Stephen McCluskey and Jonathan McCluskey, joint Managing Directors of Conexpo.
provide them with even greater volumes of the grade of materials needed to complete high value projects. A lot of other Northern Ireland companies could take encouragement from Conexpo’s experience and its ambitious approach,” he says. Stephen McCluskey explains that the relationship with Danske, and Northern Bank before it, has existed since the company was W McCluskey & Sons Ltd. “The bank has been hugely supportive of our plans. They are very aware of how Conexpo has been run for the past 25 years and have encouraged us in our investment plans. They know we are not reckless risk takers, our growth plans are strategic and 32 NI Chamber
have all been self-funded until the last 12 months. So when the opportunity for expansion came along that required outside support, the bank’s encouragement gave us the confidence to do it. We have built good relationships with Shaun’s team and we view it very much as a partnership with the bank.” Stephen believes that even amid a programme of austerity in the UK, the future for Conexpo looks promising, with the company currently exporting more than it ever has before. “There is an emphasis on government to get the UK’s road network back into a good state. There have been many years of underinvestment in the road network in
“Most plants are in quarries and then the aggregate gets transported to the docks. We are doing it on site here, and loading directly to ships which is a different kind of process.” particular regions but I think the government realises that the connectivity it brings is one of the biggest assets the country has. How they pay for that work remains to be seen, but the work needs to be done and that’s great news for us.”