Wilton is sponsoring the award for Our Local Heroes at this year’s Isle of Man Newspapers’ Awards for Excellence.

Wilton was founded in the Isle of Man and in London in 1999. Other offices have since been opened in Dublin, Dubai, Blackburn, Lancaster and Bristol.

The group has earned a solid reputation for integrity and excellence in the financial services sector, handling a wide range of business including tax and accountancy, investments, wealth management and pensions.

Founder and managing partner, Tony Flanagan, explained: ’Wilton was initially set up as a professional financial services business: we were very strong in the areas of tax structuring and planning.

’The group diversified into pensions and has grown exponentially through a number of key acquisitions including companies such as Hartley Pensions, Lifetime Sipp Company, Greyfriars Asset Management, Berkeley Burke, Guinness Mahon Trust Corporation and GPC Sipp.

’The pensions business was identified as complementary to our existing business and whose products could be sold through our network.’

Typically these acquisitions were companies based off-island, as were most of Wilton’s clients, so the company has remained under the radar locally.

But this has been changing with a growing client base locally and the recent acquisition of the Isle of Man Assurance Group.

It seemed an appropriate time for Wilton to step into the spotlight on the island and sponsoring the Awards for Excellence is a good way for any business to raise its profile.

And it was definitely a case of ’first time lucky’ as the award category that was drawn out of the hat for Wilton was the one they wanted the most: ’Our Local Heroes’.

Tony said: ’We were delighted - we love the category and we love that it will be won by someone who has done exceptional things in the community.’

He goes on to say that the Isle of Man is ’a beacon of light’ in its handling of the pandemic compared with other jurisdictions and local politicians have done an exceptional job in this respect.

In light of this, he thinks some local politicians should be nominated.

For the future, Wilton looks set to go from strength to strength, looking after clients through high-quality technical knowledge and a commitment to outstanding service levels.

Tony said: ’Wilton works in partnership with our clients and builds long-lasting relationships based on confidence, clear communication and trust - an essential combination in a complex and dynamic specialist field.’

The awards night will be held at the Villa on March 19. For more info visit excellence-awards.im