Business Month February 2015 Edition

February 2015 • ISSUE 51 PRICE £2.50 (Where sold)

MIGHTY ONCE MORE? The rise and fall – and return – of Sean Quinn

• CURRENCIES AND EQUITIES • PAUL GOSLING ON PUBLIC ASSETS FOR SALE • THE CHAIRMAN TOASTS THE LASSIES

3 November 2014 BUSINESS MONTH 1

CONTENTS

48

Editor’s note

37

Margaret Canning

FEATURES

mcanning@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

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12 Analysis: The commercial property market in Northern Ireland is entering a new phase after many years of being in the doldrums.

14 Analysis: Barbara Creed looks at commercial litigation and alternative dispute resolution.

16 Economy Watch: Firms from the north will be well represented when international delega 22 Analysis: Alan Watts takes a look at the rise of ‘high growth new businesses’.

22 Breaking the mould: Allstate NI’s James Gillespie explains why he thinks there’s no such thing as a stupid question, just an opportunity to think again.

FOCUS

38 Construction: Clare Weir asks if 2015 could really bring a new dawn for construction and wonders whether Stormont could do more to help local firms struggling compete in a global market.

SAINT OR SINNER? 38 Supermarkets: There is a revolution taking place in Northern As Sean Quinn emerges from bankruptcy Ireland’s supermarket retailing and Martina Devlin looks back on a gripping story it is being driven by the consumer, says Simon Rowe.

COVER STORY

OFFLINE

46 Out to Lunch: Joris Minne visits the Linen Hill restaurant for a chat with Siobhan McKeown from The Outlet.

58 The Chairman: Our man about town gives us the inside track on business.

58 The Last Word: Jamie Stinson look at the problems facing the hospitality industry.

Business Month 124-144 Royal Avenue, Belfast, BT1 1EB Editor - Margaret Canning

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58

48

Sales manager - Jackie Reid Contact: +44 2890 264070 or email: j.reid@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Design and production: RE&D Business Month is an imprint of Independent News and Media (NI)

ELCOME to the February edition of Business Month.

There is a mood of relative contentment in the business community as a Budget has been agreed by the folks on the hill – and with that, it seems we are well on the road to seeing devolution of corporation tax in the province.

There is still debate taking place and many of us need to inform ourselves of the realities of devolution of tax, but it’s a great milestone for all of those who have campaigned for so long for the fiscal power.

We are taking the tentative return of former Fermanagh tycoon Sean Quinn as an opportunity to reflect on his turbulent story – and we’ve called upon Co Tyrone-born writer Martina Devlin to consider the dichotomy of Quinn the local hero, and Quinn, the calculating financial gambler.

Paul Gosling delves into the possibilities of asset sales by the Northern Ireland Executive, while we take a look at supermarkets and the building trade in our Focus On sections.

Ron McBride is also giving a fond kiss goodbye to his Streetview column, and presents a retrospective of his favourites.

And speaking of Robert Burns, reading all about how a certain Chairman fared at a very special Burns Supper celebration...

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 3

NEWS BITES

76.6%

East of England claims GB’s highest employment rate

68.7%

Wales claims GB’s lowest employment rate

8.5%

North-east of England has GB’s highest unemployment

4.4%

South-west of England claims GB’s lowest unemployment

25.9%

Wales claims GB’s highest inactivity rate

Source: Great Britain labour market statistics January 2015

Invest NI clarification Chief executive Alastair Hamilton writes: In the January Business Month article ‘Future Realities’ there were a number of inaccuracies that Invest NI would like to address. The first related to in the impact of EU Regional Aid changes. The article stated that “the changes will stop grants being given to firms that provide the same service as a company which has already received assistance”.

This is not correct. Changes to Regional Aid, introduced on July 1, 2014 mean that we can no longer support large companies (+250 employees) for expansion projects to do the same thing they are already doing, in the same location.

The article also included comment from David Kirk which referenced a Public Accounts Committee report from 2000 – now 15 years old, and has been superseded by the 2013 PAC report which commended Invest NI on its performance. Mr Kirk referred to a “sleight of hand” by Invest NI in reporting jobs promoted, rather than jobs created.

Again, this is not correct. Yes, Invest NI is set targets by the NI Executive to promote new jobs in Northern Ireland — these are jobs that companies plan to create as a result of projects that we support.

However, Invest NI also now reports on jobs actually created as a result of its support, and released these figures in May 2014 as part of its end of year reporting. Between 2011 and 2014 nearly 18,000 jobs have been created as a direct result of Invest NI support.

Invest NI is the only economic development agency across the UK and Republic of Ireland to report in this way across all its job support initiatives. Mr Kirk also infers there is “massive abuse in awarding grants without accountability”.

This is categorically untrue.

Invest NI operates stringent monitoring of all grants it awards to businesses. Monies it offers in support are only released when specific targets are met, and if not sustained we seek to recover these monies.

WORKING TOGETHER: A workshop and mentoring programme to help businesses in the north east promote themselves online has been launched by Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster. The programme is being delivered by agency Oli for Larne Borough Council, and the workshops take place up until the end of this month.

The Minister (second left) was joined by Larne Mayor Martin Wilson, James Hanna of Oli and Moira Loughran of Invest NI

Male unemployment falls to a six-year ow

Antrim B&B voted is second best in world

Belfast airports see rise in passenger numbers

NORTHERN Ireland’s men are getting jobs in close to record numbers, according to new figures.

The labour market statistics also reveal an unemployment rate of 5.8% for September to November — a positive sign and a six-year low. The jobless rate is drawn from the quarterly unemployment survey.

The Northern Ireland 5.8% rate was the same as the UK average rate, and below the EU and Republic of Ireland October rates of 10% and 10.9% respectively.

There was also a fall of 900 in the separate claimant count in December — the number of people actually signing on — to 50,200, marking two years of decreasing dole queues. But the claimant count rate of 5.7% was double the UK rate and the highest of all 12 UK regions.

A CONVERTED coach house in Co Antrim has been rated the second best bed and breakfast in the world by travellers who have luxuriated within its historic stone walls.

Shola Coach House in Portrush was singled out among the elite hostelries in the Travellers’ Choice Awards, which honour the most outstanding places to stay.

The awards take into account the quality and quantity of traveller reviews and opinions and traveller ratings specific to each award category.

Packing a coach-load of wow factor, the property at Gateshead Road has four individually-styled bedrooms and an enclosed stone secret garden. It is owned by Sharon and David Schindler.

The Schindler’s Shola haven came second only to Millgate B&B in Masham, North Yorkshire.

PASSENGER numbers at Northern Ireland’s two biggest airports increased slightly in 2014 while traffic through City of Derry dropped by a steep 9%.

Figures published by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority showed that George Best Belfast City Airport had more than 2.5m (2,555,111) passengers in 2014 — up 0.5% on the figures from 2013.

Belfast International passenger numbers grew by 0.2% to just over 4m (4,031,700) in the year.

But City of Derry Airport suffered a 9% fall in its passenger numbers to 350,257, with a spokesman saying that the airports were facing very challenging conditions, mainly due to air passenger duty.

Passengers were charged £13 APD on short-haul routes each way, a spokesman said.

4 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

NEWS BITES

QE to make life tougher for NI exporters

▲ HOUSE PRICES

Prices here rose 11.7% in the 12 months to November, according to the Office for National Statistics — the highest increase of the four UK regions

▲ TOURISTSPENDING:

Spending by tourists in the province - including staycationers — rose 6% to £592m over the year to June 2014

▲ DEALS

There were 98 corporate deals in Northern Ireland in 2014, up from 88, according to Experian

▲ AIR PASSENGERS

Passengers from Belfast’s two airports were up in 2014, the CAA said — a rise of 0.5% for Belfast City and 0.2% for Belfast International

▲ TROUBLED FIRMS

There was a 26 %increase in firms facing significant money stresses towards the end of 2014, according to Begbies Traynor

tEURO:

The euro has weakened against sterling from around £0.8291 a year ago to £0.747 last month

t CLAIMANTCOUNT

The province’s claimant count was 50,200 in December — a fall of 900, according to the labour market statistics

t CONSTRUCTION:

Output from builders’ firms working in the province was down 0.7% in the third quarter of the year, according to the latest construction bulletin

t EMPTYSHOPS

The retail vacancy rate in the province was 17.7% in 2014, down from 19.1%, according to agents Lisney

t DERRYAIR PASSENGERS

Passengers at City of Derry were down 9% in 2014, according to the CAA

AN unprecedented €60bn (£45.5bn) monthly quantitative easing (QE) programme in the eurozone could make life uncomfortable for Northern Ireland exporters.

The action, intended to kickstart the stagnant eurozone economy, will start next month and continue until the end of September next year.

ECB president Mario Draghi told a press conference in Frankfurt that the purchases were an expansion of an existing policy.

He also said the central bank would start a programme of buying government bonds, along the lines of the quantitative easing (QE) that has already been pursued in the US and UK. It comes as the eurozone is facing stagnation with inflation at minus 0.2%, threatening a damaging deflationary spiral.

The scale of the asset purchase scheme over 19 months would amount to €1.14trn (£870bn).

Business advisers PwC said the decision has been prompted by worsening growth across the eurozone and by the spectre of deflation hanging over some member countries.

PwC chief economist Esmond Birnie said it may not necessarily be good news for exporters in Northern Ireland.

“To the extent that QE leads to further depreciation of the euro against sterling we should expect additional challenges facing Northern Ireland exporters, especially for the food processing and tourism sectors, which already face strong competition from the Republic of Ireland,” he said “The ECB has left it much longer than the UK and USA to launch QE, and the experience

The €60bn QE programme is designed to kickstart the eurozone economy of Japan in the 1990s and 2000s suggests that delaying policy responses allows economic and financial problems to become more deeply embedded.

“Also, longer term interest rates in the eurozone are already very low, which reduces the scope for QE to influence financial markets by pushing down bond yields.

“There may be some benefit to European growth from a weaker euro, though this will also result

in higher import prices, squeezing consumer spending.”

Economist Maureen O’Reilly said there were “divergent views” of whether QE can revive flagging economies. But she added: “Nearly half of our manufacturing exports go to the eurozone so if it does work and boosts economic growth then that can only be a plus for Northern Ireland. But if the euro weakens further that presents a more immediate challenge to exporters here’.

Slow sales won’t stopWetherspoon A SLOWDOWN in sales at pub chain JD Wetherspoon is unlikely to affect the company’s plans to expand in Northern Ireland, chairman Tim Martin has said.

The company, which has more than 900 pubs including nine in Northern Ireland, said like-forlike sales were about 2% higher in December and had slowed further during January, compared with a 6.3% growth rate reported in November.

But Northern Ireland-born Mr Martin said its plans for two

6 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

new pubs in Belfast were unlikely to be hit.

“It’s unlikely it will have any impact on our plans to expand,” he said. “Sales have been pretty resilient in Northern Ireland and it’s only a slowdown from record levels.

“It’s all part of what I’ve referred to before as the biorhythms of the pub trade.”

Mr Martin also said he hoped to hear in three to six months about the company’s application for planning permission for its

new city centre pub. However, other pub traders already operating in the area are expected to oppose the granting of a licence at the former JJB shop on Royal Avenue which has been bought by the firm for conversion into a pub.

Wetherspoon also bought a disused Methodist Church on University Road last year for around £1.2m. It has also opened two new pubs in the Republic, in Dun Laoghaire and Blackrock, and plans to have around 30 altogether south of the border.

NEWS FEATURE

Food for thought

John Farrand of the Guild of Fine Food tells Clare Weir why produce from Northern Ireland has been whetting his appetite FORGET crisp sandwiches and salty stew — Northern Ireland is now the home of ‘food with personality’.

That was the message from John Farrand, managing director of the Guild of Fine Food and organiser of the Great Taste awards, which held its first judging heats in Northern Ireland last year.

Mr Farrand recently visited Craigavon to advise food and drink producers on how to earn the important industry benchmarks for their products.

He was guest speaker at a workshop aimed at encouraging companies to seek accreditation, raise standards and increase export potential.

Companies including Avondale Foods, Moy Park, Irwin’s Bakery, Armagh Cider Company and Harnett’s Oils all took part.

Mr Farrand said that visionary “food heroes” like Moira butchers George McCartney and Peter Hannan of Hannan Meats had paved the way to making the region a food destination.

“We started the Great Taste Awards in 1994 and there were 249 entries in total,” he said.

“In 2004 there were 4,079 entries from the UK and no Northern Ireland companies achieved the three-star rating, our highest accolade.

“Last year we received 10,000 entries, which we’ve had to cap, with 153 three-star foods, 18 of those from Northern Ireland — the same number as for the London and South East Region.

“In 2011 George McCartney became the first food and drink producer from Northern Ireland to win the Supreme Champion title, followed just a year later by Peter Hannan.

“Those guys are now sending Northern Ireland meat to restaurants all over the world.

“Just over 10 years ago, Northern Ireland would never have been considered as a food destination, but now you are producing food with real personality.”

McCartney’s of Moira scooped the Supreme Champion Award at the Great Taste Awards, with their handmade corned beef in 2011.

John Farrand, managing director of the Guild of Fine Food (second from left), was joined by Nicola Wilson of Craigavon Borough Council, Jane Harnett of Harnett’s Oils and Michelle Shirlow of Food NI And Hannan Meats, another specialist meat business in Moira, was named as the Supreme Champion in 2012.

The company gained the top award for its Italian-style “Moyallon Guanciale” — or cured pig cheeks.

In 2014, Hannan Meats boasted seven three-star products — six for its Himalayan Salt Aged beef and one for Moyallon Sweet Cure Bacon Ribs.

Mr Farrand said that Northern Ireland food is “far from bland and samey”.

“This food is unique and there are real people and stories behind the products, which, particularly after the food labelling scandals in the UK, is something people want to invest in,” he said.

“All the news reports are telling us that the supermarkets have had pretty ordinary Christmas trading, yet every deli-owner I have spoken to has never been

8 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

busier — people want to buy local.”

So, what has been whetting John Farrand’s appetite in Northern Ireland? One Armagh staple, the apple, has been a big hit.

“You have some fantastic craft beers and ciders. I’ve tried a lot of the ciders and they are very good indeed,” he said.

“There is an excitement around brewing and distilling at the moment, and canny producers are capitalising on consumer demand for unique products.

“I think the cheese industry is also one to watch. There’s a great dairy industry and the cheese market now needs to catch up and find its feet. Young Buck cheese is a very exciting product and it’s that sort of innovation and vision that we need from Northern Ireland food producers.”

Fivemiletown Creamery’s milk supply was sold to Glanbia Ingredients Ireland in April 2013 after

the cooperative got into financial difficulties. A month later, Dale Farm agreed to buy Fivemiletown’s speciality cheese brands.

Mr Farrand said he hoped the Great Taste Awards could come back to Northern Ireland in 2016.

Last year, top food writers and TV critics like Charles Campion and Xanthe Clay spent a week at the Stormont Hotel sampling and rating regional produce.

“We’re keen to travel around all the regions and our first visit to Northern Ireland got great feedback,” said Mr Farrand.

“The companies are doing better and better with each competition and punch above their weight by geography and population so we look forward to returning next year.”

The final Craigavon Agri-Food and Drink Forum workshop will take place in March and will focus on developing an action plan for the region.

offline

STREETVIEW

Shopping around ...

Ron McBride profiles his favourites among the many independent shops he’s covered in Streetview

T

HERE is much debate in the media today about the role of large companies, especially in the context of food and clothes retailing.

In recent years it has been a struggle for family-run businesses in competition with the

ubiquitous giants on the edge of town. Factors including the decay of the built environment, the lack of parking and uneven, crowded footpaths have too often created an unattractive environment leading to reduced footfall.

