SAINTS are in the running for a prestigious business award.

The club has been shortlisted for the UKTI Growth Business of the Year in the 2015 Lloyds Bank National Business Awards

The team has been renowned for producing and growing talent on the pitch.

Now the team is battling it out against some of the country’s top businesses ranging from recruitment and children’s clothing to pet food and online marketing.

It comes just weeks after the club qualified for the Europa League after scooping its highest Premiership points tally.

The club was nominated after demonstrating substantial evidence of growth across its business, including in its finances, innovation, customer service, staff engagement, leadership and ethics.

The finalists - nominated across 18 award categories – range from companies turning over less than £1m to over £25 million and those employing 20 people to those with over 70,000 workers.

Saints’ chief executive Gareth Rogers said he is "delighted" at the nomination.

Bosses must prepare for live presentations ahead of judges before winners are revealed at a gala dinner on November 10 in the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.