Sambro International has been named Greater Manchester Business of the Year at the Manchester Evening News Business Awards, following the firm’s most successful trading year to date.

Picture by Jason Roberts

The Bury-based global toy supplier celebrated its silver anniversary last year by increasing its sales revenue by 25%. Sambro is confident it will achieve similar growth in 2023, thanks to a strong future order book.

Sambro holds key partnerships with some of the world’s top brands, including its four principal licensors, Disney, Paramount, Hasbro and Mattel.

Thanks to a focus on evergreen properties and licence security, Sambro has secured new long-term partnerships and continues to assess incremental licensing opportunities to ensure a strong licence pipeline.

The company has invested heavily in its people to support its ambitious targets, growing the team from 96 to 106 in the last 12 months.

It is this people-led approach which the award’s judges commended, especially Sambro’s approach to equal opportunity recruiting and investment in leadership development programmes, as well as achieving a median pay gap of -5.77%, well ahead of the national 7.9% average.

Other stand-out commitments include the company’s approach to sustainability, with the business appointing a dedicated ESG manager to help it achieve 16 of the 17 ESG targets it has set itself. This includes becoming one of the first toy companies of its size to calculate its carbon footprint and using 2019 as a base, seeing an overall reduction in emissions.

Paul Blackaby, CEO of Sambro International, said: “We couldn’t be more delighted. To receive this accolade in the great city of Manchester is indeed an honour to be very proud of. It is a result of the contributions, talent and commitments of all 110 members of the Sambro team, of whom I am immensely proud. We’ve achieved a lot over the last 12 months, but we have huge momentum and there’s so much more to come as we seek to achieve the objective of doubling the size of our business within the next three years.”