Ulster Business - April 2013

APRIL 2013 Price £2.30 ( 3.75)

CREATING A CONNECTED HEALTH ECOSYSTEM HOW CAN WE BECOME A START-UP NATION? INTERVIEW: THE BANK OF ENGLAND’S ANDREW BAILEY

Is the UK really open for business?

PwC’s Martin Fleetwood and Dr Esmond Birnie take a closer look at the latest Budget to analyse its implications for Northern Ireland’s economic future.

ISSN 1363-2507 04

9 771363 250005

CONTENTS

What’s inside...

14

34 Volume 25 No.4

APRIL 2013

FEATURES 14 - Cover Story - Pwc analyse the Budget 18 - Aer Lingus Viscount Awards 20 - David Meade 22 - YouGov survey on the economy 54 - Queen’s Food Institute 58 - Profile - Gartan Technologies 74 - Interview - Andrew Bailey from the Bank of England 82 - John Simpson on access to finance

54 36

ENTERPRISING NI

18

26 - Connected Health 28 - Interview - HeartSine 34 - Bombardier’s CSeries 36 - Interview - Glen Dimplex 38 - Opinion - Matrix

TOP 100 SMES 48 - Top 100 Listings 52 - Analysis on the SME list

BUSINESS START-UPS 65 - Start-up business round table 70 - Interview - Seedrs

CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING 76 - Cavanagh Kelly 78 - Tughans Solicitors 80 - Profile - A&L Goodbody

REGULARS

74

70

6 - News 86 - Technology 90 - Motoring 96 - Appointments 98 - Photocall

APRIL 2013 3

EDITOR’S COMMENT

Time to move on?

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o, it finally looks like we’ll have to move on from the myopic focus on the devolution of corporation tax as a means of stimulating the Northern Ireland economy.

From what we can judge from their less than impressed reactions, the meeting between Prime Minister David Cameron, First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness at 10 Downing Street was as icy as the wintry weather back home.

Mr McGuinness’s assertion that in fobbing them off Mr Cameron’s was the worst performance he’d seen from a UK Prime Minister or US President in 20 years might not help their case, but it has become increasingly clear the PM isn’t exactly enthusiastic about signing off on the policy.

And by saying he’ll give his decision after the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014, Ie has effectively signalled that Northern Ireland is not as important to him as Scotland.

To labour the ‘big freeze’ analogy Northern Ireland is the part of the UK economy the gritters can’t get to, or which the Government have categorised as low priority for digging out of the snow drift.

So have our business leaders been right to spend so much time on pursuing corporation tax devolution? The answer is probably yes To get to the point where it has been discussed, accepted as being possible and costs roughly agreed is no mean feat.

Yet as any parent knows “we’ll see� or “I’ll think about it� generally means no and at some point during negotiations there must have been a dawning realisation that the Government don’t want to give Stormont the powers to lower corporation tax.

The trouble is nobody really has an alternative to corporation tax. Cameron himself has stressed that he wants to see the rebalancing of the NI economy, but Peter Robinson has noted that most of the other ideas floated come back to using tax in some clever way.

As the men at the top scratch their heads and local unemployment continues to top levels last seen before the Good Friday Agreement, the business sector here is ploughing on.

Enterprising NI is the theme of our April issue and in it we highlight some of the companies here striving to do great things on a global scale. We profile exciting new products

from Bombardier and Glen Dimplex; talk to some of the IP-rich companies at the forefront of the Connected Health movement; and ask some of our brightest start-up entrepreneurs what would most help them establish world beating companies.

Add to that our list of the top 100 SMEs in the province, an exclusive survey from YouGov on consumer confidence and an exclusive interview with Bank of England regulatory chief Andrew Bailey, and there’s plenty to focus on away from corporation tax.

Our business leaders and politicians are right not to let the tax question go. But let’s shift the debate away from just talking about there being no Plan B, to accepting that other options are going to be needed if Dave continues to see Northern Ireland as not being his problem.

Editor: Symon Ross Manager: Sonia Armstrong Deputy Manager: Sylvie Brando Advertising Executive: Stuart Hackney Art Editor: Stuart Gray Production Manager: Stuart Gray Cover Photography: Khara Pringle Publisher: James & Gladys Greer

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APRIL 2013 5

NEWS

The BIG Numbers The unemployment rate in Northern Ireland last month hit its highest level in 15 years. The 0.7% increase for the three months to February took the jobless rate to levels not seen since early 1998.

£30m

8.5%

The expected number of social housing tenants in Northern Ireland who face having to move house or have their benefits cut under welfare reform proposals – around half of all working-age tenants.

March was Northern Ireland’s coldest in 50 years, according to figures from the National Climate Information Centre. A lower average temperature for the month (2.8C) was last recorded in 1962.

3C

corporation tax to 20% in 20% Cutting 2015 takes the UK to the bottom of the G20 corporation tax ladder; with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Russia the only other G20 countries to offer a 20% rate.

£54m

The net benefit to the Northern Ireland Executive’s coffers from George Osborne’s Budget after an additional £94m was allotted as part of the infrastructure investment programme and £40m cut as the price of further austerity.

0.2%

The level of cuts to Northern Ireland government departmental budgets, a relatively light escape compared to the 1% decrease applied to most Whitehall departments.

32,000

The new projected cost of the extension to Belfast’s Waterfront Hall, a £10m increase on initial estimates. The extension is expected to help attract major conferences to the city.

projected capital £240m The investment in the Energy from Waste plant which has been proposed to help 11 councils meet landfill reduction targets.

6 APRIL 2013

Corporation tax put on the long finger

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usiness leaders have expressed their disappointment at Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision to once again delay a decision on the devolution of corporation tax varying powers to Northern Ireland, but have not given up on the policy.