O’DOHERTY’S Enniskillen

Crocodile, poussin and Black Bacon; Inish Corkish, Birmingham and Enniskillen are all linked to O’Doherty’s.

Pat O’Doherty has a real passion for food and indeed for the traditions of farming and ‘integrity’ of the product.

Independent shops can compete well with the supermarkets through diversification or specialisation. Pat, an environmental scientist, has taken years researching and developing Fermanagh Black Bacon, which is now a brand.

The bacon may be more expensive but is flavoursome and reportedly even has dietary benefits for autistic people. Because of Pat’s enthusiasm to engage with his customers, the shop is well-known by ‘foodies’.

Warding off clouds of Mauve Stinger jellyfish in the Irish Sea, landing fish at Portavogie and Kilkeel, trade fairs in Dubai, shopping on the Shankill, or indeed, ordering Walter’s smoked salmon with scrambled eggs at a top London hotel, all have a connection to Ewings Seafoods.

Glenarm organic salmon is a big draw.

The salmon come from the only farm in the Irish Sea and are of the highest quality, being kept at a low

density and in top physical condition. The Ewings run an energetic family business.

Through rigorous controls they have achieved accreditation to sell both organic and halal salmon. They have no salesmen, as reputation and word of mouth is sufficient.

AUNT SANDRA’S CANDY FACTORY Castlereagh Road, east Belfast

winning various awards in the fields of hospitality, best restaurant and best rural business.

Eating in the restaurant, staying in the cottages, or using the shop, creates a strong mutual support for the component strands of the business.

Listening to the strains of Roy Orbison, courtesy of the Wurlitzer jukebox, with a bag of honeycomb in one hand, a quarter of Cherry Lips in the other and all the while eyeing up myriad homemade lollipops, it is nostalgia writ large.

It is magical with jars of handmade sweets and attractive lollipops. Even Dr Johnson may agree that Aunt Sandra’s is ‘worth going to see’.

It is different. Whether it be a BYO hen party or parents with children in tow they won’t be disappointed.

GROSVENOR TROPICALS Lisburn

ELLIOTT’S Ann Street, Belfast

Modern fancy dress dates mainly from Victorian and Edwardian times.

Elliott’s has a long family history dating back to 1886.

Grandfather Elliott originally had a barber’s shop at Bridge End and sold hair for wig making. The world of fancy dress is highly susceptible to fashion with the media playing its part as the popularity of themes and characters rises and falls.

A month can be a long time

dence the warmth of character and the sense of drive of the owners.

A selection of the businesses covered with extracts from the articles gives a flavour of those working hard to give us service:

EWINGS SEAFOODS Shankill Road, Belfast

BALLYDOUGAN POTTERY Gilford

A once-derelict middle class merchant house and linen-grading barn form the core of a cluster of four micro businesses owned and run by Master Potter Sean O’Dowd and his wife Marie.

Over the years the business has grown organically, with the advantage of the various sections supporting one another as trade varies seasonally or inevitably changes with the impact of the recession. Nineteen staff work in the complex,

It is encouraging, that despite this we have a generation of dynamic family-owned businesses who are up to today’s challenge.

Having dealt with around 50 shops in this series it has been a heartening experience to evi-

in the world of fancy dress.

James points out that the shop provides a tactile experience for those who don’t want to simply order online.

Their superb website is a vital component of the business with staff working on it six hours a day.

10 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

It is actually possible to buy relaxation and a sense of wonderment.

The premises fill one with wonder. Children and adults alike love the amazing world of corals, carpet anemones and fish.

Even adults cannot just buy a stingray or a sturgeon unless they can provide a sample of home tap water and explain their tank facilities. Leslie points that keeping fish requires

understanding of the various species in terms of water quality, filtration, heating and lighting.

Fish can be sent from Sri Lanka on a Monday and be in Belfast on Wednesday. The market is tightly controlled

by CITES.

NEWS ANALYSIS

Dealing with optimism

Keith Shiells, director of commercial property agents Lambert Smith Hampton , on what 2015 holds for the market AS we look forward to the year ahead, we expect to see continued interest and growing appetite for opportunities in the Northern Ireland commercial property market.

In the investment sector, 2014 experienced more investment and more transactions than had been seen for quite some time, with the return of UK institutional investors to the market indicating a return of confidence and stability after the worst downturn for decades.

With £400m plus of property investment transactions taking place — the highest amount since 2007 — it is clear that Northern Ireland is back on the radar of institutional investors, and is also now attracting the interest of US private equity funds.

That figure may be tough to top in 2015. It was buoyed by the sale of the assets in the Project Swallowtail portfolio, which included shopping centres Forestside, Foyleside and the Abbey Centre.

Other notable activity in the market, but separate from the traditional investment sector, also saw Ulster Bank sell large non-performing property loans codenamed Project Aran and Project Achill to US funds including Cerberus and Lone Star, deals which followed Cerberus’ acquisition of Nama’s entire Northern Ireland-connected £4bn loan book. How these funds choose to divest will have a huge bearing on all sectors of the market in 2015. These funds have been involved in loan sale deals for decades and will undoubtedly want to achieve strong returns on their investment. Whilst it is difficult to predict, we expect to see considerable activity in the next 24 months as these funds seek to deliver the best return on investment in their chosen time scale.

At the other end of the market — smaller lots up to a value of £2m — we are seeing strong appetite from local private investors, both experienced and new to property. They are often successful business people attracted by returns of over 6% that compare favourably with

other asset classes at a time when savers are getting a low return on cash in the bank.

The recent flurry of good quality small lot size investment opportunities with attractive tenant covenants has meant we have been able to satisfy many client requirements, but there is still a shortage of good quality stock.

Much has also been made of the shortage of grade A office space in Belfast amid rising demand. The total take-up of office space in Belfast during 2014 amounted to approximately 350,000 sq ft.

Lambert Smith Hampton was involved in four deals where space was let at over £15 per square foot in 2014 and we expect more activity in the first six months of 2015, with several lettings likely to hit £16 per square foot this year. Those deals are being driven by the foreign direct investors Invest NI is bringing to Northern Ireland, such as US law firm Baker & McKenzie, anchor tenant at Belfast Harbour’s new City Quays development.

The devolution of corporation tax powers should further boost interest and we have already talked to business people who wouldn’t previously have made enquiries about Northern Ireland before the tax deal was announced.

While the appetite for grade A offices is encouraging, it will see the gap between the cost of prime and sub-prime space widen further. Sub-prime office rents have already fallen back to around £6 per square foot so it must be hoped that the increased demand for good space will encourage developers to consider substantial refurbishment and redevelopment programmes of older accommodation so it can compete more favourably with prime space.

The Northern Ireland retail market is experiencing more activity than it has done for many years. Belfast, in particular, has seen a number of lettings, some of which are new entrants to the Northern Ireland market, such as Mango, Kiehl’s, Dr Martens, Pepperberry/Bravissimo, Joules,

12 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

Jason Marty (l) of Baker & McKenzie and Graeme Johnston of Belfast Harbour Jacamo/Simply Be, to name but a few.

The catering and leisure sector is also buoyant in Belfast with new restaurants such as Prezzo and YO Sushi! Moreover, the likes of Frankie & Benny’s and the coffee shop operators, Starbucks, Caffe Nero and Costa, are all expanding rapidly.

The ‘value’ retailers such as Home Bargains, Poundland, B&M and Poundworld have been particularly active and are aggressively expanding across the province.

Belfast’s improving economy with increasing employment and rising house prices has undoubtedly helped to improve consumer confidence. The combination of a brighter economic backdrop and the availability of more attractive lease terms has increased retailer activity significantly.

Retailers now have a greater focus on total occupational costs and are demanding much more flexible lease terms from landlords. In many cases retailers find

business rates are disproportionately high relative to rental levels.

Northern Ireland is undergoing a rates revaluation, which will become effective in April 2015.

Many retailers will benefit from a reduction in rates payable, however others in out of town retail parks will pay more.

The recently agreed austerity measures involving public sector redundancies and reduced government spending will impact the economy — however, a strong economic recovery forecast in the private sector, in particular, high value added sectors such as ICT and professional services, will help to offset this.

All in all the commercial property market in Northern Ireland is entering a new phase after many years of being in the doldrums.

With local banks having deleveraged much of their property-secured debt and with new funders in place, many investors can look forward with more optimism as the economy and occupational markets improve.

NEWS ANALYSIS

Getting your fair share Barbara Creed, director of the commercial litigation and alternative dispute resolution department at Tughans Solicitors, on resolving shareholder disputes

Problems don’t always have to be solved with litigation

MINORITY shareholders are afforded protection by Section 994 of the Companies Act 2006.

If they believe the affairs of the company are being dealt with in a way which is unfairly prejudicial to the interests of some or all members of the company, they may be able seek relief from the court. There is little doubt that these disputes are on the rise.

Unfair prejudice can arise in situations including where the majority run the company in a manner which reduces the value of the minority shareholding, exclude minority shareholders from the management of the company, divert business to another company, or pay themselves unjustified salaries/benefits.

There is no limit on the type of relief which a court can grant in shareholder disputes. However, it is common for buy-out agreements to be reached, through processes such as mediation, or for a court to order that the minority shareholding be bought

out by the majority shareholders at fair value. Of course the key question then becomes the value of the minority shares, which is itself often the subject of much litigation.

A discount will normally be applied to minority shares to reflect the fact that they are minority; for example the absence of control and reduced marketability of those shares.

Many small companies are regarded by the law as ‘quasi-partnerships’ — in other words, they are, in effect, small partnerships of a limited number of individuals which are in practical terms run as if they were a partnership between those individuals at the helm. Commonly, these businesses were originally run as a partnership and later incorporated to become a limited company.

When considering valuation the quasi-partnership status will also be very helpful to a minority shareholder. It was held in the case of Irvine v Irvine in 2007 that

14 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

a minority discount should not apply to the quasi-partnership company.

The date at which shares are to be valued is often of much significance in these cases. The starting point is that shares will generally be valued as at the date of buyout, but this may be varied if it would be just to do so.

There is a significant body of developing case law on this issue, a relatively recent example of which is the case of Shepherd v Williamson [2010].

Mr Shepherd successfully argued that he had been unfairly excluded from the management of the company and Mr Williamson was ordered to purchase his shares. Since the time of exclusion the value of the company had fallen, partly as a result of the general market, but arguably also as a result of Mr Shepherd’s exclusion. By the time of hearing the company had been placed into administration and sold by way of a pre-pack sale to a new company

controlled by senior employees of the company. The court concluded that the appropriate time for the valuation was the date of Mr Shepherd’s exclusion.

Shareholder disputes have traditionally been expensive to litigate. However, we are seeing the evolution of various processes which help to reduce the costs.

Instead of both parties instructing their own valuation experts, it is becoming increasingly common for the parties to litigation to jointly appoint one expert accountant to provide valuation evidence. The increasingly common practice of mediation is also a process which, in the author’s view, adds value and often results in resolution without the need to exhaust expensive litigation.

If parties have documented their agreements in a well drafted shareholders’ agreement, this will usually reduce both the likelihood of disputes and, in the event that disputes do arise, the cost of any litigation.

ECONOMY WATCH

Trouble’s

The oil price has collapsed. International eurozone is entering a new and unsettling investors seem confused about yields in a

A

RGUABLY the biggest surprise of 2014 was the collapse in the oil price. Few economists predicted that the price of a barrel of Brent crude would fall by almost 60% in just seven months. Having peaked at $115 per barrel last June, the European oil price benchmark hit $45pb in December. This represented the lowest level since March 2009, since then it has largely fluctuated between $48-50pb.

The sharp fall in the price of oil provides a welcomed boost to consumers’ disposable income the world over as it feeds through into lower energy and petrol/diesel prices. UK petrol prices have already fallen by 17% y/y at the time of writing.

Falling oil and food prices helped the UK consumer price index fall to its joint-lowest level in December since records began in 1989.

Whilst falling commodity prices are viewed as a positive from a consumer viewpoint, they are seen as a negative for producers. The mismatch between supply and demand is largely, but not solely, due to a glut in supply. It is noted that US crude oil inventories in December surged to their highest level for the month since 1930 as production climbed.

Meanwhile, the US shale boom, which was in response to high oil prices, propelled crude oil production to its highest December figure since 1972.

Traditionally, when oil prices fall the oil cartel Opec’s policy was to cut production to prop up the price. However, Opec’s most significant oil producer, Saudi Arabia, has recently stated that it will not cut production even if the oil price falls to $20pb. In essence, Saudi Arabia is playing a game of chicken with other, higher cost producers like the US and Russia, to cut output instead

COMMODITIES

By Richard Ramsey

Ulster Bank chief economist

as it seeks to maintain market share.

Will we see a rebound in the oil price soon? Back in the mid-1980s the oil price plunged by 69% in about five months.

It took four years for prices to return to their pre-downturn high. An influential Saudi oil investor, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, has said that we will never see $100pb again. According to the Saudi Prince, the road back to the $60-$70pb range will be “not that easy, not that quick” and markets still may not have found the bottom.

The fall in the oil price has been part of a wider story; namely, a collapse in global commodity prices. The closely watched Bloomberg Commodity index, which tracks the prices of a range of commodities has fallen by over a quarter since June but is currently at its lowest level since December 2002. Oversupply and weakening demand has been evident across a range of commodities.

Iron ore, which is used for steel, is at a five-year low as an economic slowdown in China, the world’s biggest user, is giving rise to a surplus in the metal. The price of copper is

16 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

also on the slide for the same reason.

On the precious metal front, the gold price is less than 5% below its recent high six months ago. The European Central Bank’s (ECB) announcement that it will launch a quantitative easing programme next month has boosted the gold price as it is viewed as an inflation hedge. But with central banks undershooting their inflation targets, the gold price remains one-third below its 2011 high.

Given that oil is a key input cost for fertilizer and feedstuffs, agricultural inflation tends to track the oil price. It is not surprising that agricultural commodity prices have been falling too. For example, wheat prices have fallen by 30% since the middle of last year. More significantly from a Northern Ireland-perspective though is something else that has been happening on the farm.

Financial markets have been focused on the price of the black stuff; however, our dairy farmers have become increasingly concerned about the price of the white stuff — milk.

There are some similarities be-

tween the two markets. Prices received by dairy farmers are down approximately 40% relative to last year and recently hit a seven-year low. The global milk market is suffering from a glut in supply. Producers responded to high prices by increasing production. Rising yields have been boosted by super-intensive farming which in turn has been aided by cheap grain. Demand for milk has been waning.

Russia’s ban on EU food imports has closed the door on one significant market for milk products. The demand and supply dynamic has pushed the price of milk below the cost of production. A supermarket price-war is compounding the problem. The price of some four-pint bottles of milk has fallen below the price of bottled water. Unlike oil, milk cannot be stored offshore in supertankers waiting for the price to rise. Turning it into cheese is one option. Demand for this product has fallen too. We may hear more about EU cheese mountains in the months ahead.

Barring a major weather event to curb production, 2015 will be a very challenging year.

Most local farmers will be producing milk at below the cost of production. The EU, like OPEC, is not going to reduce output. Instead, the EU is set to do quite the opposite by ending 31 years of restraining milk production through its policy of milk quotas. In the meantime, political pressure is mounting for the EU to raise its minimum purchase price for unsold milk from around the 15-16 pence per litre mark.

The lower the price the louder the cries will become for market intervention.

Outside of these difficulties the ongoing slide in the euro/ sterling exchange rate will continue to make a difficult situation worse.

ECONOMY WATCH

brewing

politics are harming commodity prices, the phase. And at the same time equity US recovery. It’s a minefield out there

A

S with every year, capital markets spent much of 2014 ignoring the script.

