A CORK based seafood company, Bantry Bay Mussels, has won the AIB Capital Markets Award for 1996.

The award, which was presented in Cork, was given to Bantry for its outstanding ability to focus in a very precise way on what its customers wanted".

AIB Capital Markets managing director Mr Michael Buckley said the company had shown that it did not matter how small you are, once you had properly researched the market and established that you were able to supply it at a consistent level of quality, you could grow that market rapidly by adding value to your product.

Judging panel chairman Dr Paddy Moriarty said the company had also enabled other Irish mussel producers to grow their businesses as well, by starting to licence their vaccuum process.

France is the company's largest market, accounting for 65 per cent of sales, followed by Italy, Germany and Britain. It also supplies the Irish market.

Bantry Bay Mussels has a full time workforce of 65 people, rising to over 100 during the busy summer season. It is about to build a new £5 million factory outside Bantry.