Morton Fraser wins top Scottish SME award

Legal firm Morton Fraser was presented with the top award – "The Number One Company in the SME300" – at the 2018 Scottish SME Awards last night, held by Business Insider magazine.

The Edinburgh-headquartered practice was said to have notched up an "unparalleled performance" over its last financial year, boosting its turnover to £19.9m, profits to £7m and number of employees to 280.

It had consolidated its recent growth with increased annual billings, major investment in its IT and some key hires.

The announcement was made at an awards ceremony, sponsored by ScotlandCANDO and hosted by presenter Sarah Heaney, at the Radisson Blu Hotel which was attended by about 200 people.

Collecting the award, Chris Harte, Morton Fraser's chief executive said: "Thank you to Business Insider for recognising the fantastic work that the whole team has been doing over the last number of years.

He added: "Ultimately, thank you to our clients because like most businesses here this evening we all operate in competitive markets. We all have clients and customers who have a number of choices that they can make and we are deeply grateful to all of or clients who have given us the opportunity to show what we can do. Thank you."

Speaking later he added: "This has very much been the culmination of the plan we've been implementing over the last few years to drive the firm forward. We've a fantastic team of people here with a real commitment to getting it right for our clients and it's great to see that hard work being recognised." The firm was building "sustainable, long term success".