What should equity investors be prepared for in 2015? This current economic cycle still looks to have some legs, suggesting equities remain the place to be. However, the approach of interest rate rises suggests that returns will increasingly lean heavily on prospective earnings growth rather than valuation expansion.

Last year provided several healthy reminders that we should always be wary of slavishly following the consensus.

At the beginning of this year, most forecasters were keen to go underweight the US equity market in favour of continental European equities. US equities had been leading the developed market equity rally for over four years — surely it was time for a breather? On the other hand, the euro crisis had caused continental European corporate earnings and share prices to lag those of their US peers since the lows plumbed in 2009. But as confidence grew that the worst of the euro crisis was finally behind us, many forecast that 2014 would see this gap between US and Europe begin to narrow.

The US seems likely to close the year as the best performing region for stocks. In fact, on December 10 2014, the S&P 500 Index was on track to close 2014 with 49 new all-time highs in the year.

Coming into 2014, rising treasury yields were a central part of most strategists’ outlook for equity markets, including ours. As we exited 2013, the 10-year Treasury was at 3% and the US economy looked ready to humiliate those predicting a ‘new normal’ of lower trend growth for the world’s most important capitalist economy. Then came the polar vortex, freezing

EQUITIES

By Jonathan Dobbin

Head of Barclays wealth and investment management

economic activity in the US for much of the first quarter. This, combined with other factors, both domestic and international, meant that bond yields have continued to trend lower for much of the year. As a result, financials, in particular banks and life insurers, performed less well than we would have hoped, while those sectors that we might have thought vulnerable to rising yields in safer asset classes, such as Utilities, did better than forecast.

The US economic recovery is becoming harder to question as we begin 2015. The job market continues to heal, business confidence remains at multi-year highs and both access to and demand for credit continues to improve. Where we potentially differ from the pack is the expected pace of the US recovery from here and the resulting path of inflation. We suspect that rapidly reducing labour market slack in both the UK and US will soon lead to faster wage growth, tentative signs of which are already emerging. This in turn may force central bankers to raise interest rates a little earlier and faster than currently

planned in both the US and the UK. We continue to see the eurozone muddling through, likely helped at the margin by a banking sector starting to look a little more fit for purpose and by a brisker international demand backdrop. We see China avoiding an economic apocalypse, with policy makers possessing both the means and the will to manage a more benign economic slowdown. Again, a more vibrant US economy will likely be helpful.

Most equity markets in the developed world are no longer obviously inexpensive, and there are good reasons for many emerging market indices to trade at a lower multiple.

Therefore, we expect the bulk of returns for investors to come from earnings/dividend growth and the dividend yield available, as has been increasingly the case over the last year. If a more pronounced wage inflation picture starts to materialise in the US and the UK, as we suspect, then rising interest rates are likely to provide some headwinds for valuation as a higher discount rate eats into the present value of future corporate cash flows.

In our view, the attractive regions for broad equity exposure in 2015 will be those with opportunities for generating the greatest earnings/dividend growth and dividend yields combined.

Overall, we expect equity market volatility to step up in 2015 as monetary normalisation looms larger in the UK and US. However, we think those economies have long been ready for tighter policies, and we suspect that rising interest rates, in the first instance at least, do not need to spell the end of this already elongated economic cycle. We obviously remain on the lookout for any signs of the kind of hubris that usually spells the end of the economic cycle, but as yet see few signs of sufficiently widespread private sector excess. As we’ve pointed out before, emergency-level monetary policy is starting to appear inappropriate in both the UK and the US, but after the worst decade of US growth in half a century, we suspect there remains a backlog of economic opportunities still to be made good.

This means that equities remain the place to be for the moment, even if the headwinds of already lofty consensus expectations and the prospect of interest rate rises may begin to shift some of our regional preferences a little as 2015 progresses.

Equity investing involves risk including loss of principal. International investing involves a greater degree of risk and increased volatility.

These risks are magnified in emerging markets.

Diversification does not assure a profit or protect against a loss.

Barclays does not guarantee favourable investment outcomes. Nor does it provide any guarantee against investment losses.

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 17

COVER STORY

QUINN A HERO OR A VILLAIN? He built an empire from a small pile of gravel, then lost it all - and with it, his freedom.

As Sean Quinn emerges from bankruptcy Martina Devlin looks back on a gripping story

HE built an empire – a Quinnasty – from the ground up, aided by vision, tenacity and the ability to drive a hard bargain.

Throughout it all, Sean Quinn stayed true to his roots. That’s why he was known as the Mighty Quinn for decades, and why the felled entrepreneur will always stand tall in the border region.

But his reputation as a local hero in his Fermanagh-Cavan heartland doesn’t necessarily have traction elsewhere in Ireland, north or south. Quinn divides people.

From small-scale businessman to billionaire to bankrupt: his rise was inspirational, and his descent sudden. He was incredulous when he lost the Quinn Group, the biggest individual casualty of the Celtic Tiger’s demise. But he wasn’t the only one who thought he was too big to fail. Response to his fall highlights an urban-rural divide — the plain people of Ireland pitched against the

smarty-pants chattering classes.

His asset-stripping, secret share-buying, jail sentence and bankruptcy are all part of the narrative now. Whatever the rights and wrongs surrounding his extraordinary reversal of fortune, he can do no wrong on home turf, and received tumultuous support there after emerging from bankruptcy recently.

Those in the Cavan-Fermanagh nexus regard him as more sinned against than sinning. Others are less forgiving. One of the unfortunate aspects to his story is how his decades of job creation in a neglected region — and let’s pause for a moment to give Sean Quinn credit for a towering achievement there — have been overshadowed by his ongoing warfare with a state-owned bank.

Quinn and the former Anglo Irish Bank have become intertwined, and not in a healthy way. A series of pitched battles between the Quinns and Anglo

18 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

have taken place, with another bout due in the Dublin courts later this year. Quinn has already served a nine-week jail sentence, while his son Sean Junior was jailed for three months, as hostilities rumble over half a billion euro in sheltered assets on which the Irish taxpayer has a claim.

By now, it’s apparent there will be no true winners. Regardless of the outcome, taxpayers have lost out already, as has the family — consumed by this vast legal action which has dented the Quinn family’s reputation.

Quinn, a gifted businessman with a finger in many pies, from construction to hotels, always presented himself as an honest individual. High court and supreme court judges in Dublin listened closely, and decided he was telling lies. The iconic Q of the Quinn brand is less shiny now.

Quinn’s financial setback — he was once Ireland’s wealthiest man, and 164th richest in the

world — mirrors the disintegration of the Celtic Tiger. Perhaps he believed his job creation record made him a special case worthy of government intervention. But he toppled in 2011 with spectacular debts of €3bn.

Time passes. Economies regroup. So do business empires and their former monarchs, although starting over is less easy for ordinary individuals. Now, Quinn has emerged debt-free following three years of bankruptcy, with a new consultancy role at some of his former businesses bought back by senior executives. His kingdom is not what it was. It has been broken up — “pillaged” is the word he used — after receivers were appointed almost four years ago, but today he can make a fresh start if he chooses, even at the age of 67.

However, whatever he does is likely to be dwarfed by that all-consuming legal dispute between the Quinns and the Irish

asasasa

state over more than €2bn in loans from Anglo.

The bank once symbolised the tiger economy in all its brash confidence, but it crashed and burned as spectacularly as did many of its high-profile customers, among them Sean Quinn. It had to be taken into state ownership in 2009, bailed out to the tune of €30bn and ultimately wound up.

Like others, Quinn was convinced Anglo was a sure thing, a stellar business model that would make lucrative returns to investors. Secretly, he began adding to his shares in the bank through a complex financial instrument known as Contracts for Difference (CFDs) which required only a small down payment.

Quinn’s behaviour over the Anglo shares, continuing to buy them in 2008 even as others bailed out, offer an insight into his character: a risk-taker, someone who doesn’t follow the herd.

But also someone who doesn’t listen to advice.

Wedded to his hunch that the Anglo deal would make him money, even as the share price plummeted, Quinn’s problems were twofold: he embarked on his share-buying binge at exactly the wrong time, and borrowed the money to do it. Money which, ultimately, he couldn’t repay.

And which the Quinns insist they shouldn’t have to repay.

Cue the most gargantuan battle in Irish legal history.

But let’s rewind to a happier phase in the Quinnasty story.

At one point, his fortune was valued at close on €5bn or almost £3.75bn. He employed 7,000 people, and supported many more jobs elsewhere in the economy, with a range of business interests which encompassed cement (his cement plant is pictured above right), glass, packaging, radiators, hotels, pubs and — most controversially — insurance.

Not bad for someone who

left school at 14 to work on the family’s 23-acre farm in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh. In 1973, he borrowed £100 from the bank and began extracting gravel from his family’s 23-acre farm, washing it and selling it to local businesses. Steeped in GAA tradition, initial success was founded on his close links with the sporting organisation which helped him to build a company on both sides of the border.

That first venture led to Quinn Cement, the foundation stone of his wealth, but he diversified far and wide, always on the lookout for opportunities. As Ryanair was to do subsequently, he took on monopolies and undercut their prices, among them the giant Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH). His business career was typified by a refusal to listen to words such as can’t, mustn’t or shouldn’t. And he was pioneering — ahead of the curve in developing one of Ireland’s first wind farms.

Quinn didn’t often give interviews — though when he did, an odd characteristic of referring to himself in the third person emerged. But so did his plain speaking approach. He liked to emphasise that he was one of the people, content to dodge about the mountain in his wellies and have the occasional pint or game of poker with friends. There was a coporate jet and a helicopter, and eventually a sprawling lakeside mansion in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan near his centrepiece Slieve Russell hotel. But he never gave the impression of a man drawn to the finer things in life.

What attracted him was success.

Until more was never enough.

As his business life prospered, so did his private life. He married Patricia, and they raised their five children: Colette, Ciara, Sean, Aoife and Brenda.

The couple are now grandparents.

Turn to page 20 >>

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 19

COVER STORY

<< Continued from page 39 Various members of the family worked with him in the business, although it was always clear that Sean Quinn and nobody else ran the show. Patricia was on the board of numerous Quinn companies but preferred to remain in the background. A sad footnote of the Quinn Group’s collapse has been the photographs of her in public, supporting her husband at rallies, when clearly she has no fondness for the spotlight.

Throughout Quinn’s exceptional career he remained loyal to his roots, and the people from the border region have stayed faithful to him. During the Troubles, the border counties were woefully neglected: multinationals didn’t locate there and work was scarce.

Unlike governments in Dublin, Belfast or London, Quinn created jobs in the border area.

In the good times, he did not become a tax exile as so many wealthy Irish businessmen chose to do. Nor did he outsource manufacturing to cheaper options such as Asia, but kept his centre of operations on home ground.

Thanks to his vitality, enterprise and ingenuity, people had the dignity of employment.

Life was sweet for many years.

Overseas interests included the De Vere Belfry hotel and golf course in England. But he made mistakes, diversifying into areas outside his expertise, his “core competency” as economists refer

to it. He seems to have presumed his undoubted business acumen was a transferable skill. But when he approached insurance, stockbroking and banking, the results were catastrophic. His most significant error, apart from that disastrous involvement with Anglo, was setting up in insurance. That’s a regulated business and he didn’t follow the rules.

Although some say he should never have disturbed the Giant’s Grave, a megalithic burial tomb on Slieve Rushden which he moved to the Slieve Russell hotel to make way for a quarry. Those of a superstitious bent suggest his luck was bound to turn, sooner or later, after tampering with a 4,000-year-old monument.

The tomb still stands in the grounds of the five-star hotel.

But the Slieve Russell is just one among a number of businesses no longer in Quinn hands.

While there is no doubt that Anglo was Quinn’s nemesis, he would have experienced difficulties during the financial collapse anyway. The Quinn Group was heavily reliant on the construction sector, so layoffs were inevitable in his cement, plastics and radiators companies.

As for Quinn Insurance, he tampered with its reserves while struggling to service his debt mountain, and was forced by Ireland’s Financial Regulator into a humiliating resignation as chairman in 2008. Quinn’s attitude was that it was his own

20 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

money to take, and he never understood that company money isn’t the same as personal money.

Capital shortfalls in insurance carry enormous risks, and Quinn Insurance also hit received a record €3.25m fine for breaching financial regulations. Three years later, the Quinn Group slipped through his fingers. But Quinn himself wasn’t the only victim.

Cash to restock the insurance arm had to be lent by the Irish Exchequer, leading to a 2% levy now paid by customers on all nonlife policies. Insurance customers are covering some of Sean Quinn’s gambling losses.

When Quinn lost control of his group in April 2011, he owed €3.1bn — some €2.3bn of it in Anglo loans made as a result of CFD margin calls. Through CFDs, he had been gambling on the share price, increasing his stake gradually until almost 30% of the bank was owned by him.

There was a risk he could destabilise the bank, and Quinn was forced to unwind his stake. That’s when the bank concocted its controversial Maple Ten scheme, unloading a tranche of Quinn’s shares onto key customers, as well as to his family members. The idea was to prevent the market from being flooded by a sudden Quinn evacuation, lowering the share price still further.

Hot on the heels of this setback came the financial meltdown.

Anglo was taken into state hands.

Quinn, who had pledged his busi-

nesses as collateral for the loans he had to take out, expected to cut a deal with the bondholders and Anglo with a significant debt write-off. The lenders were willing to do a debt for equity swap — a not uncommon solution when more cash needs to be ploughed in. But Quinn refused to relinquish any part of his empire.

And he lost it all.

That famed ability to drive a hard bargain blinded him into believing the bank and bondholders would cave in. But they didn’t.

Following the Quinn Group’s liquidation in 2011, an unusual amount of damage was done to property — the most sinister example involving an arson attack on a senior executive’s car. There were rallies in support of Quinn, and marches on the Dail.

Later in 2011, he applied for bankruptcy in the Northern Ireland courts because of that jurisdiction’s shorter bankruptcy term. He was declared bankrupt in November but this was annulled on appeal and he was made bankrupt in the Republic in January 2012.

However, part of his empire is now owned by a consortium of local businessmen including former Quinn executives. Tellingly, the group’s name is the Quinn Business Retention Company. Quinn is described as a consultant, but some question whether the consortium is a front for him — an allegation vociferously denied by the company.

And so to that asset-stripping spree at the Quinn Group, when some €500m in properties and rent-rolls were put beyond the reach of receivers. The international properties in his portfolio, including the Kutuzoff Tower in Moscow, a shopping centre in Kiev and the Q-City property in India’s Hyderabad, were his children’s inheritance as far as Quinn was concerned.

The asset-stripping deal was set up by his nephew Petey Quinn, who faces a jail sentence if he crosses the border into the Republic. He can’t be extradited because he’s wanted on foot of a civil rather than criminal offence.

The battle over assets led to

Quinn’s jailing for contempt of court in 2012, when he served nine weeks in Dublin’s Mountjoy as Prisoner 82809.

The family claimed they were double-crossed in Russia and

Ukraine and were no longer in control of the properties. The courts didn’t believe them.

The Quinns are determined to fight on. The Irish High Court is to hear a landmark case taken by

Quinn’s wife Patricia and their five children against the bank.

They claim some €2.3bn borrowed from Anglo to buy Anglo shares ought not to be repayable because it was an illegal loan whose purpose was to prop up the share price.

There is a case to be made that bankers, regulators and auditors should be before the courts rather than Quinns.

Arguably, they are caught up by rules changed retrospectively. As soon as Anglo and other institutions were nationalised, borrowers in difficulties became tax defaulters and their debts became unpaid taxes.

And public opinion underwent a shift.

