SALES and support staff at south coast based Hendy Group have been honoured for their contribution to a record year at the company’s annual sales awards hosted by TV presenter Natasha Kaplinsky.

The key Hall of Fame award was presented to Malcolm Eales, a used car specialist who joined the company in 1995 as a car sales executive and became the company’s top performing salesman. He now works for the company as a sales manager in the company’s largest volume used car dealership, at Leigh Road in Eastleigh, and Paul said that Malcolm continues to make a major contribution to the company.

There were also awards for Brendan Young as sales manager of the year for his work at the Eastleigh FordStore, Rob Tegg from Southampton who was named Ford salesperson of the year, and Dawn Barratt, from the group’s business centre in Swanwick, who was named Corporate IVECO salesperson of the year.

Drey Amadio, who works at Hendy Kia in Eastleigh, was named Kia salesperson of the Year with Steve Vincent taking honours in the corporate category for his work at the Eastleigh Transit Centre.

Chloe Barry won the inaugural Genius Award for her work at the Winchester dealership. Simon Smith from Hendy’s Eastleigh dealership won the sales support award.

Hendy chief executive Paul Hendy paid tribute to all the winners in a year which has seen the company grow with the acquisition of the south east based Lifestyle group.

“It’s a great night for us to come together and these awards recognise the high quality of staff we have working throughout our operations,’’ he said.

Hendy now operates 12 motor franchises at 25 locations in Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey, Kent and Devon together with 19 use car outlets.