AN ANDOVER-based company behind the UK’s most popular probiotics range has been awarded The Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2019.

As a result of its impressive growth, Wren Laboratories Ltd is among businesses from across the country named in the international trade category, alongside Dyson, Jaguar and Land Rover.

The Queen’s Awards celebrate the best of British business and recognise companies which are making an outstanding contribution to enterprise.

Founded in 2004, Wren Laboratories, which has a base in Mayfield Avenue Industrial Park, specialises in probiotics, and its Optibac Probiotics range is said to be more researched than any other live cultures brand available in the UK.

Sold in health food stores and pharmacies across the UK and Ireland, the range is also exported across Europe and further afield such as to the USA, China and Vietnam.

The company has seen its overseas sales rise 350 per cent between 2016 and 2018.

Managing director Jalal Janmohamed said: “We are honoured to receive this incredible accolade. It is testament to the great talent working for our business, our continued investment in quality probiotics and our unfaltering commitment to educate on the benefits of friendly bacteria across the globe.

Our highly skilled teams of nutritionists and experts have helped make probiotics accessible to millions.

“Thank you to everyone who has supported our business both here and overseas, we look forward to bringing probiotics to millions more in the years to come.”

Wren Laboratories Ltd was founded in 2004 by siblings Jalal, Soraya and Farah, and now employs more than 80 people across Hampshire and London.

Inspired by their father, a community pharmacist, the siblings founded the OptiBac brand with the ambition to help people take better control of their overall health and wellbeing.

Instituted by Royal Warrant in 1965, The Queen’s Awards are considered the UK’s most prestigious business award, with each winning receiving a grant of appointment and an invitation to a reception at Buckingham Palace.

Business secretary Greg Clark said: “These awards recognise the innovative products and services being provided by British businesses that are in demand across the world, as well as the sheer determination and hard work that comes with starting and running a business.