Viewed as a martyr by some, Quinn only has himself to blame for his fall Sean Quinn believes his companies were stolen from him – “daylight robbery” is his description of the Quinn Group’s loss. But his good name has suffered because of his own actions. In his dealings with the Irish judicial system, he has behaved dishonourably. Yet he will continue to be viewed as a martyr by some: a hardworking

businessman who paid the price for the financial collapse, whereas those who either inflated the boom or did nothing to control it have emerged unscathed. That’s true, but equally his actions over the asset-stripping do him little credit. And there is no getting away from the fact that he engaged in complicated and secre-

tive share-buying in Anglo which left him with crippling debts. He has never accepted full responsibility for his part, using instead a post-dated defence that he received bad advice. Quinn took a punt on Anglo shares. Nobody made him do it. His sense of victimhood is understandable, but he has been a businessman for

most of his life, and must realise the world is merciless when mistakes are made and compounded.

The higher the risk, the more someone stands to gain – or lose.

The reality is that the man who had the vision to found the Quinnasty crashed and burned when he bet the farm on one enormous stock market gamble.

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 21

NEWS ANALYSIS

Small is the new big Alan Watts takes a look at the rise of ‘high growth new businesses’

B

USINESS writers, myself included, often write about the model companies who are going to transform our economy. They are small, young, aggressive, agile and consider the world to be a small place — their markets are exports.

However, some unique recent research has challenged this perception and coined a new phrase — high growth small businesses.

These are defined as companies who average at least 20% annual growth for three years and a turnover of £1m to £20m. This means that most will not be what we normally consider to be start-ups. Or, if they are, then they started running very quickly to achieve revenues on this scale.

And they are not necessarily exporters either. In fact, a survey suggests that under half of them export outside the UK. As for their numbers: well at 30,000 companies, they are a drop in the UK company ocean. They provide just 2% of UK employment and contribute only 3.4% of the economy.

So they don’t really matter, do they? But there’s a ‘but’.

And the ‘but’ is that HGSBs contributed 36% of the growth in the UK economy in 2013.

And 69% of the employment growth.

They may be relatively small but they are growing rapidly and they do matter. If they continue with this type of growth, they will shortly matter a great deal.

OK, so they are not the export-focused, high tech startups we might have expected, although these companies most certainly do matter too.

When you look at HGSBs regionally, we don’t fare too well in Northern Ireland. In fact, we only have 600 of these firms. That’s 2% — when we have 3% of the population.

And the numbers employed in HGSBs here is also around 2% of the total.

By now I hear you sighing

HGSBs are defined as companies averaging at least 20% annual growth for three years and a £1m-£20m turnover ‘here we go again’, another economic statistic where we look pretty poor. Well, don’t panic, because all is not necessarily as it seems.

The latest Knowledge Economy Index published by NISP CONNECT showed that we have the second fastest growth rate in this sector. Knowledge economy companies utilise brain power, or knowledge, to generate economic value.

Where we used to export goods in ships down the Lagan (or even the ships themselves), now we export down fibre optic cables.

Many of these Northern

22 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

Ireland companies have not yet met the definition for HGSB — but they soon will.

So one interpretation of all of these figures is that, while we are not yet growing in the way highlighted by this report, we have a wave of exciting companies coming through — and so we soon will be.

Analysis of the sectors which make up the HGSB population shows a large proportion to be in traditional sectors.

The top three were wholesale/retail, agriculture and construction — largely not the new economy.

Information and communi-

cations and technical made up just 11% of the UK turnover.

So this tends to back up the suggestion that what makes up HGSBs today is going to change. And the companies where Northern Ireland is leading the growth will shortly become the economic growth engine for the country.

So small may be the new big, but it matters what type of small you are.

More information about Halo, the Northern Ireland business angels network, can be found at www. haloni.com. Mr Watts can also be contacted through this site

BREAKING THE MOULD

Program for success

Allstate NI’s James Gillespie explains why he thinks there’s no such thing as a stupid question, just an opportunity to think again Name: James Gillespie Company: Allstate NI Job Title: Innovation consultant I got into a technology business because…

From as far back as I can remember, I have had computers in my life. It started out with my grandad on his BBC microcomputer before moving to my Amstrad CPC 464. Countless hours spent methodically typing in code that I didn’t even understand at the time were rewarded by a few flashing images.

The sense of fulfilment was second to none for a primary school kid like me.

As an adult I have seen the use of technology increase exponentially and after graduation I knew it was something I wanted to get into. When I started working at Allstate NI, I could see the opportunities available. Now I am creating applications used by millions of people across the US and can see how it is changing their lives.

I haven’t always done this…

How things work and science in general have always been of interest to me. This led me to working towards doing mechanical engineering at university, but technology and development was always close behind. In fact, after the first year of my degree I looked at the possibility of changing degrees to a pure computer-based one. I was told there would be no point as there were not enough jobs in computers for all the graduates and that I was better off staying with engineering. As it turns out this has not been the case.

When I graduated I had taken a year out to work as a placement student in an engineering company. I enjoyed it, but wanted to try other things.

Allstate NI were hiring non IT graduates for testing jobs and I applied. I came into Allstate NI having done very little programming since my A-levels

James Gillespie vows you should “never be afraid to fail and never be afraid to try” in technology but after only a short amount of time, I knew I wanted to move into the development side of things. Working on programming in my own time, assisted by training within the company, I moved from testing to development and finally into my current position as an innovation consultant.

The best thing about my work is…

The myriad of different people I get to work with. In Allstate NI, I am constantly in contact with people across Northern Ireland as well as in the US and India. Each culture brings a

24 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

unique perspective to challenges, meaning we get views and resolutions that we may not have got from one single site.

The person I take inspiration from…

A huge influence for me is not just one person but a pair. They are Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, two of the developers of SnapChat. They showed that big ideas do not have to be complicated ideas.

My advice to anyone starting off in technology…

Never be afraid to fail and never be afraid to try. Things may

look daunting when you first start and your goals may seem far away, but give everything and get back up after any knockbacks. There are always people willing to help you along. When we brainstorm, we have a mantra that there are no stupid questions or stupid ideas, just opportunities to think again.

The R&D team started off small and almost unknown in Allstate, but through hard work we have become the go-to team for anyone looking for a fast resolution to any issues with technology.

AND I’LL TELL YOU ANOTHER THING...

Positivity is the key

Keith Chuter of Belfast Telegraph Business Awards chief sponsor British Airways on his decades in the aviation business

Keith Chuter joined British Airways, chief sponsor of the Belfast Telegraph Business Awards 2015, in the 1970s

Name: Keith Chuter Company: British Airways sales manager for Ireland, UK regions and tourist boards

throughout my adult life. It is certainly a value that I have always tried to implement at British Airways.

My first job was....

At the age of 16 I used to work on Wednesday and Friday evenings and all day Saturday in a large department store in south east London called Cheesmans — for the princely sum of £5. At the time the money they paid seemed like a huge amount to me.

My business mantra is: Be upfront, honest and always support your colleagues within your team. If you work for a great brand like British Airways and have a strong team working for you, it’s not too difficult. I feel that it is important to show enthusiasm and set an example to colleagues in everything that I do. I want staff to feel inspired by their job so that they perform it to the best of their ability.

The first person who taught me to succeed was...

I guess looking back, it would have to be my Dad who always told my brother and I that money doesn’t grow on trees and to earn it you have to work hard. It is a valuable lesson to learn at a young age and it taught me not only the value of money but it also really helped to develop my work ethic

It’s all changed since I started out...

When I joined the British Overseas Airways Corporation in the 1970s as a filing clerk, life was all a lot different.

Customers had a much more limited choice of fares and everything was paper-based. I

26 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

remember that in the event of a computer failure, reservations were written down and filed on a whiteboard. Nowadays, customers can choose from hundreds of different fares and travel across six different cabin products on long-haul flights.

The one thing I am proud of is that I was here during the Concorde era and got to experience such a fascinating time in aeronautical history. Another change that I am delighted to have experienced is that British Airways also now offers an essential airlink of up to six flights a day from Belfast City to London Heathrow, which is vital for the continued development of business, commerce and tourism.

In 10 years the world will be...

Closer, I think is the right word. When I first started out in the industry, customers could only dream about being

able to fly non-stop for up to 13 hours on aircraft that could carry 500 people. Technology will keep on moving forward.

Perhaps non-stop travel to Australia will be possible one day.

My one business regret...

Is probably not having any. I love my career at British Airways and it is a real privilege to work for such a leading global airline that has over 90 years of expertise in serving customers and catering for their needs.

My one piece of business advice is...

Don’t let it get you down. In all businesses there are going to be ups and downs but in all cases, stay positive.

I couldn’t start the day without...

A cup of tea and the sport pages of the paper. The tea to wake me up and the sports pages to depress me about my beloved Charlton Athletic.

SME WATCH

B Rainbowrises Amanda Ferguson looks at the rapidly-growing company Rainbow, Northern Ireland’s largest independent telecommunications provider

Rainbow Communications co-founder Eric Carson

28 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

ELFAST-BASED telecoms company Rainbow Communications has thousands of clients throughout the UK and Ireland.

The firm, which offers a range of services — call lines, broadband, mobile, systems, VoIP and cloud telephony, data and IT services — was set up in April 1998 as TSI Ireland.

In 2001 it was re-branded as Rainbow.

The purpose of the re-branding, according to co-founder and director Eric Carson, was “to provide us with a clear identity and create an image which reflected the spectrum of products and services we offer”.

He explained his role in the firm, which employs more than 100 people.

“I am the chair of the board, currently focusing the board’s attention on two sets of key performance indicators, our customer services and financial performance,” Mr Carson said.

“In addition as chair, the organisation’s strategic growth is of vital importance.

“I also assist other directors in delivering their objectives for the organisation that, of course, is two-way within Rainbow.”

A strong team runs the company which has its headquarters on the Ballygowan Road.

Mr Carson said: “We have a team of directors who are responsible for their own directorates, developing and delivering on the strategy and vision set by the board.

“On day to day operations, our directors and managers are responsible for the company’s operations. However, Rainbow believes strongly in letting people get on with their jobs and as such we trust them to get on with their various responsibilities and seek management support when required.”

Rainbow has grown steadily over the last 16 years.

“In 1998 we started with five people in a small office, servicing Northern Ireland companies,” Mr Carson said.

“Today we operate from a 20,000 sq ft office complex

from where we service the whole of the United Kingdom and Ireland.

“The business has grown through a combination of direct face to face sales, telesales and acquisitions.

“We have and continue to grow our business without debt, self-financing any growth initiatives which enables Rainbow to provide a stable and secure service platform for customers.”

Rainbow is the largest independent telecommunications provider in Northern Ireland with around 10,000 business customers and an annual turnover of £13m.

Mr Carson said it has ambitious plans for the future.

“Strategic acquisition will be a major focus in the next 12 months as we strive to consolidate our position as the ‘real alternative’ to BT Retail,” he said. “This of course will bring its own challenges and through our recently appointed customer service director, Uel McCrea, we will continue to develop our customer care to ensure we offer an unrivalled service.”

A Rainbow engineer hard at work Rainbow was recently appointed as a certified partner of TomTom Telematics.

Mr Carson added: “In addition to providing local businesses with a complete telecommunications solution,

we now offer Webfleet, a fleet management solution suitable for businesses with 2,000 to 5,000 vehicles.

“The innovative vehicle tracking and reporting system makes it simple for businesses

to find out where costs are high and thus facilitates increased productivity and identify potential problem areas.”

For more information about Rainbow Communications visit rainbowtele.com

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 29

ASK ASKTHE THEEXPERTS EXPERTS

WE are concerned that a competitor is copying our brand in order to gain our custom. We do not have any registered trademarks. What can we do?

OF course registering marks, to include names and logos, puts a party in the strongest possible position to deal with any copy-catting. However, even in the absence of registrations, the law offers some protection to businesses through the common law tort of passing off.

The purpose of this tort was nicely summarised in the case of Perry v Truefitt which stated that ‘a man is not to sell his own goods under pretence that they are the goods of another man’.

To bring an action for passing off, you must demonstrate goodwill in your business and show that the other party is misrepresenting its goods or services as being the same as or related to yours, and that this has caused or is likely to cause damage to your goodwill.

The damage element will generally require confusion in the minds of customers, either at the point of sale or after sale.

The greater the similarities between the products or services offered, the more likely confusion becomes.

In the case of L’Oréal SA v Bellure NV [2010], Bellure sold ‘knock off’ perfumes with similarities to the smell of L’Oréal’s perfumes.

Even though there was no confusion at the point of sale, as consumers knew what they were buying, it was found there was post-sale confusion and, therefore, unfair advantage.

In the recent case of Moroccanoil Israel Limited v Aldi Stores Limited [2014], Judge Hacon took the view that Aldi created a product which brought the other product to mind, but that this, in itself, was not unlawful.

The likely outcome of your case will depend on the facts specific to your case. You may well have a strong action in passing off — however, a detailed legal opinion should be obtained prior to embarking on litigation. BC

Barbara Creed, Director in commercial litigation, Tughans Solicitors

Paul Convery, Head of business at BT

Roger Gilpin, Partner at Gilpin Executive Search

Sound advice can be a valuable commodity We put your questions to the experts with the answers

AS a business we’re already using cloud-based applications across data storage, staffing and recruitment. Is a cloud-based telephony system the natural next step for us?

THE phone system you choose will largely depend on the size of your business and your communication needs. Both traditional landline phone systems and cloud-based solutions offer reliability, so it’s important to look beyond that to the key benefits a cloud-based telephony system can deliver for you.

BT Cloud Voice is our new business-grade IP voice service.

It’s designed for businesses of all sizes and uses the latest proven IP communications technology to deliver high quality calls over the internet.

This new system offers great flexibility as it’s managed through an online portal, so you can adapt and scale up your system as required.

You can add new or additional users or set up call preferences like call forwarding and call waiting, all without the need to call engineers on site. But, if you do need help, then there’s a dedicated support team based here in Belfast to help with set-up and to provide ongoing support.

The BT Cloud Voice smartphone app means you can integrate mobile and office on one number to keep everyone connected. Initial hardware costs

I’M a small business owner who is concerned about my employees’ personal use of social media. What can I do to address this?

IN today’s digital era, the impact social media has on businesses is a valid concern for many employers, who recognise the threat it poses to a company’s reputation if used inappropriately.

To further complicate matters, employment law surrounding social media is somewhat a ‘grey area’, with no specific legislation set in place to protect the business interests of company directors and stakeholders, leaving many tiptoeing around the issue. Business owners therefore need to take the initiative and include a social media policy into employee handbooks for all personnel to read and sign. By setting clear guidelines for what is (and what is not) acceptable when communicating online, a social media policy is an excellent platform for employees to understand their role as company ambassadors while social networking.

Although it’s important to list the dos and don’ts of social media use, it’s also important not to go overboard by attempting to micromanage every aspect of your employees’ online activity. An element of trust must be instilled into the social media policy in order to maintain positive staff morale and prevent a potential breech in data protection law.

Business owners should also encourage employees to post disclaimers, which may be directly or indirectly linked to their area of work depending on what they post and who they follow. This can be something as simple as “opinions expressed here are of my own and not representative of any other body”.

A social media policy that meets with company ethos, legal requirements and employee expectations, can be daunting at first, but is highly recommended to protect your business. RG are low and you’ll only need a BT Business internet connection and IP telephone to make calls across one or multiple office locations.

And, if your plans for growth extend beyond Northern Ireland, the service allows you to set up a

All questions should be addressed to: experts@businessmonth.co.uk Questions and advice are publishted in good faith but should not replace the advice of your professional financial advisor.

30 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

local presence, wherever it needs to be with a “virtual” geographic number.

With three license options available, it’s definitely worth serious consideration this year.

