CEO Dr John Howie has welcomed HRH the Princess Royal to Lintbells’ Hertfordshire headquarters
The Princess Royal has visited Hertfordshire-based pet supplements manufacturer Lintbells, which has twice won the Queen’s Award.
The visit to Lintbells’ head office in Weston marked the expansion of the business and its local employment and charitable work during the pandemic.
Lintbells, which manufactures veterinary joint supplement brand YuMOVE, saw turnover leap from £20m in 2019 to £32m last year in one of the most difficult trading years – an increase of 60% in year on year growth.
Over the past 18 months, the business boosted local employment, with more than half of the Lintbells team being employed during covid 19 (March 2020-July 2021), including a number of graduate trainee and apprenticeship positions. The team, which was originally 60, people has now grown to 120.
The royal visit gave the team an opportunity to meet HRH The Princess Royal and talk through many of the business and charity initiatives the company is running both locally, nationally and internationally, including in the UK and US.
PANDEMIC
The initiatives include the #RescueYourRescue programme to support UK and US rescue centres in the height of the pandemic and the #ThankYouDogs’ campaign, which recognised the contribution the nation’s dogs made to their families throughout the pandemic.
Key attendees joining Lintbells CEO Dr John Howie to welcome The Princess Royal included HM Deputy Lieutenant Anthony Chapman; Sir Oliver Heald QC, MP, Member of Parliament for North East Hertfordshire; John Davies, Lintbells co-founder; and Limtbells director Ben Long.
The Princess unveiled a commemorative plaque presented by John Howie – and outstanding contribution awards were presented to Louise Quinn, Darren Spavins, Katie Govier, Charlotte Kingsley, Amanda Smith and Rebecca Davies to recognise their long-term service and dedication to supporting the company’s development and mission to give pets an active life for life.
John said: “It was a tremendous honour to receive her visit and our team was extremely excited to meet HRH The Princess Royal. After so many months of working from home, it was an excellent way to bring the team together and receive such incredible recognition.”
The visit was rounded off by the presentation of flowers and a hamper of Lintbells products for the Princess’s own horses and dogs.
