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A coffee machine manufacturer which celebrated its half century in 2013 has been crowned Company of the Year at the

Having been named top exporter at last night's ceremony, Witton-based Fracino was picked from all of the other category winners as the city's overall Company of the Year.

Fracino's birth began in the early 1960s when machine tool designer Frank Maxwell stripped down a second-hand coffee machine bought while on holiday in Italy.

In 1963, he launched the business in a garden shed and started importing and supplying coffee machines to retailers across Britain before the Fracino brand was launched in 1990.

Marc Reeves, editor-in-chief of Birmingham Post publisher BPM Media and a member of the judging panel, said: "It's never easy to pick a winner among winners but Fracino's desire to keep improving and inventing, as well as its successful exporting activities, meant it captured the panel's attention.

"More than half a century after launching, Fracino has stayed true to its Birmingham roots and remains a classic example of why the city is considered the manufacturing heartbeat of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ."

A special recognition award was given to Birmingham City Council's Paul Dransfield and Network Rail's Chris Montgomery for their work on the New Street station and Grand Central development, which opened in September.

The full list of winners from the awards can be seen below (and in the gallery above) and