PC

INSIDE REPORT

TAKING MEASURE

The Stormont House Agreement isn’t just about welfare reform, flag protests and marches. It has real potential to reshape the economy in Northern Ireland. Paul Gosling looks into how it could affect us

I

NITIAL attention to the Stormont House Agreement focused, understandably, on welfare reform and other contentious items such as dealing with flags, parades and investigating Troubles-related violence. Consideration with regard to the economy has been dominated by the intended devolution of corporation tax.

Careful reading of the agreement, though, suggests a raft of other measures that have the potential to fundamentally reshape not just our public sector, but also the Northern Ireland economy. At the head of these is the decision to permit borrowings that might otherwise have been available to spend on capital projects, such as roads, to instead make redundancy payments to staff who agree to retire early.

Trade unions calculate that the money available — £700m — equates to about 20,000 job losses. This will reduce the number of people in employment in Northern Ireland — which in fact actually fell by a thousand in the last quarter.

While claimant count unemployment continues to fall, this has been more than balanced by economic inactivity rising even faster in recent weeks.

Various measures outlined in the agreement suggest other key reforms are likely.

The agreement states “there is a need for measures to improve the efficiency of the civil service and wider public

sector and reduce administrative costs”. In part this is to be achieved by “the extension of shared services”.

Other measures hinted at are introducing new charges and selling public assets. The agreement specifies: “Executive departments should also consider how best to realise the value of their capital assets through reform or restructuring to realise income and longer term savings.... Revenue raising measures may be considered if cost reductions cannot be achieved quickly enough or if there is a decision to run an enhanced provision of public services.”

In addition, the annex to the agreement spells out that the proceeds of asset sales can be retained by the Executive and made available potentially for both capital and revenue expenditure. Normally the proceeds of sales of assets are spent on capital projects, or used to reduce debt. The agreement specifies that money borrowed from the UK Treasury and the costs of not fully implementing welfare reform can also be covered through the proceeds of asset sales.

Taken together, the Stormont Agreement provides major incentives to sell-off public assets. Through the promotion of shared services, it may also generate a substantial outsourcing of back office services.

Experience in England demonstrates that shared ser-

32 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

vices can be arranged within the public sector, in order to achieve efficiencies. Research by the Local Government Association found that 337 councils in England — 95% of English local authorities — are engaged in some shared service activity.

In addition, shared services operate in the NHS and central government.

Shared services range across back office activities. They can include revenue collection, telephony services, personnel management, payroll administration, procurement and IT support. The logic is simple — the IT systems and personnel used to collect business rates in one area, for example, can be used elsewhere as well. That same rationale can be applied across much of the public sector. It has even been applied at senior management level — some local authorities jointly appoint chief executives with neighbouring councils, as do some NHS and local government bodies.

According to the Cabinet Office, sharing back office services across the public sector could save 20% of revenue costs. A report from the Audit Commission suggested this could be an underestimate, with private sector experience indicating savings could come in at between 25% and 40%.

While much of the service sharing takes place within the public sector, much of it is privatised. Capita is one of the most successful businesses

undertaking outsourcing for public bodies and it already has operating bases in Belfast and Newtownabbey. Capita was established in 1984 as a small division of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, was spun-off as a management buy-out and is now a plc with a turnover of £3.9bn and 64,000 employees.

Equally, or perhaps more, significant for the future of Northern Ireland’s economy is the prospect of asset sales.

If we are to judge by the ex-

The Stormont House Agreement focused on welfare reform but it has a raft of other measures too

perience of England, potential targets are Translink, the ports and NI Water. Various small scale asset sales are already under way, including sales of former PSNI stations and pockets of surplus land owned

by Translink and NI Water.

There might also be opportunities for the sale and leaseback of government buildings â&#x20AC;&#x201D; such as the Invest NI headquarters. But sale and leaseback schemes in Great Britain have not always been effective in saving money.

There has already been speculation that Translink could be privatised and there are media reports that some members of the assemblyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regional development committee support this option.

But the experience of privatisation of the bus industry in England is not promising.

The House of Commons transport committee has complained that the system of private sector competition in the bus sector is not effective, with in effect local monopolies

operating rather than real competition.

A report from the House of Commons library stated that the system had led to fewer passengers and higher fares.

The situation with the privatised rail industry is different.

There has been a substantial increase in passenger numbers since privatisation in 1994.

Passenger numbers have doubled, while the use of rail for freight transportation has risen by 60%. Revenues for rail operators have increased sub-

stantially over the years since privatisation, while some fares have also risen.

Analysis conducted for Rail magazine found that season ticket prices have risen slightly above the rate of inflation.

Some off-peak fares have fallen in real terms, encouraging greater use of lower demand services.

Advance purchased tickets have also been heavily discounted.

Turn to page 34 >>

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 33

INSIDE REPORT << Continued from page 33 But some longer distance journeys, especially single tickets and those bought on the day of travel, have risen by as much as three times the rate of inflation.

NI Water is another target for privatisation. Given the recent industrial dispute, the sale of NI Water might seem particularly attractive to some politicians.

But the scale of political unrest in the Republic over the introduction of water charges demonstrates the risks of a privatisation that is linked to the introduction of water charges.

It has been suggested that water charges could generate around ÂŁ300m a year in revenues, assuming the charges are set at a break-even level.

But the assembly has agreed that water charges will not be imposed until 2015, at the earliest.

The ports and harbours are another favoured potential privatisation and there has been repeated speculation about the potential sale of Belfast Port.

With an operating profit of

Flag issues may have dominated the talk about the Stormont House Agreement, but the economy is important ÂŁ37m in 2013 and a substantial valuable land holding, its sale would be likely to generate a large windfall.

While there are several opportunities for asset sales, it seems inevitable that the big

34 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

projects would lead to severe resistance. This is especially true with water. But public transport privatisation is also unlikely to be popular, especially as fares in Northern Ireland are substantially below

those imposed in England.

While the public sector has been put on the road towards greater efficiency and commercialisation, it is a journey that is likely to involve significant dispute.

TICKERS

This month’s local indicators at a glance Ulster Bank chief economist Richard Ramsey gives a rundown on the latest key pointers NORTHERN Ireland’s food, drink and tobacco (FDT) industry has consistently achieved year-on-year sales growth since 2008/09.

According to the latest Northern Ireland Manufacturing Sales and Exports Survey, local FDT firms sold £9.6bn worth of produce in 2013/14.

The latest figures represented the fourth consecutive year of record highs in FDT sales. Since 2008/09 total sales by local FDT companies have increased cumulatively by an impressive 47%. Meanwhile, FDT exports have increased by almost double this amount (90%) over the same period. In comparison, non-FDT sales in 2013/14 remained 22% below the level achieved in 2008/09.

So what has been the secret behind our FDT sector’s recent success and will this record performance continue? The short answers to these two

questions are the exchange rate, and, no.

The exchange rate has played a vital role in boosting FDT sales. The five years from 2009 to 2013 were characterised as a period of sterling

weakness and euro strength.

This made NI’s FDT products particularly price competitive in eurozone markets.

It also made exports from the Republic of Ireland (RoI) to GB more expensive and thus

local firms stole market share from their southern counterparts. Though 2014/15 may see another record high in FDT sales, given the exchange rate outlook is likely to represent the high watermark.

STERLING/EURO approaches a seven-year high Euro weakness — a key theme on the currency markets over the last six months. The sterling/ euro currency pair is the key exchange rate as far as the Northern Ireland economy is concerned given that we share a land-border with the eurozone – the Republic of Ireland.

At the time of writing, the euro

is worth an estimated 75p.

Sterling has strengthened by 11% since the start of last year.

The period 2009-13 saw rapid growth in sales of food & drink, particularly to the Republic of Ireland. The current exchange rate will adversely affect exports into the eurozone and will make Northern Ireland a less attractive destination for eurozone tourists.

UK consumer prices increased by just 0.5% year-on-year in December— the joint-lowest annual rate of inflation since records began in 1989. The plunge in the oil price is a key factor behind the weak rate of inflation. Food prices also fell in December (-1.8% y/y) at their fastest rate since June 2002.

Falling food and fuel prices will boost disposable incomes

ahead of the next five years of austerity. Wage growth should also help to numb the fiscal pain. Over the 5-year period from October 2009 to September 2014 the annual rate of CPI inflation increased at a faster rate than average earnings.

However, since June last year the annual rate of CPI and wage inflation has been moving in opposite directions.

36 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

BUSINESSPEOPLE

The Northern Ireland Businessperson who... ...is progressing in business while fighting MS Conor Devine, principal at property advisory firm GDP Partnership

C

ristiano Ronaldo said: “Every season is a new challenge to me, and I always set out to improve in terms of games, goals, assists.”

For me each year is no different — it’s a new challenge.

Over Christmas I was able to take time out and write down my business and personal goals for 2015.

Now for those who know me, you know that I love my football and I rarely miss a good game, but for me setting my goals each year is much more than making a New Year’s resolution. I have been doing this for the last six years as I find if I write them down and look at them throughout the year, then there is more of a chance of me remaining focused and achieving them.

I split the goals into business and personal goals as I feel it’s important to separate the two.

The stand-out personal goal for 2015 is that I continue to be in good health and stick to my training programme of a minimum of 10 hours per week, which will hopefully keep my body and mind in good shape.

Those who know me will also be aware that this is a far cry from eight years ago when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) at the young age of 28 years old. MS is a very nasty neurological progressive condition and unfortunately for many people, their health gradually deteriorates and with that their quality of life.

Thankfully for me after four years of very debilitating symptoms, in 2010 I decided to fight back against the MS. Since then with a plan of good food, exercise and a very positive approach to the condition, I have been able to reverse the MS and continue to get stronger. Don’t be fooled though as I have put in a serious amount

Conor Devine is fighting a daily battle to keep the onset of MS at bay of work, research and effort to maintain my health and positive mindset, and due to the nature of MS, I need to continue that fight with the same spirit if I am to keep the condition at bay. I have to tell you regardless of how difficult it can be that I am up for the challenge.

The other stand-out personal goal of 2015 is to complete an Ironman challenge. Last week I entered the Barcelona Ironman, which takes place in October of this year. I am very excited at the prospect of this. It is not for the faint hearted, as it comprises a 2.4mile swim, 112-mile bike race and then a marathon to finish off, and all this one after the other. I have many reasons in wanting to achieve this goal, but to achieve it with an MS diagnosis will be really pleasing

and hopefully will help others believe that with the right approach, dedication and hard work, they too can reach their goals, no matter what their personal circumstances are.

One of the challenges with an event such as Ironman is that it takes up a lot of your time training, and with a young family and a growing business, the trick here will be to be as organised as possible and to plan each week out in some detail.

On the business front, 2015 looks to be one of the most exciting years to date, as our real estate and debt advisory business GDP Partnership continues to grow from strength to strength.

In 2010, I had a cup of coffee with a good friend and now business partner, and out of that conversation we both de-

cided that the market needed a mediation business. Fast forward four years and GDP is now the market leader in bank mediation and has helped hundreds of SMEs and individuals deal with their debt challenges. Like every good business, we have evolved and in the last eighteen months we have added a couple of new platforms to the GDP family, namely GDP Equity Experts, GDP SmartWizard and GDP Capital.

Business is one of my passions in life, and with a genuine desire to help people, it’s really gratifying to go to work each day and work with a great team.

For me, business is all about solving problems and if your not doing that with your company, then you don’t have a business. Over the last few years I have had the opportunity to meet with a huge number of entrepreneurs from across the country, and over that time I’ve been able to work out that there is a need for a professional network of experts who will work with a company on a non-contract basis.

For this reason we launched GDP SmartWizard at the end of January. This is an exciting development for us and will mean that with my training programme and young family, every minute of the year will be critical.

I think it’s vital to be ambitious and if you’re into goal setting, then you may as well set goals that get you out of your comfort zone. I certainly have done it this year, but the plan is to get through to the end of the year alive and kicking and maybe if I get my Ironman medal in October, I might tone down the goals for 2016. Then again, given my eagerness to push myself at every level, I doubt it.

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 37

FOCUS ON: CONSTRUCTION

It’s time to cement construction gains

Clare Weir asks if 2015 could really bring a new dawn for construction and wonders whether Stormont could do more to help the firms struggling compete in a global market AFTER years in the doldrums, it had seemed that Northern Ireland’s construction industry was finally being rebuilt on more solid foundations.

But following a raft of positive monthly reports from various monitoring bodies, almost unanimous in highlighting successive gains, negativity is beginning to creep back in.

While welcoming signs of recovery, commentators are warning firms here not to rest on their laurels, citing skills shortages, fears of a drying up of lucrative overseas contracts, worries about a strengthening pound, and a slowdown in infrastructure spending as issues of concern.

The most recent construction bulletin from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency — which excludes work carried out by our firms outside the province — said output fell 0.7% in the third quarter of 2014.

There have been many big-name casualties of the downturn over the last few years, like Mivan and Patton, and scores more supply chain firms have gone under.

But savvy firms have moved away from housebuilding and have diversified and specialised into niche areas where there is more global demand.

One such company is Lagan Construction Group, which has become an industry leader in airside and landside airport renovations,

38 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

even picking up work from the RAF and US Air Force.

Offering a package which usually has to be split between several different con-

tractors has meant that the firm has worked throughout the world, from Heathrow, London Luton, Gatwick, Cardiff, Bristol and Bournemouth to Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands and Bermuda in the Caribbean, and in Hong Kong and Pakistan.

But while the infrastructure expert recently announced pretax profits of £4.3m despite another challenging year in the industry, an escalation of costs and the poor performance of the economy in Northern Ireland and the Republic meant that both revenue and pretax profits were down compared to 2012/13.

In the 12 months to

the end of March 2014, the company saw revenues fall from the previous year’s figure of £165.1m to £137.6m, while pre-tax profits fell from £4.6m to £4.3m.

However, some in the industry are worried that lucrative foreign contracts are not a silver bullet for the sector.

John Moore, managing director of jobs agency Hays in Northern Ireland, said that fast-tracking of maj or building projects is key to keeping talented young people in Northern Ireland as statistics show that increasing numbers of jobseekers move away to find work.

He said that those who would have traditionally travelled to the Republic to work had been forced further afield by the continuing slowness of the construction sector across the border.

Mr Moore said that Hays has seen a 70% increase in vacancies for site and head-office based roles over the past six months, but added that complacency is dangerous.

“While some reports have suggested that Northern Ireland construction companies are punching well above their weight in terms of winning contracts in Great Britain, the Republic and further afield, it is important that those staff who travel abroad to work bring their talents back home to inspire the future generation.

“We can’t afford a skills gap to lead to another downturn — this sector is too vital to our economy.”

Major works like the north-south electricity inter-connector, and the A5 and A6 road plans — all cited as crucial to aid inward investment by companies responding to the

Turn to page 40 >>

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 39

FOCUS ON: CONSTRUCTION << Continued from page 39 most recent NI Chamber of Commerce quarterly economic survey — have been up in the air.

It is argued by industry bodies that spending on roads, public buildings, hospitals and sports venues would help kick-start the construction sector.

This sentiment of stagnation was thrown into sharp focus by the latest construction market survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), which said that a slowdown in construction activity at the end of 2014 was partly due to budget gridlock at Stormont.

The organisation said the deadlock over the budget, which has finally been resolved, meant infrastructure activity ground to a halt.

The report added that Northern Ireland was the only region where surveyors reported a decline in the building of schools, hospitals and roads.

While RICS in Northern Ireland said that activity being undertaken by our firms has risen for the fifth quarter in a row, it was at a lower rate as infrastructure workloads were falling and more

A slowdown in construction activity at the end of 2014 has been blamed by many on budget gridlock at Stormont firms are winning work outside the region.

The body has called on politicians to recognise the “paramount importance” of spending on infrastructure. And there are signs that the politicians may be listening.

