Group55, maker of the multi-award winning Animology range of shampoos and grooming sprays for dogs, has been shortlisted for an Exporter Of The Year award.

The BIBA awards, organised by North and Western Lancashire Chamber Of Commerce, is the county's premier business competition and is designed to reward outstanding achievement and recognise excellence, best practice and innovation .

The shortlisting comes after a period of astonishing growth for the company, which has seen their Animology product range sold in over 30 countries worldwide, including most recently Russia, China and the United States, with more distribution deals expected to be concluded in the coming weeks and months.

Group55 is one of eight companies who will be hoping to win the award at a special ceremony to be held at Blackpool Tower in September.

“I’m absolutely delighted to have made the shortlist for the BIBA’s Exporter Of The Year Award, which is something of an achievement in itself," said managing director Stephen Turner.

"It is a credit to our small but extremely hardworking team, and of course, it would be lovely to win the award in September, so fingers crossed! We are in quite impressive company as far as the other nominations are concerned and we are almost certainly the smallest company to have made the initial shortlist, but it’s brilliant to have got this far.

"We’ve had an incredible period of success with Animology to date, which has been really exciting, and also a lot of hard work, but long may it continue!.'

Group 55 has been a member of the PetQuip trade association since late 2009 and the company has seen tremendous progress in its export sales in a relatively short history. The company has been a proactive trade association member and has used many of the services that PetQuip provides in helping UK companies to increase export business.

These include the purchasing of database information on international buyers of pet products, participating in Meet the Buyer days where PetQuip brings key international distributors and retailers to meet potential new suppliers in the UK, and taking part in the British pavilions at key pet sector trade shows which PetQuip organises with the support of UK Trade & Investment.

"The success of the Animology brand overseas is an excellent example of a company using its trade association facilities to research export markets, establish contact with key buyers and make full use of their participations at international trade shows alongside excellent marketing and presentation of their products," said Charlie Parker, of PetQuip.

Animology is exhibiting at Zoomark in Italy this week as part of the PetQuip-organised British pavilion.