ATG's Sir Howard Panter & Rosemary Squire OBE Top Stage 100 for 6th Year

Ambassador Theatre Group's Sir Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire OBE have topped the The Stage 100 for a record-breaking sixth consecutive year. The exclusive list, compiled annually by the industry's leading newspaper, ranks the powerhouses of British theatre.

Sir Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire OBE said:

"We are thrilled to find out that we have topped The Stage 100 for a record-breaking sixth time. It is enormously exciting news and pays real credit to our wonderful team at ATG who work so hard to make sure that audiences are entertained so brilliantly around the country, and further afield. We are truly honoured to be considered so highly amongst so many exceptional people within the British theatre industry, and are delighted that everyone at ATG's hard work has been so wonderfully recognised by The Stage. We look forward to the next part of our adventure and an equally productive and successful 2015."

2014 has been another milestone year for the hugely successful British theatre company, with continued growth and investment, increased production output and overseas development.

ATG Production highlights for 2014 included a second season of Trafalgar Transformed from Howard Panter and Jamie Lloyd, with Richard III starring Martin Freeman and East is East starring Jane Horrocks; ATG's and Jerry Mitchell's critically-acclaimed hit production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels starring Robert Lindsay, Rufus Hound, Samantha Bond and Katherine Kingsley which premiered in Manchester before transferring to the Savoy Theatre in London and UK Tours of West Side Story, Rock of Ages, Tonight's the Night, Annie Get Your Gun, Matthew Bourne's Lord of the Flies and Jersey Boys, which also continued a hugely successful London run at the Piccadilly Theatre.

In Australia, ATG co-produced the 40th anniversary production of The Rocky Horror Show and Thriller Live and in the US, the newly refurbished Lyric Theatre re-opened its doors in dramatic style and welcomed audiences to ATG's new co-production on Broadway acclaimed revival of On the Town.

Throughout 2014, ATG continued to co-produce Stateside with Betrayal starring Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Rafe Spall, Twelfth Night and Richard III starring Mark Rylance, A Raisin in the Sun starring Denzel Washington and Diahann Carroll, This is Our Youth starring Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin and Tavi Gevinson, A Delicate Balance starring Glenn Close, John Lithgow and Lindsay Duncan and The River starring Hugh Jackman.

Forthcoming highlights for 2015 include a third production in the current Trafalgar Transformed season - The Ruling Class starring James McAvoy - who makes a welcome return to Trafalgar Studios following his hugely successful performance there as Macbeth last year; Tamsin Greig makes her musical theatre debut in the UK premiere of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown; there are new UK Tours of Spamalot and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; and Theatre Royal Brighton Productions co-produces Arcadia with ETT on a UK Tour. In the US, ATG's co-production of Constellations starring Jake Gyllenhall opens on Broadway and ATG co-produces a major new production of The King and I with the Lincoln Center in New York in March.

Also in 2014, Squire made history as the first woman to be named EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2014. She will now go on to represent the UK at the World Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in Monte Carlo in June 2015. In November, ATG was awarded a Green Apple Environment Silver Award for Leisure and Travel Green Practices for its Project Blackout initiative.

ATG's groundbreaking Technical Apprenticeship Programme won the award for Best Collaboration Between Industry and Education at the Creative & Cultural Skills Conference and the programme has now doubled in size for 2014-15 with eight new apprenticeships. ATG also welcomed two promising young professionals to the Group's pilot Graduate Scheme, a unique new initiative launched for the first time to develop the future leaders of commercial theatre.

ATG announced how it was investing more than £3 million by transforming its Front of House experience with the installation of more than 22 Ambassador Lounges and premium bars and there was further investment in ATG's online operation with the launch of a new corporate website www.atg.co.uk, designed to showcase ATG's complete business portfolio with its own unique identity.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

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