Finance Minister Simon Hamilton has pledged that extra loans from the Treasury will help tackle

40 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

an historic lack of infrastructure.

An extra £20m has been allocated to help universities and colleges build a skilled workforce and address skills shortages, while another £38.5m will help build a new campus of the University of Ulster in Belfast.

The Department for Regional Development will receive £5m,

part of which will be spent on road repairs.

And £10m has also been allocated to a shared education and housing scheme called Together: Building a United Community.

Whether these projects will mean a windfall for companies within the construction sector remains to be seen.

FOCUS ON: SUPERMARKETS

Empires fall in There is a revolution taking place in Northern Ireland’s supermarket retailing and it is being driven by the consumer, says Simon Rowe

S

MALL is beautiful and less is more. That is a neat summary of how two consumer trends are transforming the commercial landscape for supermarkets in Northern Ireland.

The days of shoppers travelling to massive out-oftown superstores for their big weekly grocery shop may soon be over and, as a result, convenience stores and smaller format outlets are reaping the rewards.

Moreover, cash-strapped consumers are voting with their feet in favour of discount chains amid an ongoing price war against retail giants such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

There is a revolution taking place in supermarket retailing and it is being driven by the consumer, say industry experts.

University of Ulster retail expert Donald McFetridge said: “Northern Ireland shoppers have changed their shopping behaviour and are now making more frequent shopping excursions, purchasing less on each occasion and choosing or electing to shop in smaller format stores.

“This is having a very adverse effect and impact on the larger multiple chains like Sainsbury’s and Tesco.”

However, these changes are not just a growing trend but an “irrevocable shift”, said Mr McFetridge, who lectures at the University of Ulster’s Ulster Business School.

“Shoppers have changed their behaviour during the recent economic crisis and their spending and choice of shopping destinations have

Shoppers have changed behaviourandmake more frequent excursions,purchasing less and choosing or electing to shop in smaller format stores changed irrevocably. Consumers are unlikely to easily revert to former shopping behaviour.

The discount chains are continuing to have a very significant impact on the established supermarket chains and are constantly growing market share.”

Supermarket giant Tesco is arguably feeling the chilling effect of this shifting commercial landscape the most.

In a major reversal of its fortunes in Northern Ireland, where it has 56 outlets, Tesco was recently forced to shelve plans for two new stores in Carryduff and Armagh.

The retail chain is also closing 43 existing stores across the UK and dealing with the fall-out from a £250m accounting scandal.

Although Tesco is still the dominant player in the region’s grocery market, with a 35.5% market share, its sales growth has fallen dramatically – from 3.9% to 0.1% in the last two years.

Tesco’s rival Sainsbury’s, which enjoys a market share of 18% in Northern Ireland, has also suffered a steady decline in its market share as it too is

42 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

trying to fight off incursions from discounters.

Its market share has fallen from 18.6% in 2012 to 18.3% in 2013.

Another issue that has affected supermarkets in recent months is general food deflation, much of it caused by a strong harvest across the northern hemisphere and falling commodity prices.

Yet despite these challenges, discount retailer Lidl has seen major growth. With 37 stores in Northern Ireland, it now claims a market share of more than 4%.

Meanwhile, Asda, the third biggest supermarket in Northern Ireland, is closing the gap on Sainsbury’s – its market share has increased from 16.8% to 17%.

In a further sign of tightening margins in the grocery sector, Dunnes Stores — which has 23 stores in Northern Ireland — suffered an 11% slump in revenues last year in its UK business arm.

“Store rationalisation is very much going to be a big feature of supermarket retailing in 2015,” Mr McFetridge said. “We have already heard the Tesco and (Great Britain chain) Morrisons announcements of store closures. This is a pattern which is set to continue throughout 2015 and well into 2016.

As a result, there will obviously be a very real threat in terms of jobs and employment in the retail sector.”

Embattled retail giant Tesco has not yet revealed what stores are earmarked for closure, but the firm has revealed

Turn to page 44 >>

new store wars ust volorrum utatiata volenda quia ni alitati ratiumet et vendus dis et voluptas ut ium nihilla quamus duscipis ressequam quassimus.

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 43

FOCUS ON: SUPERMARKETS << Continued from page 43 that Tesco Express shops are likely to face the axe. There are around 18 Express stores in Northern Ireland and up to 10 Tesco Extra stores.

But Tesco’s move to cull its Tesco Express stores seems hasty given that smaller format convenience-type stores are what Northern Ireland consumers are demanding.

“Perhaps they are wary of investing heavily in a market that is already filled by the likes of Centra and Spar,” said one industry insider.

Indeed, its rival Sainsbury’s has shown no desire to enter the extremely competitive convenience market in Northern Ireland with its Sainsbury’s Local format.

So, with big beasts like Tesco and Sainsbury’s running scared, it looks like the convenience end of the market will be where the real battle is in 2015.

The convenience market is already quite crowded — and the two biggest players are

Our convenience market’s two biggest players are pushing forward getting ready to turn up the heat even further.

The region’s 250 Centra, SuperValu and Mace symbol

44 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

stores, which are controlled by the Cork-based Musgrave group, have a combined turnover in excess of £600m — and

the group is eyeing further store expansion in Northern Ireland in the year ahead.

Arch-rival Henderson Group, which is controlled by the Agnew family, owns the lucrative Spar, Eurospar, Vivo, and Vivoxtra franchises in Northern Ireland, supplying over 400 stores. The Henderson Group saw its turnover rise to £642.8m in 2013, up 3.6%. It enjoyed record profits of £18.4m in 2013, up 17.5%.

Henderson Group is now poised to take on the big boys as the company has reinvested in the business with a capital spend of £23.1m. It has funded ongoing development of its store portfolio, as well as acquiring the freehold of seven stores, and has also bought an additional warehouse adjacent to its Mallusk base to support continued growth, particularly of the fresh foods division.

While the predicted demise of out-of-town superstores may be a little premature, there’s clearly going to be a lot in store for the industry in 2015.

OFF LINE SECTION MOTORING

JUSTTHE

TICKET

Jaguar F-Type is a car we’ve been waiting for

DAY INTHE LIFE

COLM McLORNAN Manager of the Marine Hotel in Ballycastle

MANABOUTTOWN

THE

CHAIRMAN

Inside track on Northern Ireland business

MAKING A SPLASH LAKE DISTRICT’S STUNNING SCENERY IS A SIGHT TO BEHOLD

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 45

offline

OUT TO LUNCH

Nothing cut-price about Co Down outlet shopping

Siobhan McKeown, marketing director of The Outlet

Joris Minne dines with Siobhan McKeown, director of marketing and business development at The Outlet, who stays close to the office by eating at the Linen Hill Restaurant in Banbridge

P

ROOF that the retail sector has upped its game in recent years is the number of top flight thinkers now employed in it. Once the last chance saloon for teenagers with poor — if any — GCSEs, retailing is attracting a new wave of brains. This is partly because graduates and school leavers had a limited field of choice in recent years. What with businesses closing and the public sector shrinking, a job in a shop was better than nothing.

But it’s also partly to do with lifestyle and the central role in our lives played by consumption and the fierce competition between high street and internet which means bigger efforts than ever are being made to attract shoppers.

Oxford graduate Siobhan McKeown — she got a first in her BSc in Earth sciences — is now in charge of business development and marketing at The Outlet, an out-of-Banbridge town centre for top brands at cut prices.

Her priority is to make The Outlet a place people want to go to not just for a pair of cheap trainers, but for the full retail therapy benefits provided by the best shopping streets in Ireland and Britain.

Sure enough, The Outlet is an attractively modern cluster of shops including Nike, Denby, Jaeger, GAP, Villeroy & Boch, Calvin Klein and seemingly tens more arranged along an

46 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

elegant crescent promenade which arches along a path about a quarter of a mile long.

Things are happening across the car park too, where a new Tesco recently opened for business and plans for a retail park (larger, bulkier goods) are under way.

For McKeown, the success of this base is down to factors including the feel of top quality about the place, that 540 local people are employed, and that a continuing programme of community relations means locals see it as part of the town.

How else can you explain a busy Linen Hill Restaurant which sits at the very southern tip of the crescent?

“The produce used by chef Shaun Hanna is locally sourced, the people employed here are from in and around the area, and we work with Banbridge District Council on seasonal events to make sure everyone feels part of it,” she explains over a huge plate of crab cakes.

So are shoppers coming to The Outlet?

McKeown confirms they are, by the tens of thousands each year, thanks to the location just off the A1.

“Since The Outlet opened in 2007, performance has been relatively strong,” she says, not wanting to give away too many figures.

“When the retail sector dipped after the credit crunch, traffic from the south as well as the north was noticeably diminished, but

things have improved.” McKeown has been in the job since 2010 having previously seen marketing action as a client executive in leading advertising agency Ogilvy and then in ASG. “The job I do is to ensure a partnership approach between the brands and The Outlet.

We provide the businesses here with marketing back-up and support to drive customers to them.

“There is nothing cut-price about the experience.”

Outlet centres normally operate in high density population zones. The fact that this one has thrived in a relatively sparsely populated area in a region which has yet to come out of a biting recession is down to forces like McKeown and her colleagues, their ability to read the market, and to be a good neighbour.

Sounds easy? It’s the way to do it, but not everyone has the talent to deliver like she can.

Linen Hill Restaurant Crab cakes: Duck leg: Drinks: Espresso x 2 Total:

£9.00 £8.00 £5.00 £4.00 £26.00

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YOUNG ENTERPRISE

‘What we have accomplished so far feels amazing’

By Aoidin Gormley of Rathmore Grammar school, Belfast

W

HEN I was little and was asked the standard question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I always gave the same answer — I want to be rich. Now that I’m older, that’s still my answer. Young Enterprise is an exciting project which gives young people the opportunity to achieve this goal. You can set up your own company and, design and sell any product you want. If you’ve spotted a profitable gap in the market, Young Enterprise is your chance to claim your fortune.

I am the managing director of my school’s young enterprise company this year. I am

grabbing this opportunity and running with it as far as I can.

Not many 17-year-olds can say they have met with a product developer, negotiated with suppliers, contacted potential investors and successfully achieved sponsorship for their business. These are just some of the amazing opportunities I have been able to avail of with this programme that will be key steps forward on my career plan.

One of the biggest problems my team has faced so far is clashing personalities. This has led to numerous arguments over even the smallest things. For example, when we carried out market research to help us decide on which product to sell, the results came back fairly even so we had to carry out a group vote. As everyone disagreed, things

got a bit heated. We found it difficult but had to set our own feelings aside, learn to trust each other and compromise in order to do what was best for the team and ultimately, the success of our company. Once we started to sell our products, these differences were washed away as everyone came together with the one thing bonding us together — the drive to make a profit.

I won’t lie — it’s hard being the best business in the world — but once you get past the bickering and disputes, being able to look back on all we have accomplished so far is an amazing feeling and one I cannot wait to experience again with the oncoming chapter of our journey.

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 47

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DAY IN THE LIFE

‘Planning time is imperative when you are running three businesses’ Colm McLornan Colm McLornan manages the Marine Hotel in Ballycastle, travel company friendshiptravel.com — and has just launched a new gluten-free range of foods

7am

Before I hit the road from Belfast to my office in Antrim, I like to start the day with a really good cup of coffee from one of the many cafes we have in Northern Ireland now.

As someone who has been involved in the hospitality industry since I was in my teens, before completing a BA Hons degree in hospitality and business, and then becoming an hotelier, I love watching these evolving trends as to what and where we choose to eat and drink. This also gives me a chance to review the figures from all my businesses which will have been emailed to me overnight — it’s a great way to get a snapshot of the previous day’s sales.

7.20am

I check in with the hotel manager via Facetime so I am up to speed with any developments and set up a staff meeting to discuss ways in which we can ensure our guests have the best possible stay at the Marine Hotel. A quick chat with the chef to get some feedback on how the new menus are being received, and I’m happy everything is running smoothly.

8am

En route to Antrim — this has proven to be an ideal location for me, as owner of the Marine Hotel in Ballycastle and director of my newest business Rule of Crumb, a new gluten-free food brand. Having headquarters away from the hotel allows me to focus on developing the new product lines for Rule of

Crumb which is now being distributed in Northern Ireland, with deals in the pipeline for Great Britain, France, the Caribbean and Ireland. I spotted the potential for growth in the gluten-free food market due to the increased demand from customers at the hotel, where I initially sourced individually-wrapped bread and breakfast cereal portions. From here, the lack of choice in the market sowed the seeds for a new brand to fill the market gap everywhere from supermarkets to local butchers’ shops.

9am

Once in the office I set my diary for the week which includes meetings with Invest NI and the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (Cafre) at Cookstown, both of which have played an important role in developing a business plan for Rule of Crumb. Today, I will choose which recipes which be used for our new product lines which range from crumbed chicken and fish to a gluten-free muffin specially developed for the province’s booming café culture. This includes tasting sessions and then the business of actually bringing the products to fruition in terms of costings and the logistics of delivering this to the shops, restaurants and delis.

10am

A quick dash to a networking event nearby where specialist food distributors and retailers will be in attendance. Building relationships with both large

48 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

and small distributors is crucial to ultimately getting the Rule of Crumb product into Northern Ireland homes. I leave having made some new business contacts who seem genuinely interested in the new gluten-free food brand.

11.30am

I spend a lot of time planning — this is imperative when you are running three businesses.

Now, I turn my mind to the tour operator I created for single travellers friendshiptravel.com.

I am always thinking about marketing strategies for the site and then I have scheduled in a conference call with my overseas manager in Turkey. I am passionate about travel and was very fortunate as a child to be taken on may holidays around the world by my parents. I always have itchy feet and love nothing more than planning my next big trip.

1pm

I grab a quick bite of lunch at nearby Junction One which is beside my office. Anytime I eat out, I always pay attention to what is on the menu whether it’s a coffee shop or a restaurant — I consider it market research for the hotel and Rule of Crumb. The growth in global travel has educated us about the different tastes and cuisine around the world, so it’s always a challenge as a hotelier to continually whet guests’ appetites with new takes on well-known dishes.

2pm-3.30pm

Spotting trends has become an

obsession for me as I am always on the look-out for a new business opportunity. Where do I find these? Everywhere is the answer — the internet, business publications, newspapers — so I do keep an eye on these things everyday in a bid to discover what I can be doing next with my existing business or if there is potential for another one.

3.30pm-4.30pm

Time to look at figures — this is how I identify the strengths or weaknesses of my businesses. The ability to delegate, patience, eye for detail and keep a tight grip on costs are all qualities required for managing more than one successful business — so this is one of the most important investments of my time during the day. If you don’t control your costs, there will be nothing left at the end of the year.

4.30pm-6pm

Rule of Crumb is still developing and that takes time. I always devote this part of the day to make calls, send emails and knock on doors to get people to buy into the concept and purchase the products.

6pm

I love hitting the ski slopes, exploring a new city or just relaxing on a Caribbean beach, which has to be done at least once a year to ensure it is acceptable for our friendshiptravel’s clients — so I’m scouring the internet for the next hot destination before booking my ticket. Afterwards, it’s off to the gym before heading home.

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THE search to find award winning young artists in this year’s Texaco Children’s Art Competition has begun, with the closing date fixed for Friday, February 27. Last year saw two Co Londonderry winners in the all-Ireland event, which is now in its 61st year.

Details are available through Texaco service stations and online at www.texacochildrensart.com Judging will take place in March and winners will be announced in mid-April, with the award ceremony to follow in May.

finished the year strongly with sales in December up 15.2% — a total of 215,217 vehicles were delivered in the last month of the year compared to 186,786 in the previous December.