Mr Cameron said there would be no decision on devolving the powers until after the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014.

First Minister Peter Robinson and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness cut dejected figures after a meeting with the Prime Minister at Downing Street.

However, Mr Robinson said he is not giving up on the campaign to reduce the level of corporation tax in Northern Ireland to bring it in line with the Republic’s 12.5% rate.

The policy has been held up as a “game changer” for Northern Ireland and a key tool in the desired rebalancing of the economy away from its reliance on the public sector. Negotiations with the Treasury have been going on for more than three years, and while there has been agreement in principle that it could happen, delays have been caused by differences on how much it would cost Stormont to gain the power in terms of a cut to the block grant.

Commenting on the announcement, CBI Northern Ireland Chairman Ian Coulter said: “A positive decision on corporation tax today would have provided a significant boost to confidence to many struggling businesses at this time. Initial comments coming out of the meeting with the Prime Minister today as to the delay in making a decision are alarming, particularly given the reason for the delay is said to be the Scottish Independence debate.

“Our economy faces unique challenges and the economic rationale for devolving these powers is extremely strong. Without this decision the opportunity of transformative change will be lost.”

NI Chamber President Mark Nodder agreed, although he acknowledged the delay was better than a flat no.

“It has been two years since the launch of the ‘Rebalancing the Northern Ireland Economy’ consultation paper and it is extremely disappointing that that there will be no decision made on corporation tax powers until next year,” he said.

“Although it is not the answer that we wanted, by the same token it is not the answer that we feared. The devolving of corporation tax powers is clearly still on the table even though it would appear that our economic future is being put on hold until the Scottish referendum. The challenge will be ensuring that this is resolved before the next general election.”

Chairman of the Institute of Directors, Northern Ireland Division, Mervyn McCall, said he was “thoroughly disappointed” by the decision.

“The longer it is deferred, the longer Northern Ireland suffers as a region and we cannot understand the reasoning behind delaying the judgment,” he said.

“We previously urged the PM not to use Scotland as an excuse for failing to devolve corporation tax powers and I think the outcome sends out the wrong message.Business leaders will today feel like this is the road to nowhere.”

While the First Minister put a brave face on the meeting, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said he did not believe Mr Cameron had any intention of devolving tax powers.

“I have in the course of the past 20 years dealt directly with three British prime ministers and three US presidents… I have to say yesterday’s performance by David Cameron in Downing Street was the most unconvincing performance I have witnessed throughout that time by any of them,” he said.

“On the issue of corporation tax I have little confidence that Mr Cameron has any intention of transferring these powers even after the Scottish referendum is out of the way.”

NEWS

YOUNG GUNS GO FOR IT: The search is on for Northern Ireland’s Young Leader of the Year 2013, with the award to be made at the Young Leaders NI Conference, sponsored by global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills LLP.Taking place in The Mac on May 17, this year’s event builds upon the success of the inaugural Young Leaders NI Conference, held last year and attended by over 250 delegates. The conference is organised by the NI Young Solicitors’ Association, JCI Belfast, Chartered Accountants Ulster Society Young Professional Group and the Institute of Directors.Young Leaders NI was formed to ‘Inspire Leadership’ amongst young professionals in Northern Ireland and to encourage the leaders of tomorrow. Libby Jackson, Director of Herbert Smith Freehills LLP’s Belfast office is pictured with some of the conference organisers.

To nominate a young leader email youngleadersni@gmail.com.

APRIL 2013 7

NEWS

IoD women opposed to board quotas

S WIBNI conference line-up announced

T

his year’s Women in Business NI Conference on 23 May will aim to connect and engage with more than 300 delegates at Belfast’s Hilton Hotel, the networking organisation has said.

The annual signature event in the Women in Business NI calendar has this year attracted attendees from across Northern Ireland, the UK, the Republic of Ireland and Europe.

Keynote speakers confirmed for the event include Chair of Vital Voices Global Partnership, Susan Ann Davis; motivational speaker Lara Morgan (pictured) who has spent 20 years growing a manufacturing business specialising in luxury brands; Jo Fairley – co-founder of Green & Blacks and Clinical Psychologist Dr Maureen Gaffney.

Roseann Kelly, Chief Executive of Women in Business NI, said: “The theme of this year’s Conference is ‘Connecting and Engaging’ which is the ethos of what our organisation is all about.

We’re encouraging females in business to come along and network with like-minded business women to promote their own businesses and celebrate local and international success stories.

We’ve got global business leaders and local business leaders who trade on a global scale speaking to our delegates to inspire, engage and share with them how to make real business connections.

“This year’s International Conference is the launch platform for next year’s global conference which will see more than 700 delegates descend on Belfast for what will be the most ambitious female focused business conference the Province has seen.”

To book a place at the Women in Business NI Conference, call 029 6066 4020 or log onto www.womeninbusinessni.com.

8 APRIL 2013

ome 70% of delegates at the Institute of Directors Northern Ireland 6th Women’s Leadership Conference have voted against the compulsory imposition of quotas for the percentage of women on boards.

A record number of nearly 300 delegates attended the conference organised by the IoD and Chief Executives’ Forum, and sponsored by Vodafone and the Department of Employment and Learning.

Linda Brown, Director of IoD Northern Ireland, said: “The vote on quotas at the conference demonstrates that most women want to be appointed to board positions on merit and not because organisations have been told they must have more women on the board.

“The business case for having a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds in the leadership of an organisation is becoming recognised globally as reflected in the 2013 Grant Thornton International Business Report on women in senior management positions which was launched at the conference.

