'A real honour': Dewsbury firm picks up Queen's Award at Buckingham Palace

Back in April, Dewsbury-based Magma Group was one of just 23 Yorkshire firms to be honoured with the Queens Award for Enterprise, recognised for its innovation and developments of the SMR Catalyst.

Managing director Mark Stuckey was invited to Buckingham Palace by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to formally accept the award.

Winning businesses were invited to a reception where they were presented with the opportunity to network with other 2022 winners of all categories, as well as HRH The Prince of Wales himself.

Magma was one 226 organisations nationally to be recognised with a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

Mark said: “It was a real honour to attend the event at Buckingham Palace and have the opportunity to speak with HRH The Prince of Wales.

“The event also provided the perfect platform to network with other award winners and make valuable connections.”

Magma is a leading manufacturer and supplier of a wide range of refractory, ceramic and catalyst materials and technology worldwide.

Its mission is to grow and develop the business through ongoing innovation, research and development in order to offer an increased product range.

The Dewsbury-based manufacturer designs its own catalyst carrier utilising its strength of 40 years’ experience in the ceramics industry. Its catalysts look different - they are spherical with a textured “golf ball” like surface.

Noticing a lack of innovation in the SMR catalyst market over the last 20 years and the need for more hydrogen in the world, a gap in the market was identified for a new catalyst that could improve hydrogen production and lower energy costs.

Mark said: “Over the years we have been expanding and growing the business and coming up with innovative new ideas to develop our catalyst product, and it is great that our hard work and dedication has been recognised.

"The award will shine a light on the innovation and our strategy of customer centric technical investment.

"We strongly believe that by investing to improve our customers' processes will facilitate increased sales and our ability to invest more in innovation.

"We are committed to a growth focus and believe innovation is the best enabler for this.

"So, the research development and deployment of an innovation pipeline is central to our future growth plan.”