WATCH: Cream of the business world rises to the top at Express & Star awards

The announcement sparked scenes of joy and triumph for the team attending the awards event at Wolverhampton Racecourse's Ringside Suite, coming after success earlier in the evening when the firm won the Export Award.

Director Steve Dunn said: "We are very proud to have won this award. It's a credit to all the people who work at Exol. I can't wait to take this trophy back to show to them."

The company, which has grown to employ 110 people, was the Manufacturing Champion at the 2014 Awards.

Business of the Year: Exol Lubricants

Export Award: Exol Lubricants

Apprentice of the year: Daniel Cope from PAL Group

Customer Service: River Canal Rescue, Stafford

Manufacturing Champion: Wrights Plastics, West Bromwich

Family Business: Hughes Productions, Lower Penn

Best Place to Work: WHG, Walsall

Best Use of Technology: Palletways, Lichfield

Community Champion: HomeServe Membership, Walsall

Innovation: James Walker RotaBolt, Dudley

Young Business: Vantage Consulting, Stafford

Marketing manager Mark Field said: "To move on to win the Export Award and be Business of the Year is an amazing accolade."

Judges had praised Exol, saying they were impressed by the firm's investment in its community, buying where possible from local suppliers, which "ensured this was a business that had made a difference".

Exol's success came at the end of an evening that saw the cream of the area's industrial and commercial talent vying for a dozen awards in the biggest Express & Star Business Awards event yet held.

A packed house of around 440 people enjoyed the night, which also raised well over £2,000 for the charity of the night, Headway Black Country.

Event compere Nick Owen, the veteran Midlands Today TV presenter, described the 37 finalist companies as 'the cream of the crop', saying: "The purpose of this evening is to celebrate everything that is great about the business community here in the Black Country and south Staffordshire."

The awards went to companies large and small, with Walsall-based giant plc HomeServe Membership declared the Community Champion, while the four-strong team at the core of Hughes Productions won the Family Business Award.

HomeServe Membership, the home assistance company, plays a huge role supporting major national charities such as Marie Curie Cancer Care as well as smaller local charities working in the local community.

The Hughes family has built a company that now produces conference and award ceremonies for corporate clients at venues such as The Savoy and Park Lane Hilton.

The only individual award of the night went to the Apprentice of the Year, young Daniel Cope from PAL Group in Wednesbury, who has turned his life around over the last two years.

Now looking forward to a career in engineering, he said: "This is brilliant. I am over the moon. It's absolutely amazing. This is down to the huge support I get from everyone at work and from my training organisation, PTP. I can't thank them all enough."

The Customer Service Award went to Stafford-based River Canal Rescue, which operates like the AA providing breakdown and emergency services for boaters for the country's inland waterways.

Lichfield-based Palletways, which operates Europe's leading network of palletised freight deliveries, won the Best Use of Technology Award for its groundbreaking Digital Information Hub, that allows the company and its customers to keep constant track of consignments.

Young Business of the Year was specialist recruitment company Vantage Consulting, in Stafford, whose overjoyed young team flocked to the stage to pick up their award. MD Russell Jones said: "This is down to all of our staff. We have got a fantastic office and team. They have done a great job and I am really pleased."

The Small to Medium Sized Business award went to Chasetown-based housebuilding Cameron Homes following a year of dramatic growth, while the Best Place to Work was the offices of Walsall Housing Group, or WHG, which looks after 19,000 properties housing 40,000 people in the borough.

Manufacturing Champion of the Year was Wrights Plastics, at West Bromwich. An "elated" commercial director, Andy Watkins, paid special tribute to the firm's workforce; "People make the business and without our people we couldn't have achieved this."

The Innovation Award went to James Walker Rotabolt at Dudley, which has developed a new bolting system that operations director Hayden Parry said was already attracting interest from the US.

Graeme Clifford, the print managing director at Express & Star publishers MNA, said: "It's been an excellent night. It shows just how much the Express & Star supports our business community.

"I think there's no other event that shows off the success of business in this area. To have more than 400 people celebrating that is great."

The awards were supported by a string of sponsors including Aspray 24, BDO, Higgs & Sons, Jaguar Land Rover, Ladder for the Black Country, Carvers Building Supplies, EBC Group, Lloyds Bank, Wolverhampton City Council, UTC Aerospace Systems, the University of Wolverhampton, Yarrington, the Grand Theatre, Star Employment Services and Wolverhampton Racecourse.