“It points out that a recent McKinsey review of 100 companies found that those with three or more women in top positions (on the executive committee or board) scored higher than their peers.”

Although women make up 35% of the global workforce, just 24% of senior management roles are held by women.

The Grant Thornton International Business Report also highlights that “the overall median proportion of female executives was 7.1% at successful companies and 3.1% at unsuccessful companies, demonstrating the value that having more females can potentially bring to a management team.”

Pictured at the event are Catherine Bell from DEL, Roisin McDonough of the Arts Council for NI, Pauline Quigley from Vodafone and Sacha Romanovitch of Grant Thornton.

PUBLIC SECTOR INEQUALITY:There is significant under-representation of women at executive level in Northern Ireland’s public sector, according to the initial findings of a research project being undertaken by the Ulster Business School on behalf of OFMDFM. The issue was explored at an event hosted by the Ulster Business School with a keynote address by Judith Gillespie, Deputy Chief Constable, PSNI. The study has ascertained that the overall gender composition at executive level in the Northern Ireland public sector is currently 71% male and 29% female.

NEWS

GETTING ANIMATED: Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster has welcomed an investment by Dublin-based animation company Jam Media, which is to create 40 high quality jobs in Belfast.The company’s investment, which is being backed to the tune of £280,000 by Invest NI, will see Jam Media establish a production and special effects facility in Belfast. Positions are set to be created for senior animators, graduate programmers, management positions and administrative staff and the animation company was awarded a British Film and Television Award (BAFTA) for Best Drama in November 2012. One of Jam Media’s latest animation projects, ROY, which will be produced in Northern Ireland, has received £323,000 in funding from the Northern Ireland Screen Fund. CEO of Jam Media, John Rice (pictured with the Minister), said: “We have been really impressed with the people and enthusiasm demonstrated in the local animation sector.”

APRIL 2013 9

NEWS

News in Brief Dungannon-based red meat processor Dunbia has announced the acquisition of G Wood & Sons Holdings Ltd, based in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. The deal, which is subject to due diligence, will allow Dunbia to build on its pork processing business in Northern Ireland and will complete its supply chain in the Midlands by integrating with the company’s pork processing plant in Crewe and its recent multi million pound investment in sausage processing at its Preston factory.

Drinks bottling company Norbev is set for future growth after securing an £11.5m funding deal from Santander. The package includes asset finance and invoice discounting facilities which will enable the Ballymenabased company to free up working capital to invest in the business to grow sales and explore a new product range. Norbev blends, bottles and packages drinks for customers including Coca Cola, GlaxoSmithKline, Marks & Spencer, Musgrave and Aldi.

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster has announced an extra £4m for two Invest NI Access to Finance funds following high demand for support from new businesses. The additional investment is for the Invest Growth and Proof of Concept grant funds which fall under the Northern Ireland Spin Out (NISPO) umbrella.

Each fund will be given an extra £2m.

Lough Shore Investment has announced seed investment in Northern Irish start-up Yours Florally. The financial terms of the investment have not been disclosed but the deal will see Lough Shore Investments join a seed round with Belfast-based angel investor and former Google executive Stephen Lusty. Founded by Mary McKimm in 2012, Yours Florally is an integrated SaaS and e-commerce platform for the retail florist industry.

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland has announced funding allocations of £13.6m will be made to 109 arts organisations across Northern Ireland to cover running costs and programming through the Arts Council’s Annual Funding Programme. This year there are 15 new clients to the programme including music festival Glasgowbury in Magherafelt, Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, In Your Space, Terra Nova and Craft and Design Collective.

10 APRIL 2013

Prestige signs £150m AXA deal

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ocal company Prestige Underwriting Services Ltd has agreed an exclusive five year deal worth £150m with AXA Insurance Commercial Lines & Personal Intermediary.

The arrangement will see AXA provide Prestige with increased capacity to underwrite non-standard motor and home insurance products across the Northern Ireland and GB marketplace.

Celebrating their success are George Storey, Prestige Insurance Holdings Ltd, Group Chairman is pictured with Prestige Underwriting The agreement is an expansion of AXA’s existing Services Ltd, Managing Director,Trevor Shaw and Property Underwriting Director, Gillian King. partnership with Prestige, which already provides a range of non-standard insurance products to over 500 insurance brokers.

Trevor Shaw, Managing Director of Prestige Underwriting Services Ltd, said: “We have always enjoyed a strong business relationship with AXA so are delighted with the agreement. This extended capacity deal reflects the tremendous commitment and energy of the people in our respective business teams. The move will allow Prestige to provide continued support to our existing panel of insurance brokers, as well as attracting new customers throughout the United Kingdom.”

Karen Hogg, Managing Director, Personal Intermediary at AXA, added: “One of the reasons that our relationship with Prestige works so well is that it is based on mutual benefits with neither party holding the upper hand and this is exactly the type of relationship we want to establish with all our partners.

“I am convinced that Prestige is well positioned to continue growing in this particular market, and will support us in being able to offer brokers an extended range of insurance products, and extend our reach into niche markets.”

INTO THE VALLEYS: Bryson Recycling, part of Bryson Charitable Group, has won a four year recycling contract worth £2.4m in Wales, its first major contract outside of the island of Ireland.The new contract is with Conwy County Borough Council who recently topped the national recycling league table for Wales. Bryson recently opened a new office in London and is now activity seeking opportunities for waste and recycling contracts across England, Scotland and Wales following on from the success they have had in Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Claire McCallum from Bryson Recycling is pictured with Cllr.

Mike Priestley of Conwy County Borough Council viewing the new plans for the Recycling Centre in Conwy, which opens this month.