Ian Robertson, of the board of management of BMW AG, said, “We have seen good growth throughout the year, well spread across all major sales regions. Our new models such as the BMW X4 and BMW 2 Series Active Tourer demonstrate our ability to develop new vehicles which attract new customers to the brand.

“The popularity of the BMW i3 and BMW i8 shows our game-changing ‘born electric’ strategy is on track.”

Record sales drive yet another successful year

Hybrids help power third year of growth atToyota

THE BMW Group delivered more than two million vehicles to customers in 2014, the company’s fourth record year in a row. A total of 2,117,965 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce vehicles were sold, more than ever before in the Group’s history.

All of the company’s brands

TOYOTA has posted its third successive year of sales growth in the UK. At year-end, hybrids accounted for almost a quarter (23%) of all Toyota cars sold.

It has put hybrid at the heart of the market, introducing the technology in core models such as Auris and Yaris. In 2014, the

Competition aims to fuel young artists’ creativity

MOTORING NEWS

British-built Auris range, including hybrid, marked a 17.8% increase, while Yaris Hybrid, a unique proposition in the super-mini segment, achieved a 47.1% rise in sales volume.

The introduction of new Aygo early in the year generated a huge response in UK showrooms, its wealth of personalisation possibilities helping it to a 26.8% sales hike.

Toyota’s addition of a new, low emissions, 2.0-litre D-4D diesel front-wheel drive version of RAV4 also proved a big success, helping drive fleet sales of the compact SUV up by 49%.

plant. The cee’d model family accounted for 36% of output and the Kia Venga made up the remaining 9%.

The biggest markets for the Zilina plant’s vehicle output remained Russia (18%), UK (13%), Germany (9%), Italy (6%) and Spain (6%).

Of the 493,000 engines produced at the plant in 2014, almost half were delivered to Hyundai’s facility in the Czech Republic.

Kia production moves up a gear by 3% in Europe

WITH today’s consumers becoming accustomed to paying for goods and services by monthly subscription, Europe’s largest vehicle data provider, Glass, see a rise in car leasing.

Rupert Pontin, Glass’s head of valuations, said: “Since 2012, the number of buyers opting to lease their car has risen significantly.

“Once buyers start leasing, they tend to switch permanently. The chances of them opting to buy their next car, either outright or with a loan, is low.”

KIA Motors Slovakia broke its European production record in 2014, producing more than 323,000 cars, a 3% increase over 2013, at its Zilina facility.

A small increase in engine production to 493,000 units also represented a new record.

The most popular model was the Kia Sportage compact SUV, which represented 55% of the total vehicle output from the

More motorists choose leasing over ownership

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 49

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MOTORING

THE WAIT IS OVER Xxxxx The new F-Type Jaguar is a triumph of style and performance, writes Jim McCauley Updated PassJim McCauley

W I

ILL they or won’t T may retainthey?” a familwas iarity, but thethe elegant question bodywork of when the eighth Jaguar generation Volkswagen unveiled a concept coupé at clothes an Motor all-new thePassat 2011 Frankfurt car.Show.

Featuring state-of-the The company had a arthistory electronic driver support of parading tantalissystems, the newatsaloon is ing concepts internationpresented the company as al motorbyshows, but none having ever ‘advanced got furthertechnology than being in a designer suit.’ They The model static displays. showed is extremely important for what Jaguar was capable Volkswagen as itin is the their best of producing design selling vehicle world-wide department, but none made with overproduction.

22m sales in its 41 it into year journey. Today that pace is maintained with 3,000 cars

50 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

Their latest design, however, was different and had enough conforming aspects a day leaving the showrooms. to suggest was the While the that latestthis model was is model all-newthat andeveryone 85 kg lighter waiting for. Anticipation than its predecessor, it develwas rewarded when ops theduly lines of the current the production modeland broke car into a more refined surface delivering sophisticated presena long awaited ‘wow’ factor.

Although the coupé builds on the design of the F-TYPE convertible, the additional bodywork and panel artistry at the rear elevates the car to the iconic heritage of the marque and it immediately

asserts it presence in looks alone. But the design is deeper than the stunning aesthetics; is is also about the underlying construction and Jaguar’s lengthy experience in aluminium technology. The uninterrupted curves are achieved by using one-piece side pressings backed by alloy beams which contribute to the fact that the F-TYPE Coupé is the most torsionally rigid production car ever built by the company.

Underneath is a choice of

V6 or V8 engines, the test vehicle sitting mid-range in terms of power output with the 380 PS supercharged V6 unit. All engines drive the rear wheels through Jaguar’s 8-speed close ratio ‘Quickshift’ transmission, which provides full automatic operation or full manual sequential selection from the central gear select lever or steering wheel mounted paddles.

The mid range model carries the ‘S’ badge and the turbocharged 3.0 litre V6

VOLKS JAGUAR F-TYPE COUPÉ Engine: Engine:2.0 3.0litre, Litre, 4-cylinder supertwin charged turboV6 TDIpetrol diesel; with 240 PS stop at 4,000 / startrpm; technology 500 Nm torque Drive:from Via 8-speed 1,750 to 2,500 rpm automatic transmission Drive: with manual Via 7-speed option, direct to rear shift wheels gearbox (DSG) to 4MOTION Performance: all-wheel drive 0-62mph Performance: (100km/h) in 4.9 0-6seconds; max, electronically limited to 171 mph (275 km/h) Fuel on combined cycle: 31 mpg (9.1 l/100km) CO2: 209 gms/km; VED Band K for annual car tax Trim: ‘S’ Price: £60,235 Insurance: N/A Warranty: 3-years / unlimited mileage Benefit-in-kind: 34% Euro NCAP: N/A Available extras: Panoramic roof £1,250, powered tailgate £450, heated seats £250, illuminated stainless steel treadplates £250, heated steering wheel £250, switchable active sports exhaust £350, premium carpets £120.

provides a massive 450 Nm of torque to propel the car from rest to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds while 50 to 75 mph takes a mere 3.1 seconds. Potential top speed is electronically limited to 171 mph.

The driving experience commences when blipping the key to open the car and the flush fitting door-pulls flick out to greet you. A well sized two-seater cabin provides generous room, and for a sporting model you welcome a traditional gear select lever as opposed to the pop-up disc favoured for the saloons.

Seats and steering column have power assistance and you immediately know that you are not only in a sporting model, but in a sports car of quality as you take on board the fine detailing that surrounds you. Push the starter button and the

rectangular air vents rise from the dash top, reminiscent of Concorde’s engine air intakes and perhaps a nod as to the car’s performance.

On road, and the power delivery is super smooth, the engine accepting gentle throttle application without over-reacting. It is a very controllable car across the rev band, making it an enjoyable car for everyday use, yet potent when required as the exhaust announces the increased enthusiasm.

Solid on the suspension as expected, the car is most at ease in the dry, but can readily twitch its rear end in wet conditions if throttle application is too hasty. But, given the size of the car, it is surprisingly easy to place and the driving experience never fails to satisfy, no matter how long the journey.

While the more powerful

V8 model may provide a preference for long continental journeys, the higher output V6 is very much the model of choice for the more complex road networks at home, responding with equal satisfaction on fast open roads, as well as more challenging ‘B’ roads, thanks to the sports suspension and the company’s performance braking system.

The car is also equipped with Dynamic Mode and Dynamic Launch packages for individual set-up preferences, as well as Adaptive Dynamics technology which continuously monitors driver input and the attitude of the car on the road, adjusting damper rates accordingly up to 500 times a second to optimise stability.

For Jaguar, The F-TYPE Coupé returns the marque to the upper echelons of

sports car design, where the performance suggested by its stunning looks is assertively delivered by the 380 PS V6 with the security of its supporting technologies.

Although the car is extremely well equipped and features power adjusted sports seats, satellite navigation with an 8-inch central touch-screen display, xenon headlights, rear parking aid and Bluetooth connectivity, to name but a few, there are extras which add considerably to the car.

These include a bonded panoramic glass roof, heated seats, powered tailgate and parking pack.

While the 3-model range opens at £51,235, the more powerful ‘S’ model with a higher specification has a list price of £60,235 and is covered by Jaguar’s 3-year/ unlimited mileage warranty.

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 51

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TECHNOLOGY 1. Parrot AR Drone approx £320 @ www.parrot.com No doubt about it, drones are literally popping up everywhere and have taken to the skies up and down the country.

This particular model, the AR Drone from Parrot, will allow the user to see a clear, clean image straight from the sky which makes them feel they are sitting directly in the pilot’s seat.

Thanks to high definition technology, camera or video footage can be streamed and recorded directly onto a smartphone or tablet. The cutting edge EPP design also means it has a very robust structure, perfect if you accidentally hit a tree or wall and with a single touch to the screen, you can control the AR Drone to take-off, land, hover and flip.

2. LG 14-inch Curved All in One 3. Get Wired at Starbucks PC @www.lg.com/uk

LG Electronics has launched the world’s first curved all-in-one (AIO) PC and it is being marketed as the perfect device for customers who want to look good when getting things done. Its 21:9 UltraWide curved screen is visually stunning, complementing its simple and minimalist design. Even though the integrated package boasts a sizable 29-inch screen, the AIO PC is compact enough to fit perfectly even in small spaces.

However, it’s not all style over substance as the model employs Intel’s latest fifth-generation Core Processor, thus packing enough power 4. Inaugural Science Festival Launches in Belfast to ensure smooth perIf you fancy a crack role in CSI Belfast, delving into the mind of a zombie, or formance. Other notraining as an astronaut then all these activities and more will be available at table features include the first ever Northern Ireland Science Festival. The 11 day 4GB of RAM (DDR3L extravaganza is set to prove that science, technology, engitype), a 1TB hard disk neering and maths are anything but boring. Kicking off on drive, 802.11ac, two 7W Thursday February 19, it’s open to all and will comprise over speakers, Bluetooth 4.0 100 entertaining and informative events across venues such LE, a Gigabit Ethernet as the BBC, W5, Titanic Belfast, Queen’s University Belfast, port, a card reader, two the Black Box, the Nerve Centre and the Ulster Museum.

USB 3.0 and two USB More information can be found by visiting 2.0 ports plus HDMI http://www.nisciencefestival.com in/out.

52 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

According to research, 92% of people in the UK experience varying levels of stress if their smartphone battery runs out of power. Help is now at hand from coffee chain Starbucks, as it has launched Powermat wireless charging zones in some of its bigger outlets.

Customers simply collect a ‘ring’ at the till point, connect to their phone and place the device on tables and counters that have Powermat wireless charging technology built in. Starbucks is the first on the high street to offer this technology and is trialling the initiative in ten of its outlets with hopefully more to follow.

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Check it out

Lyle & Scott polo £34.99 @getthelabel. com

Black and white blouse £29.99@ Zara

FASHION Blush and navy shirt £20 @ Dorothy Perkins

By Grainne McGarvey

I

T’S not often that a trend arrives from nowhere and claims a season as its own, but gingham has done just that. This print was big news in New York and will be gracing our high street and catwalks in spring/summer 2015. Black and white gingham in skirts or blouses are classics, but pastel pink or blue will add an extra touch of sweetness. It’s not just girly gingham — designers have given pieces a new mod-like twist to allow guys to wear the trend.

Remember that pairing it with neutral colours and lighter tones will really draw attention to the gingham checks.

Gingham shirt £65 @Jaeger

Bag £249 @M&S Gingham Dress £20 @Tu at Sainsbury’s

Gingham pencil skirt £40 @Oasis

Gingham jacket £305 @Michael Kors at House of Fraser

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 53

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TRAVEL

PICTURE PERFECT

The Lake District is the ideal location to start the new year while experiencing the meditative power of walking, says David Atkinson

I

T takes me eight miles of cross-country walking to realise that I’ve forgotten everything. I am standing on the banks of Loweswater, shards of low-slung winter sunshine illuminating the western fells like fizzing New Year fireworks, when I suddenly find that my mind has cleared. No worries, no stress, no doubts. I am simply present in the moment with the fresh air, the rolling landscape and the gentle lapping of the water.

The past year has left me feeling battered and bruised, both professionally and personally. Which is why I decided to come to the Lake District on the first day of January to try a new group trip with Ramblers Countrywide Holidays, combining walking with mindfulness in the mountains. Starting the year not with abstinence but with physical and mental exercise will, I hope, get 2015 off to a more positive start.

My base is Hassness Country House on the banks of Buttermere, ideal for exploring the western fells much loved

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by Cumbrian walking guide writer Alfred Wainwright, such as Red Pike and Haystacks. With no TV or mobile phone signal, a splendidly remote location just across the vertiginous Honister Pass, and plenty of Cumbrian hospitality, Hassness is a good place to reconnect with nature — or, better still, yourself. The lounge offers widescreen views of the mountains, there are home-cooked meals and, in the study, a well-thumbed copy of Alain de Botton’s The Consolations of Philosophy sits knowingly among Wainwright’s guide books.

After a good dinner and sleep, I set out with the group in the mist-shrouded morning for the first of the organised, leader-led walks. It is a moderate eightmile circular trail around Crummock Water and Loweswater, with views across to the ridge of High Stile.

From the trailhead at Lanthwaite Green we make steady progress via Gillerthwaite, climbing up past gurgling becks by High Nook Farm for a circuit of Loweswater. By the time we contour above Holme

Wood to Burn Back Fell, the wind has whipped up a scrawly frenzy which buffets the purple-peeping heather and leaves the stoic flocks of grazing Herdwick sheep sheltering in rocky nooks.

But it doesn’t matter to us. The group is a diverse mix of young and old, hardy mountain goats and Sunday strollers, and we coax each other along by sharing stories and trading nuggets of philosophical insight. The conversations move from access rights for grandparents in family divorce cases to prescribing walking therapy for mental health issues on the NHS. As one straight-talking, retired Yorkshire woman tells me, while we hike along a balcony pass with views across the lakes: “It’s more sociable walking side-by-side than talking face-to-face. People open up more.”

By the time we arrive at the Kirkstile Inn for a late lunch, in a frenzy of GoreTex and muddy boots, we have put the world to rights, endorsed a Walking for Health report by Public Health England

The Lake District has the most beautiful scenery

(“If everyone in England were sufficiently active, nearly 37,000 deaths a year could be prevented”) and sketched out the manifestos for the political parties in this year’s general election.

The pattern is set. Within a couple of days I have settled into a gently life-affirming routine: morning stretches and a hearty breakfast, a lung-busting yomp around the fells before heading back to Hassness for a snooze, shower and slap-up dinner of local goodies, before an evening debrief with our tour leaders. I soon start to feel fitter, more rested and flexible enough to tackle a few pre-breakfast yoga routines.

As for the mindfulness, it is left up to each individual to explore the concept at their own pace. One member of the group, a devotee of the Hoffman Process of psychotherapy, is a retreat regular and espouses the benefits of early-morning meditation and self-reflection while walking. Others simply note that, after a day up Haystacks with the wind in their face,

any remaining cobwebs have been firmly blown away.

When black sheets of rain start to descend, I take a break from the walking to explore The Lakes Distillery, Cumbria’s latest visitor attraction.

One of just a handful outside Scotland, this sleek, recently-opened distillery currently produces a nutty, blended whisky called The One, with a single malt to follow in 2017 and the capacity to make 1 million bottles of whisky, gin and vodka per year.

After a tour, I grab a plate of comforting Cumberland sausage and mash in the restaurant, before buying a bottle of whisky to take home. Given that the purity of the water from nearby lake Bassenthwaite is key to The One’s character, I’ll have a taste of Cumbria gracing my hip flask on walks for the year to come.

Back on the banks of Loweswater, the afternoon sun is starting to fade like the gentle ebbing of a hangover.

A pint of the local Sneck Lifter ale at

The Fish Inn in Buttermere spurs me on for the final few miles, while a supper of beef-stew dumplings and a dessert of plums in vanilla custard slow cooks back at Hassness. Most of all, I find that a few days of walking and mindfulness offer me a fresh perspective.

