Sandi Toksvig presents export award to Waterloo firm

Opta Sportsdata specialises in the collection, analysis and delivery of sports information. The firm has won the Outstanding Service Company category in the 2007 Passport to Export London Awards..

The awards recognise the successes of small and medium-sized businesses in trading overseas under UK Trade & Investment's Passport to Export programme of advice and support for new and inexperienced exporters.

The winners in five categories were announced at a ceremony hosted by broadcaster and comedian Sandi Toksvig in Westminster last week.

Opta, based in the Capital Tower (formerly home to 3i), beat off competition from four other finalists to win its award category.

"It is an honour to receive this award," says Opta's sales director Richard Ewing. "Thanks go to UKTI for helping us to get to this stage and I look forward to working with the organization further to reach new markets. The next targets in our strategy are Turkey, China, India and Korea and I look forward to growing our business there."

Catering for customers in the media, sports and betting industries who need access to the latest facts about athletes and events in the sporting world, Opta provides products and services such as professional reports, mobile data feeds and interactive graphics.

In football, for example, customers can receive team and player performance data and graphics, and live text commentary, including news of goals, red cards and other incidents within seconds.

With the help of the Passport to Export programme Opta has generated business in 13 new markets. Clients include La Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy, the German Bundesliga and American sports broadcaster ESPN.