NEWS

POWER BEHIND THE THRONE: The Northern Ireland Tourist Board together with Northern Ireland Screen and Titanic Belfast, have announced that the HBO Game of Thrones Exhibition will visit Northern Ireland from June 8-18.The exhibition will be housed in Titanic Belfast. It will be free of charge to the public and will feature props, costumes and interactive elements. Production for seasons 1-3 of Game of Thrones was based in Belfast with filming taking place in Titanic Studios and across various Northern Ireland locations, including the North Coast, Tollymore Forest Park at the foothill of the Mourne Mountains and Castle Ward on the shores of Strangford Lough. Based on George R.R. Martin’s best-selling books, the awardwinning Game of Thrones is one of the most successful fantasy TV series ever and has generated an estimated £65m for the local economy. Pictured at the announcement are Helen Carey, Northern Ireland Tourist Board; Richard Williams, Northern Ireland Screen and Katherine Gardiner Titanic Belfast.

APRIL 2013 11

NEWS

News in Brief Dundonald based engineering company Sepha has won a new contract in the US worth around £400,000 for its market leading technology used in the inspection of blister packs and the recovery of product from faulty packs. The new contract is the company’s largest ever single order to the US and has been sold via its Chicago based distributor, Service Industries.

Belfast-based CEM Systems, part of Tyco Security Products, has announced that it has been awarded the contract to secure Auckland Airport in New Zealand. The industry-renowned CEM AC2000 security management system will be installed to ensure the highest level of security at the airport’s domestic and international terminals. Auckland Airport is served by more than 20 international airlines and handles over 14 million passengers a year.

Carrickfergus-based McCue Fit-Out has revealed details of a £2.5m deal to complete a flagship store for retailer Urban Outfitters.

The company was appointed as the general contractor for the fit-out of Urban Outfitters’ 13,500 sq ft two-storey shop on Oxford Street, London. It is the 15th Urban Outfitters store to be completed by McCue Fit-Out since 2007 and the latest in a string of contracts in London and Belfast.

P&O launches new Express service

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&O has unveiled a new look for its Express service, the fast craft that operates between Larne and Troon, after a £500,000 refurbishment.

The contract to fit out the ship was completed by local ship outfitters Blu Marine.

The redesigned craft now features a modern new Club Lounge with capacity for up to 90 passengers which has been designed with business P&O’s Keith Millar with Martin travellers in mind.

Lees, Project Manager, Blu Marine.

For £12, passengers can enjoy complimentary newspapers and magazines, refreshments and snacks. There will be sockets for passengers to use laptops, tablets and mobile phones, a waiter service and a newly installed Club Bar. P&O has also introduced a new family lounge and bar, a new coffee shop, a new food court serving hot and cold food and healthy food options, Airline Style ‘at your seat trolley service’ and a new interactive kids area, as well as a priority boarding and unloading service.

Keith Millar, Head of Operations for P&O Ferries, Irish Sea told Ulster Business: “We realised that for various reasons we had lost customers in recent years so we’ve surveyed customers and tried to find out what would bring them back. They wanted a club lounge so we’ve done it. They wanted an improved food offer and there’s now a refurbished restaurant with a wider range of food.”

The same type of product will also be introduced on P&O’s conventional ferries on the Cairnryan route by the end of May, and a major infrastructure project at the port is due to be completed by the end of the year. The overall investment is around £20m.

“All of us here are very pleased to see the major commitment from head office,” said Millar.

He is confident the refreshed product will help P&O compete with rival Stena, particularly as customers like the fact that Troon is only a 35 minute drive from central Glasgow.

“Anecdotally we’re seeing a wide range of people using the service. There is a facility for business passengers now that they are prepared to pay for.”

Dunmurry ventilation specialist Brookvent has won its first business in China. The £50,000 contract to design, manufacture and supply bespoke window vents to a new high-rise apartment block in Shanghai is being seen as a significant development for the export-focused company. Brookvent also recently announced £500,000 of new business in Poland.

Capita has completed the acquisition of Northgate Managed Services Limited (NMS) from Northgate Information Solutions. The business, now branded Capita Managed IT Solutions, will be part of Capita IT Services.

Capita Managed IT Solutions, based in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, has approximately 1,000 employees across the UK.

12 APRIL 2013

SHED HEAVEN: Keith Kyle, Managing Director of Draperstown company Yardmaster, is all smiles after announcing the business has won a £5m contract to supply flat packed steel garden sheds to DIY giant Home Retail Group, which owns Argos and Homebase.

Yardmaster, which employs 70 people, has seen sales increase by a third in the last three years by exporting to GB, France, Belgium and Germany and is now targeting new markets in Eastern Europe.

Exports in the age of Carney

By Brian Telford, Head of Markets, Danske Bank

Invest NI CEO Alastair Hamilton congratulates SAM Mouldings Managing Director Richard Holmes on the firm’s latest contract.

£10m DIY contract for SAM Holdings

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AM Mouldings in Antrim has won a £10m, four year contract to supply a range of products to the UK DIY retailer Wickes.

The manufacturer will provide Wickes with products including primed MDF mouldings, wood veneer mouldings, skirting boards, and architraves, which will be distributed to over 200 outlets across Great Britain through an established supplier, SCA. The family company, which was formed in 1990 currently employs 81 people in its purpose built Antrim factory and exports a broad range of wood based products to Great Britain, Ireland, Holland and Belgium. The contract was announced by the company’s Managing Director Richard Holmes and welcomed by Alastair Hamilton, CEO of Invest NI, which has provided SAM Mouldings with business development support.