I have come to know the closeness to Cumbrian nature that inspired the Romantic poets, such as Wordsworth and Coleridge; the meditative power of simply putting one foot in front of another over the fells; and the sheer carpe diem feeling of losing myself in the moment. It is a new year and I have a clean slate. It feels as if anything is possible.

Travel Essentials Ramblers Countrywide Holidays (01707 386 800; ramblerscountrywide.co.uk) has a three-night, full-board Mindfulness in the Mountains trip, based at Hassness Country House (hassness.co.uk), from £229pp. More information can be found at golakes.co.uk

55 2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 55

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TRAVEL

Overnight escape:Tankardstown House A LITTLE bit of grandeur is a must-have. I was well overdue a sample of the good life, as well as a catch-up with a friend who lives in Dublin.

Tankardstown House just on the outskirts of Slane, Co Meath, seemed the ideal place for a quick getaway in a mutually-handy location.

The eighteenth century manor house has been lovingly restored and is now presided over by hospitality doyenne Trish Conroy.

It functions as a high-end country house hotel and a wedding venue, set in beautiful grounds — all within an hour and a half’s drive from Belfast.

There’s the Brabazon restaurant, led by chef Robbie Krawczyk, as well as The Cellar brasserie and a tea room.

It’s into the Brabazon that I arrive, flustered and dishevelled, getting lost after foolishly leaving directions on my desk at work. But my choice of getaway is vindicated straight away when I bump into a friend of impeccable taste, coincidentally also down for the night, who tells me she’s had Tankardstown on her radar for

years. We are in for the tasting menu, a seven-stage extravaganza with dishes so elaborate that we hardly know whether to photograph or eat them.

Cured mackerel is accompanied by roe, grapefruit and horseradish, plus delicate rolls of narrow cucumber slices, with a pipette of cucumber water in case the concoction should dry out. A beef tartare is laced with pickled shallots and nasturtiums (a word I couldn’t even pronounce until my visit). But veggies, fret not, as a meat-free tasting menu is also available.

Duck breast is served with powdered white chocolate, a pithivier (like a miniature pie) and a duck jus.

We’re overwhelmed by the scale and ambition of the tasting menu though this carb-craving hallion does request a few servings of mashed potato.

It’s rounded off by blackberries in the garden — a deceptively simple handle for a fairly complex dessert of blackberries on chocolate crumb.

In the house itself, there are six expansive bedrooms, equipped

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with four poster beds, dressing rooms and bathrooms. It’s like the most sumptuous National Trust property you could envisage.

This time my friend and I opted to stay in the separate converted stable accommodation.

Each has a kitchen and living room and at least two upstairs ensuite bedrooms — and beautiful decor, including floral Colfax & Fowler wallpaper. Well rested on Saturday morning, we bound back into the Brabazon to enjoy a lavish breakfast, ranging from plentiful fruits and yoghurt, pastries and cured meats — followed by the beloved full Irish.

Then it’s off to Slane. The town’s retail offering has been depleted by the economic downturn but there are still tearooms aplenty, and the beautiful 18th century coach house hotel the Conyngham Arms. We are nonplussed to find Trish Conroy hard at work serving sandwiches, before realising that it is of course the ‘little sister’ of Tankardstown — and the ideal place to wind down before hitting the road north-bound again.

Tankardstown, Co Meath www.tankardstown.ie +353 41 982 4621 MARGARET CANNING

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Appointments

OUT AND ABOUT

withThe

CHAIRMAN

Damien McCrory has been appointed national accounts manager for foodservice at Kestrel Foods. Mr McCrory will seek to grow its presence in the ingredients market following recent investment in its in-house processing capabilities. He has 12 years’ sales experience, working previously at Coca-Cola and Kellogg’s Ireland.

David Jones has been appointed as graduate technical assistant at Kestrel Foods through a knowledge transfer partnership (KTP) with Queen’s University Belfast. Mr Jones recently graduated with a BSc (Hons) in biology, and will assist the business in introducing quality, monitoring and product process control systems.

Robert Ditty has been appointed senior director for agency/ capital markets at CBRE. Mr Ditty specialises in property investment advice, office development and site identification. He worked for Osborne King, with previous deals including the sale of Invest NI headquarters in Belfast.

The Chairman is relieved to report from a string of interesting social events as the glitterati lure him from his BT9 mansion

A

LL who know the Chairman know that he lives to hob-nob with the great and the good, and even dares count himself among their number.

Yet his abiding tenet is that ‘a man’s a man for a’ that...the rank is but the guinea’s stamp’.

And it was in tribute to Robbie Burns, the loquacious Scot who coined those immortal words, that the Chairman downed one dram too many at the annual Pinsent Masons Burns Supper at Queen’s Great Hall.

He was delighted to be invited along by his old friends at the firm, and beside himself to be seated close to the true Queen of Shops, Andrea McIlroy-Rose, PM’s UK-wide retail expert.

Mary Portas, you’re but a pretender to the crown.

The conversation flowed easily at our table, where the true Scot Jonathan Dobbin of Barclays (also this month’s Economy Watch guest) assiduously took notes but decided his own formula for a Burns Supper couldn’t be bettered, even by Pinsent Masons.

The Chairman discussed Emma Bricknell’s shock revelation about her plans to leave the great city of Belfast with Andrew McKelvey and Lewis Creighton (not to be confused with the famous Finaghy filling station family, he tells me) of William Ewart & Sons.

The nicht’s ongauns (geddit?) included what the Chairman’s mother would call ‘party pieces’ from the multi-talented staff of Pinsent Masons – not least of all a moving rendition of Caledonia from employment solicitor John Kelly.

But Ross McDowall ‘kilt’ the

58 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

Kirk Murdoch, chairman of law firm Pinsent Masons, holds the haggis aloft at a Burns Supper at Queen’s University Belfast, with piper Scott Barr from the Field Marshall Montgomery pipe band

Dale Guest of Bank of Ireland, Russell Smith of KPMG, Brett Ross of Full Circle Power and Barry John Kelly of PwC eagerly anticipate their haggis at Pinsent Masons’ Burns Supper. The convivial event took place at the Great Hall at Queen’s, where guests were also served smoked bacon rumbledethumps

Appointments

Colin Mathewson has been appointed senior director for retail at CBRE. The role will include development and leasing of major shopping centres and retail parks across Northern Ireland. Previously Mr Mathewson has worked for Osborne King for 26 years and prior to that the Burton Group in London.

Northern Ireland Science Park received an injection of Scandinavian style recently when it hosted business leaders from Sweden, one of Europe’s most entrepreneurial countries. The Swedish team, led by Karl Malström and Sofia Helmberg, picked up tips on mentoring from the Springboard programme at NISP CONNECT. They were joined by Springboard director John Knapton during the delegation’s fact-finding mission to the Science Park

It was a battle of the sexes which it’s fair to say Laura Gillespie won. The litigation expert gave a spirited retort to John Cleland’s toast to the lassies

opposition when he crooned Ae Fond Kiss - and every lassie in the hall swooned.

The Chairman was taking notes, and may soon seek out singing lessons from the divine Dana Masters, who treated guests to a rendition of jazz standard At Last, leaving even the cynical Chairman close to shedding a whisky-tinged tear.

There was a toast to the lassies from John Cleland, involving a gentle critique of the foibles of the fairer sex from their failings at parallel parking to their spendthrift shopping.

But Laura Gillespie was a worthy opponent with her gutsy

retort – including a well-placed recitation from none other than William Butler Yeats.

And no event would be complete without a catch-up with his media chums, the Irish News’ Gary McDonald, Margaret Canning of this parish and John Campbell of the BBC. Gary McDonald famously instigated a pipe-off against the competitive Alastair Campbell, but on this occasion, was pipe-less.

Hopefully you’ll bring them next year, Gary.

Turn to page 60 >>

Laura Montgomery has been appointed senior market insight director at Almac Group.

Ms Montgomery is responsible for developing, delivering and communicating market research to assist Almac in making data driven decisions.

Ms Montgomery previously worked as project director with a Manchester-based healthcare research consultancy

Martin Wiles has been appointed vice president of business development and licensing at Almac Discovery. MrWiles is responsible for commercial activities including the evaluation, structuring, negotiation and due diligence of business development and licensing, and commercial input into research and discovery strategy.

2 February 2015 BUSINESS MONTH 59

offline

THE CHAIRMAN Appointments

Ewan Zhu has been appointed beansprouts sales manager at Willowbrook Foods. Mr Zhu is responsible for promoting the firm’s stir-fry range as well as developing new customer relationships. He has previous experience in agrifood sales and will work to ensure customer needs are met through product development.

Joanne Stuart, chairperson of Arts & Business NI, chief executive Mary Trainor-Nagele, Nelson McCausland, chairman of the culture, arts and leisure committee, Allianz chief executive Brendan Murphy, MC Wendy Austin and Cynthia Smith, acting permanent secretary of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure

Helen McKeever has been appointed project management director at Almac Discovery.

Ms McKeever is responsible for the project leadership of small molecule and peptide projects at various stages of development, including assessment of new projects, planning, budget forecasting and reporting. She has experience with the strategic delivery, maintenance and adherence to project standards for the Discovery business unit.

<< Continued from page 59 And the Chairman ran into a still-busy Eamonn Donaghy, whose hard-fought campaign for a lower rate of corporation tax has finally paid off. He and MW Advocate co-founder Brendan Mulgrew swapped notes on the world of business with the Belfast Telegraph’s Margaret Canning.

The Chairman relished every bite of his haggis and clapshot – but still isn’t sure what a ‘rumbledethump’ might be. Answers on a postcard, please.

...

Stewart McWilliams has been appointed vice president of quality and regulatory affairs at Almac Diagnostics. Dr McWilliams will look after regulatory compliance of both internal and external client companion diagnostic tests and ensuring quality systems support these developments.

Dr McWilliams has worked at the firm for more than a decade.

THE CHAIRMAN’S love of the arts is known to all – as is his love of business.

So the Chairman was in seventh heaven when the two collided at the the Allianz Arts & Business NI Awards at Theatre at the Mill, Newtownabbey.

The Chairman was delighted to run into the charming Wendy Austin, who’s currently shaking up the world of business broadcasting with her Sunday business show on Radio Ulster.

Mary Trainor-Nagele was in her element as chief executive of Arts & Business NI – and ably assisted by the organisation’s chairperson in Northern Ireland, Dr Joanne Stuart.

60 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

Brendan Murphy of Allianz with Joanne Stuart, AES Northern Ireland’s Davy Elliott and Carla Tully, with Mary Trainor-Nagele of Arts & Business NI. AES Northern Ireland won Business of the Year Nelson McCausland MLA was his usual sprightly self, and was joined by Cynthia Smith, acting permanent secretary at the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure.

Brendan Murphy, chief executive of Allianz, presented the award for Business of the Year to AES Northern Ireland, an energy company acclaimed for embracing the power of arts sponsorship with superb results.

And CultureTECH in Derry, another groundbreaking event, won the Arts Award.

The Chairman was greatly entertained by performances from Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble, Belfast Philharmonic Children’s Choir and Bruiser Theatre Company.

The Chairman some times reminisces that had he been encouraged in his love of dance, he could have been Ballynahinch’s answer to Billy Elliot.

Hence the fervent lover of ballet was enrapt by a performance from Dromore-born ballerina Melissa Hamilton, now first soloist with the Royal Ballet.

THE LAST WORD

with Jamie

Stinson

As a high-profile restaurateur threatens to abandon the province in a revolt against red tape and social mores, Jamie Stinson wonders if Emma Bricknell is actually talking sense

R

UNNING a business is never easy — there are always problems to overcome. However, in Northern Ireland, businesses face issues that their counterparts in the rest of the UK do not have to deal with.

Last month Made in Belfast owner Emma Bricknell said she was leaving the province because of the difficulties of doing business and the risk of Northern Ireland becoming isolated from the rest of the world.

Never one to mince her words, she complained of the relative lack of flights from America and Europe and the lack of rail link to the International Airport — as well as the “scumbag minority” in Stormont. In her opinion, the province was becoming “a laughing stock to the rest of the UK and the Republic,” and we should just “dissolve Stormont and put Dublin or London in charge.”

Ms Bricknell has never been shy of voicing her opinion, but to completely dismiss everything she said would be wrong. There are some points made which should acknowledged.

The outspoken restaurateur, originally from Kent in England, has built up a successful business since she opened seven years ago. The Wellington Street bistro, with its disjointed design and mis-matched furniture, was a breath of fresh air when it opened back in 2008. The business later expanded with a second Made in Belfast, and the chicken-focused restaurant, Le Coop, riding on the back of a restaurant renaissance in the city.

Since 2008, Belfast has changed radically, with restaurants playing a big part of that. In that time the restaurant scene has blossomed, with diners spoilt for choice, and national restaurant critics desperately rushing to review the latest openings. To get an idea of how much it has changed, one industry expert told me Belfast has better restaurants now than any other city in the UK and Ireland, apart from London.

High praise indeed, when that includes Edinburgh and Dublin, themselves littered with quality eateries.

Ms Bricknell was a vociferous critic of politicians and the outdated social attitudes many of them hold. She has spoken of her opposition of the conscience clause, launched by DUP MLA Paul Givan, which allows businesses to refuse services to individuals if it conflicts with their religious beliefs. Add to this the strict abortion laws and the fact gay marriage is still not

62 BUSINESS MONTH 2 February 2015

legalised, it certainly casts a shadow over Northern Ireland to the outside world. She voiced her anger over the violent union flags protests in Belfast city centre during the winter of 2013-14. She estimated her losses at more than £20,000 due to the protests, with the total loss of trade to businesses said to be around £15m.

One trader said, while she was certainly outspoken, she was prepared to say what many other business owners in the city centre wanted to say, but did not because of a fear of the backlash.

With the flag protests significantly reduced in December 2014, the city centre was much busier and as a result of that retailers and some in the restaurant trade saw much better business during the festive period, compared to the previous year.

I spoke to one city centre retailer who said he had seen a 30% rise in sales in 2014.

There are many ways in which Northern Ireland needs to catch up to the 21st century, and the antiquated licensing laws are certainly one. Bob McCoubrey, owner of Mourne Seafood Bar, described the process of getting a license to sell alcohol in Belfast as “outdated and archaic”. He added: “You have to employ solicitors and barristers and then have to rely on the whim of a judge. It can cost up to £9,000 where as in England I could fill out a few forms for a council and pay around £300.”

I’ve spoken to many cafe owners that would love to expand their business and start serving alcohol, but the cost of licence is too much. Add to this, the hospitality sector in Northern Ireland has long highlighted the damaging effect a 20% Vat rate has on the industry. Those in the hospitality trade in the province face

competition with their competitors in the Republic of Ireland, who have a 9% rate of Vat for the tourism industry. Countries on mainline Europe also have much lower Vat rates for the sector, and the calls for reduction have their merits. Some of those in the hospitality trade will also have to deal with higher rates after the revaluation, particularly in areas which have seen a lot of regeneration like the Cathedral Quarter in Belfast.

A reduction in the rate of Vat appears unlikely.

There has been much speculation that the Conservatives may in fact increase Vat, if the party is returned to government after May’s general election. It has refused to rule out an increase in the tax, but it has to fund promised tax cuts in years of the parliament, and there’s still the major problem of deficit to tackle.

In Northern Ireland we have become all to used of change moving a glacial pace, and I agree with Ms Bricknell, it sometimes feels we’re not progressing. It seems that things do not have to be this way, and that these problems are solvable. I just hope it is sooner rather than later.

There are many ways Northern Ireland needs to catch up and antiquated licensing laws are certainly one