OF all the millions of labels produced by Sessions of York, the huge label printing and application machinery company on a five-acre site in Huntington, York, there is one yet to be worn by the firm itself - the Evening Press Exporter of the Year.

Its export figures now make that a serious possibility as judges examine the entries for this year's Evening Press Business of the Year Awards.

With Mark Sessions at the helm, the firm's export sales have grown by 50 per cent over the last year, with each of the company's three operating arms - the label division, the machine division and the Ebor Press division contributing to the achievement.

Moreover, this was not just a surge based on one or two successful new products, but across its entire range - and it was accomplished in spite of the continuing strength of Sterling.

Where exports made up only five per cent of sales in 1990, the steady progress in opening overseas markets resulted this financial year in an export leap from about £1 million to £1.5 million, representing a healthy 17 per cent of total sales and job security for its 150 staff.

The company's range of Detex gamma ray irradiation indicator labels continue to sell well abroad, but there has also been a huge boost in worldwide use of its diverse range of pharmaceutical labels.

A substantial proportion of the exports is a result of Sessions' positive targeting of export markets within the European Community, but the list of foreign buyers looks like an Atlas bibliography ranging from Austria to Yugoslavia, and including orders from throughout Asia, the Middle East, Canada, North and South America and Australasia.