“We are delighted to announce this new business for SAM Mouldings. It is a great win for our team and will support our long term strategy to grow the business through channels such as these,” said Holmes. “The assistance we received from Invest NI, particularly with re-evaluating our sales strategy, was invaluable to us and it has played a major role in helping us to secure this contract. We are now positioned more competitively to identify and take advantage of future business opportunities across Great Britain and Europe.”

The company said it plans to create 14 new jobs across its production and sales functions over the next three months to deal with the uplift in business activity.

“The response to our recruitment drive to date has been outstanding and as a very people orientated company we can now look forward to strengthening our team and rising to the challenges ahead,” said Richard.

Invest NI’s Alastair Hamilton added: “This company has taken a proactive approach to business development and indeed has taken advantage of range of Invest NI support in recent years to improve its processes, develop new products and generate sales with customers in export markets.”

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crucial factor in determining the competitiveness of local exports is the rate at which foreign companies and individuals can buy our products.

Therefore, it was with keen interest that we have been watching recent moves in sterling.

The credit rating agencies, which have been keeping their powder dry for a number of months, recently broke ranks and started to give their revised verdict on the UK economy. Moody’s downgraded the UK’s rating to Aa1, one notch below the top grade. The downgrade had been well predicted in the currency markets and the event itself had less of a negative impact on sterling than the anticipation of it. But how soon will this breach of the psychological GBP/EUR 1.20 level make our exports seem better value in the European marketplace?

A crucial factor will be how strongly firms believe that these new rates represent an accurate baseline for trading over the coming months and years. If they do, then businesses will have more confidence about investing in their export capacity. Adjusting to this new lower level could benefit exporters in Northern Ireland, although it remains to be seen to what extent it would cause inflation through rising input costs.

Another factor will be the extent to which policymakers have managed to renew uncertainty in the Eurozone. Recent events in Cyprus have highlighted the ongoing structural challenges that the Eurozone faces. The fact that what should have been a relatively easily solvable problem has been allowed to escalate has stoked the fears of contagion in countries such as Italy and Spain and the markets are again nervous of where this will lead us in the months and years ahead. The initial reaction in the currency markets has seen the Euro weaken somewhat, although if the situation can be resolved quickly, this may be a temporary blip.

One market that has been looking much healthier in recent months is the US. With an economy heavily oriented towards consumer spending, a stronger dollar would clearly benefit our exporters selling goods and services across the Atlantic.

Closer to home, we’re approaching the end of Mervyn King’s tenure as Bank of England governor. The new governor, Mark Carney, has made dovish noises about as yet unused monetary policy options and a potential switch to nominal GDP targeting. Further expansion of the Bank’s quantitative easing programme, or a change in the remit away from inflation, would put more pressure on the pound – pressure that might not be reflected in current levels.

To talk to us about how we might support your exporting ambitions, you can email me or my team at markets@danskebank.co.uk or telephone 028 9004 5000

APRIL 2013 13

COVER STORY

Is the UK really open for business?

The Budget has been and gone, but just what has it delivered for Northern Ireland and can George Osborne’s “budget for an aspiration nation” kickstart the local economy? Here, PwC tax partner Martin Fleetwood and chief economist Dr Esmond Birnie analyse the Budget, its implications for the local economy and look to Scotland, Wales - and even Germany - for inspiration.

E

smond Birnie launches his Budget assessment with a seemingly bizarre reminder that Easter week sees Germany celebrating a century of English motor manufacturing.

“On 28 March 1913, production of the Morris Oxford started at the Cowley plant in Oxford. A century later it turns out 100,000 Minis for BMW and the German company has just invested a further £750m in its UK operations,” he comments.

Birnie says the renaissance of the UK motor industry is one clue as to the Chancellor’s hopes for recovery: “New passenger car registrations in the EU were down 8% in 2012 and they fell 10.5% year-on-year in February alone, yet for the first time in nearly half a century the UK makes more cars for export than we import.”

He points to Mini engines made at Cowley’s sister plant in Warwickshire; Range Rover’s top-selling Evoque from Halewood on Merseyside and Nissan’s Quasqai and Juke models made in Sunderland.

“Making high-quality products for export creates jobs, wealth and a profitable supply chain,” says Birnie, “and that’s something we should remember in Northern Ireland,” says the economist.

PwC tax partner Martin Fleetwood agrees: “The Chancellor laboured the theme that he wants investors to see that the UK is open for business. I suspect that’s why we’ve seen an emphasis on support for R&D, innovation and a further cut in the rate of corporation tax. A balanced economy needs a mixture of inbound investment, an internationally competitive indigenous business and an entrepreneurial small firms’ sector, and that’s what he’s trying to encourage.”

But encouragement aside, both Martin and Esmond acknowledge that the Budget

14 APRIL 2013

will have a very limited impact on short-term prospects for Northern Ireland. The Budget saw the Chancellor give with one hand and then take away with the other. The region gets £94m as part of the infrastructure investment programme, but loses £40m as the price of further austerity across the UK public sector, leaving the Executive with a net £54m of new money to spend over the next two financial years of 2013/14 and 2014/15.

And while £54m is useful, Esmond Birnie says it needs to be seen in context: “It costs around £25m to build a mile of motorway so the new money might just pay for the A2 upgrade at Jordanstown, which is just over two miles and will cost around £60m. So, in the context of infrastructure spending, £54m is not a lot of money. The Executive’s departmental expenditure limits for capital spending (Capital DEL or CDEL) are actually better than they were expected to be when the Northern Ireland 2011-15 Budget was struck, but CDEL is still well below the level of 2008-09 and 2009-10.”

The problem, Birnie says, is that the public sector is under severe pressure to reduce spending and the private sector is not big enough or sufficiently internationally competitive to compensate: “It’s not that the Northern Ireland public sector is too big, it’s that the private sector is too small and too inwardly focused, relative to the overall size of the working population. Given the current global and eurozone economies, any short-term rebalancing of the local economy is largely impossible and medium-term transition will be very challenging.”

