A TRIO of local businesses were honoured at the Evening Post and Swansea Bay Business Life monthly business awards this week.

Specialist manufacturing company Bodycote NPE in Neath, Affresol, which makes buildings from waste materials and Café TwoCann in SA1 were selected as the January, February and March winners respectively.

A panel of judges including the editors of the Evening Post and Swansea Bay Business Life and sponsor PricewaterhouseCoopers select one business a month to receive the accolade.

They rated each business on national recognition, awards won, job creation and the ability to attract inward investment.

A ceremony and lunch is held at the Dragon Hotel once a quarter.

Delighted

An overall winner for the whole of 2010 will be revealed at a dinner in January 2011.

"We are delighted to receive the award," said Catherine Cann, owner of Café TwoCann.

"We have been open for just over three years now and business is still steadily growing on the back of an increasingly thriving SA1. Our evening restaurant business has really taken off since January.

"It goes to show what you can achieve based on quality and attention to detail."

Steve Evans, the general manager of Bodycote NPE, which makes precise manufacturing tools used to make everything from tin cans to delicate parts in the aerospace industry, attributed the company's achievements to its highly skilled workforce.

The company has won some big contracts recently in diverse industries such as aerospace and oil and gas, and from countries including India and Kenya.

He said: "We have one of the most skilled workforces in the area and we have a growing reputation globally for the work we can do."

Affresol managing director Ian McPherson said he was delighted with the recognition.

The company, based in Swansea West Industrial Park, has patented a technology that converts waste that would have gone to landfill into a material that can be used to build homes and buildings.

He said: "The UK Government has two objectives that are diametrically opposed: to build cheaper homes and to build greener homes.

"The problem is that building greener homes actually makes things more expensive. The process we have developed is unique in that it achieves both objectives."