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UK bunker firm Geos Group has today (July 2) praised Barry Newton, Geos Group Managing Director, for making the list of finalists for this year's Ernst and Young (EY) Entrepreneur of the Year Awards for London and the Southeast.

In a tweet, the company said: "Very well done to our MD, Barry Newton, for making the #EOYUK Entrepreneur of the Year Awards finals for London & the Southeast."

Newton joined Sea Bunkering Ltd., now the international trading division of Geos Group, in 1994.

Sea Bunkering had been launched three years earlier, in 1991, by company founder David Gregory, who left his then employer to start up a new business venture in Hull. As a fledgling business, the company focussed its sales efforts exclusively on the UK distillate market, and quickly built up a base of regular customers.

Its team of four people continued to grow the business together until 1998, when Newton went to London to join fuel broking company Lindsay Blee. In 2005, Gregory decided to move on and sold the business to Newton. As a result, Newton set up the Geos Group – a holding company incorporating a number of trading divisions: Sea Bunkering, Lindsay Blee and Maren.

Speaking about Newton in 2011 - the year of Sea Bunkering's 20th anniversary - Geos Group said: "Since Barry took over at Sea Bunkering and incorporated it into the Geos Group, the company has gone from strength to strength. The business now has a physical stock holding and provides transportation, giving customers greater flexibility, speed and quality of service. Looking ahead, the future looks rosy for Sea Bunkering and the Geos Group as a whole, for many more decades to come."