Which raises the question of corporation tax. Both men agree that reducing the level of corporation tax will be attractive to inbound investors and both agree that the steady erosion of the headline UK rate from 28% to a proposed

20% in 2015 reflects the UK government’s acceptance that low corporation tax incentivises investment. It’s also clear that the lower the UK headline rate falls, the less it will cost the Executive, in terms of a cut to the block grant to bring a Northern Ireland rate down to say, 12.5%.

The problem, says Martin Fleetwood, is timing. “If the power to set and vary corporation tax was devolved to the Executive tomorrow, it would be around four years before it could realistically be introduced and, according to most estimates, another 10-15 years before the value of new corporation tax would comfortably exceed the cost to the block grant. That’s not to say it would not be very beneficial, but it would be a long-term benefit with a fairly hefty shortterm cost.”

To plug that short-term gap, Fleetwood says the tax incentives already in place, together with those introduced in the recent Budgets and Autumn Statement, make the UK and Northern Ireland particularly attractive to inbound investment: “It may be April Fool’s Day, but on 1 April 2013, the smartest businesses will

COVER STORY

be embracing the new UK Patent Box regime, which allows UK companies to benefit from an effective 10% tax rate on profits attributable to patents.”

So what puts the Patent Box on a par with reducing corporation tax? Put simply – if a company sells a product that has at least one patented invention embedded within it, then regardless of how minor that patented invention is, the entire sales revenue attributable to that product could potentially fall within the Patent Box. And with the Patent Box applying to every company that develops and produces a tangible product, that means that thousands of businesses can potentially come within the regime and find themselves with substantial profits taxable at an effective rate of 10%.

“As well as the Patent Box, the improved incentives for R&D announced in the Budget further incentivise our biggest manufacturing exporters and those SMEs receiving R&D grants or undertaking R&D subcontract work for clients,” says Martin Fleetwood. “Cutting Corporation tax to 20% in 2015 takes the UK to the bottom of the G20 corporation tax

ladder; with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Russia the only other G20 countries to offer a 20% rate.”

Fleetwood says the contention that low corporation tax is simple, clear and transparent and easily understood by inbound investors, is correct. But he adds that a new generation of mobile investors are highly sophisticated: “These inbounds deal in seemingly complex tax incentives every day. They choose tax regimes to suit their complex businesses – research goes where the universities and R&D incentives lie and manufacturing goes where the skills, logistics, infrastructure and training dominate.

In putting emphasis on R&D, skills and tax incentives for innovation, the Chancellor is actively hunting for companies like BMW, who can use these incentives to develop and build a new generation of sophisticated vehicles for export markets.”

That, he says is good news for Northern Ireland’s firms and especially those in high technology sectors, like life sciences and aerospace. “The improved R&D tax credit, which also comes into force on 1 April, will cut the cost of doing R&D in the UK, making

R&D centres more globally competitive for inward investment and indigenous companies.

And, for the first time, large companies will be able to get cash credit on R&D, as will smaller businesses – those with less than 500 employees and undertaking R&D for customers or receiving grant funding towards R&D.” He acknowledges that it’s accepted that companies investing in R&D are more likely to become exporters and profitable international businesses, so this too is good news for Northern Ireland. However, he concedes that only a few big players already into technology and/or high value export markets are ready to expand their operations thanks to the Chancellor’s proposals.

Esmond Birnie agrees. He says Northern Ireland won’t benefit from these measures as much as other regions, because of the structure of the private sector and that means 2013 will not see much evidence of recovery.

“Currently 64,900 people are unemployed, an increase of 3,600 (5.9%) on the year and Northern Ireland now has the second highest claimant count unemployment of all the 12 >>>

APRIL 2013 15

COVER STORY

UK regions. It rose by almost 6% year on year, while overall UK unemployment fell by around 4.2% over the same period. Redundancies in the year to February 2013 were over 80% up on the prior year and we see little indication that the local economy is stabilising enough to recover these losses,” he points out.

Birnie puts the local unemployment situation into context by looking back to the start of the recession: “The most recent unemployment data illustrate the extent of the job loss since the downturn began in mid-2008. Since that time, we’ve lost 34,550 private sector jobs, with public sector employment having fallen by 12,420 over the same period. In the final quarter of 2012, around 1,800 jobs were lost in construction and manufacturing outweighing growth of around 1,070 jobs in services and other sectors.

And with average wages having grown by around 1.2%, over the past year, while inflation averaged 2.7%, pressures on disposable income have been tightening.”

He says the further downgrading of official growth forecasts for 2013 and 2014 further emphasises the difficulties facing the Executive in attempting to drag Northern Ireland out of a deep downturn: “The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has revised forecast 2013 UK growth downwards from 1.2% to 0.6% and this implies that growth in Northern Ireland this year will be marginal at best – probably not more than 0.2%. Given sluggish global growth, continued eurozone unrest and our private sector lacking the critical mass to fix the problem; regrettably therefore, we see no indication that, for the short term at least, things will improve.”

With the pessimistic conclusion that 2013 will be a continuation of 2012, what’s the answer? Both Birnie and Fleetwood point to Scotland and Wales; and more recently to the English regions for answers, which, Esmond Birnie says, comes down to devolution.

“Under the Scotland Act, the Scottish Parliament will move from raising less than 15% of its own budget to around 30%, with the Act replacing part of the UK income tax with a Scottish rate of income tax (SIT) from April 2016. There will be devolution of land tax and landfill tax from April 2015; extensive new borrowing powers from April 2015 and the potential to create or devolve other taxes from enactment of the Act, subject to the agreement of the UK Government,” says Birnie.

