The awards were conferred on Tuesday evening by the SPIRIT agency for the promotion of enterprise and tourism.

Količevo karton won the award in the category of companies with long-term presence and sustainability of investment. Its boss Branko Rožič was also named manager of the year by the Manager Association.

The company is the biggest and most efficient paper mill in the country with sales of EUR 140m and a return on equity of 10%. The number of employees has been stable and wages are above the industry average.

In 1998 Količevo karton was acquired by Mayr-Melnof, an Austrian family business with a significant international footprint, which gives Količevo the advantage of having global marketing and sufficient investment funding.

Hofer trgovina, the operator of the Hofer supermarket chains in Slovenia, was meanwhile recognised in the regional employer category. The company established in 2004 operates 74 outlets in the country with a total net profit of EUR 16m.

The company which has more than 1,100 employees and is approaching the 1,200 mark, if fully owned by Austria's Hofer KG, which is in turn part of the Germany-based group ALDI South.

Elrad International, which was declared best in the reinvestment category, was among the top ten European companies with revenue between EUR 26m and EUR 150m at this year's European Business Awards.

Owned by the Switzerland-based Kona International, the company from Gornja Radgona employs 307 people and saw its revenues grow by 10% last year.

The Japanese-owned producer of electrical components for cars Sumida was meanwhile recognised for successful business results. The company from Blejska Dobrava hired 35 people in the past year, and a new investment is expected to create another 15 jobs.

The recently-launched investment in the production of electrostatic modules for hybrid cars, worth EUR 3m, is expected to double the company's revenues, according to Sumida Slovenija director Janez Ločniškar.