in the territories where it operates.
Latest figures from Acorn show that more than two-thirds of its £256 million annual turnover is generated by export sales. Its biggest overseas market is North America, where it is the market leader for home stairlifts and where a new distribution hub is currently under construction.
Acorn’s UK and Europe Operations Director Nick Wilson joined the company as a stairlift installer and engineer in 1996, when it employed just eight people. He said: “Our stairlifts are helping people overcome their mobility challenges all around the world, but they’re all made right here in the UK. That’s why we’re proud to be named winner of the 2024 Insider Made in the UK Export Award.”
Sustained growth in global sales also helped Acorn Stairlifts win the Export Award at the 2024 Insider Made in Yorkshire Awards earlier this year.