And he thinks Wales is headed in the same direction: “The Silk Commission is reflecting the devolution already happening in Scotland.

The final outcome of the Silk Commission is likely to be a recommendation that the National Assembly for Wales be granted broadly similar powers to Scotland, with perhaps even greater flexibility around income tax. “ Martin Fleetwood says an unprecedented level of devolution is also headed for the English regions under proposals recommended by Lord Heseltine’s No Stone Unturned report: “Heseltine has recommended devolving around

16 APRIL 2013

“RIGHT NOW, WE’RE FACING A CRISIS AND THERE’S NO ONE TO HELP US EXCEPT OURSELVES. MAYBE THAT’S THE WAKEUP CALL WE’VE NEEDED ALL ALONG.” £49bn of Westminster funding to the English regions, including radical reform of how the regions are funded. And while we don’t know just how much money will actually be devolved, the Chancellor’s Budget accepted – entirely or in part – around 80 of Heseltine’s 89 recommendations.”

Fleetwood concludes that all of this adds up to a growing willingness in Westminster to drive a new programme of devolution across the UK: “Devolution in Scotland and Wales, reform of the funding mechanisms for English regions and an implicit commitment to reforming the Barnett Formula contained in the coalition’s Programme for Government, all add up to a new approach to regional autonomy and financing.

Northern Ireland needs to be at the forefront of that debate.”

Does this add up to Northern Ireland needing a Plan B for economic recovery and regeneration? Esmond Birnie says no: “We’ve had around 15 reviews of the local economy since the 1950s and they all said the same thing.

R&D, innovation, skills and exports, supported by strong university/business links and a can-do political regime with a relentless focus on developing and internationally competitive private sector.

“Every review endorses the one that came before; we just need to get on with it and make sure we maximise the opportunities of devolution in terms of tax incentives and devolved powers. Right now, we’re facing a crisis and there’s no one to help us except ourselves.

Maybe this is the wakeup call we’ve needed all along.”

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AWARDS

The Viscount Awards judges from (l-r): Adrienne McGill, Business Editor, News Letter; Symon Ross, Editor, Ulster Business; Gary McDonald, Business Editor, Irish News; Valerie Abbott, Commercial Manager for Aer Lingus in Northern Ireland; Tracy Meharg, Managing Director, Innovation and Capability Development Group, Invest NI and Alan Taylor, Managing Partner, Arthur Cox. (Absent from the photograph: Roseann Kelly, Chief Executive, Women in Business NI).

London calling for shortlisted Viscount Award nominees T

he Aer Lingus Viscount Awards panel judging session has come to a close with an impressive list of shortlisted nominees for the 2013 Awards.

High-flying local companies across Northern Ireland were invited to take part in the 5th Viscount Awards, which seek to honour Northern Ireland’s best business operation across a wide spectrum of specialist areas.

It proved a difficult task selecting the top performers from around 100 small, medium and large companies drawn from across Northern Ireland but eventually a list was arrived at and the seven winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 23rd April 2013.

Each year the panel of judges are extremely impressed by the quality of companies that enter the competition and this year was no exception.

Valerie Abbott, Commercial Manager for Aer Lingus in Northern Ireland said: “Each finalist has shown great tenacity in coping with the rigours of these tough economic times as well as turning in an impressive performance over 2012.

“These companies and individuals are playing a pivotal role in the economic growth of Northern Ireland and their achievements in terms of the standards they set, their entrepreneurship and business prosperity act as a benchmark to the rest of the commercial community.

“We know that our finalists can look forward to great business success in the future and we congratulate them for their resilience and endeavour in sustaining and growing the vital economic corridor between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.” Seven awards will be presented this year following a gala lunch at The Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall, London with the shortlisted companies being flown to the awards on the Aer Lingus service from Belfast City to London Heathrow.

18 APRIL 2013

Viscount Awards shortlist MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANY Sipfit; Williams Industrial Services; Bloc Blinds EXPORTER OF THE YEAR CDE Global; Sepha Ltd; Andor Technology Plc; TG Eakin Ltd SMALL COMPANY OF THE YEAR Hannan Meats; Deluxe Group; Farm Wizard MEDIUM COMPANY OF THE YEAR McAleer & Rushe; Brookvent; Powerteam LARGE COMPANY OF THE YEAR United Dairy Farmers; Moy Park; Kainos Software ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR Peter Hannan, Hannan Meats John Toner, Williams Industrial Services OVERALL EXCELLENCE Andor Technology Plc; Deluxe Group; McAleer & Rushe

BUSINESS PSYCHOLOGY

Herding the Crowd As consumers, we’re all very keen to believe that we are ‘stand-out individuals’, with different needs, wants, and most importantly behaviours. At least that’s how we like to see ourselves – but is it really the case? David Meade shows us that we’re driven to conform to our group expectations and businesses armed with this information can be dramatically more effective at directing how their consumers behave in their organisations.

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e’ve all heard the schtick “9 out of 10 dog owners prefer UB Dog biscuits” or “70% of professional dentists recommend Greer’s Toothpaste”, but do these statements really have any impact on how your customers spend their money?

Try to think back to the last time you visited a mall or shopping center, and try to remember the sights and sounds that resonate with you as you recall the experience. You’ll likely recall a fairly varied array of images: products and brands that crossed your gaze; the bags that you accumulated along the way; the bargain you had been holding out for; the coffee that you had before setting off home; the price you paid for parking.

These, and likely many more, images will flood back with a little effort, but you can be certain that one thing links all these memories: people. With just a little more mental exertion, you’ll be able to build a picture of which stores were busy, and which were empty. You’ll be able to recollect which establishments were bustling and which were barren.

Why do we recall these ‘people’ images so vividly? The answer tells us a lot about how our consumers spend their money and their time.

CHECKING IN You’ve all seen the cards in hotel bathrooms; “Here at UB Hotel, we are deeply concerned about the impact we all have on the environment. Every towel and sheet that we launder has the potential to harm the natural resources around us. With this in mind, we’d love you to join us in protecting our precious earth by reducing the impact of your stay on the world’s precious resources by reusing as many towels as you can throughout your stay”.

Programs such as this have noble, albeit likely secondary, aims of protecting the environment, reducing energy waste, and conserving resources.

The more likely motivation in the hotel sector, though, is the significant business savings produced by towel reuse. In fact, the American Hotel and Lodging Association encourage their members to promote such schemes as a very effective way to reduce costs and increase profit margins, as participating hotels can “...achieve considerable annual financial savings with minimal costs... a 17% reduction in laundry loads and related water/sewer, energy and labor costs [and] linen and towel lifespan can be expanded, decreasing replacement costs.”

Reportedly, as little as 5% of people in the UK ultimately reuse their towels. New research from the USA, however, shows us that with just tiny changes to the wording on the card, the adoption rate can rise to nearly 40% – potentially saving establishments thousands of pounds every month – and showing us how we can use the same technique to lead our teams and customers in the way.

PICK A CARD With the cooperation of a large

hotel, researchers divided a hotel building in two. One half of the bedrooms received the standard card asking them to reuse their towels. The second half, however, received a card that said “Most people choose to protect the environment by reusing their towels”.

Does the belief that most people buy a certain dogfood, use a certain toothpaste, or reuse their towels really affect the way our customers behave?

The results were incredible. The rooms in the second half of the hotel, who were told that most people chose to participate in the scheme, were nearly 30% more likely to reuse their towels. The fact is we are herd animals. When we see groups of individuals behave in one way or another, we feel compelled to do the same.

Some evidence even suggests that the larger the group, the stronger the pull of the herd.

BACK AT THE OFFICE The applications for this research in your organisations should be obvious. If you work in car sales and want to push your upsells, don’t underestimate the impact of reminding your clients that “...most of our customers choose to upgrade to the higher end interior package”. Outside of the obvious sales applications, think about how this same technique can be used to improve your cashflow. One media organisation that I work with has recently started informing their clients that “most of our customers prefer the peace of mind of paying a 50% deposit up front to secure the shoot days” and saw an immediate and dramatic increase in pre-payment. So next time you need the people or organisations that you deal with to behave in a certain manner, harness the power of the herd.

David is a researcher and lecturer in international business with one of Ireland’s leading Universities, whose personal interests have always focused on aspects of popular psychology, consumer behaviour, and choice. He’s driven by a passion for understanding how and why we think the way we do. David has become a sought after international speaker and corporate advisor in the USA and Europe with a reputation for an innovative style that forces audiences to think critically about the challenges around them. In this series of articles for Ulster Business, he’ll cultivate a wide range of cutting edge research in management and leadership to help you achieve peak performance. Find out more about David’s work on www.davidmeade.co.uk and follow him on twitter @davidmeadelive

APRIL 2013 19

EVENTS

NORIBIC to host Northern Ireland’s biggest innovation conference Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Arlene Foster and Dr Bernard Toal of NORIBIC launch the EBN Congress.

S

ome of the biggest names in business and innovation are set to come to Derry~Londonderry in May for the 22nd Annual European Business and Innovation Centre Network (EBN) hosted by The Northern Ireland Business and Innovation Centre (NORIBIC).

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, the headline speaker, will be accompanied by Sir Tim Smit KBE, famous for his work with the worldrenowned Eden Project and Richard Florida, a best-selling US author on economic growth through the creative and cultural industries, at The European Business and Innovation Centre Network (EBN) Congress between 29th and 31st May. Joanna Shields, an AmericanBritish businesswoman, currently serving as Chief Executive Officer and Chair of Tech City Investment Organisation and as the UK’s Business Ambassador for Digital Industries, has also been confirmed as Digital Keynote Speaker.

Local companies, including tech firms, can find out more about registering and taking exhibition space at http://www.noribic.com/ ebncongress/.

Dr Bernard Toal, Chief Executive of NORIBIC, says that it will be a unique learning and networking opportunity as well as a ‘WOW’ experience.

“We are absolutely delighted to have secured the Congress for Northern Ireland as it is one of the largest and most important business innovation conference events in Europe, and even more pleased to have signed up Steve, Tim, Richard and Joanna as speakers. The

20 APRIL 2013

Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, will be headline speaker at the event.

programme, which will include a large cultural element, will also showcase the very best that the city has to offer, and we can’t wait to unveil it to the delegates.” He adds: “Due to our generous sponsors and as part of NORIBIC’s role in stimulating innovation across Northern Ireland, we are able to offer a 70% discount to Northern Ireland-based companies, organisations and individuals.”

The Department of Culture Arts and Leisure (DCAL) will join Invest NI as Principal Partners of the event. Gold Sponsors include SEUPB’s INTERREG IVa Programme and The Irish BICs. This event is also sponsored by Derry Visitor & Convention Bureau (DVCB), Seagate,

the Department for Employment & Learning (DEL), Carson and McDowell and The Nerve Centre, among others.

The Congress will take place in Derry~Londonderry’s Millennium Forum and a number of other venues in the city around the themes ‘Digital’, ‘Cultural’ and ‘Social Innovation’.

NORIBIC’s bid to host the event in Northern Ireland this year was successful due to their innovative Congress programme enhanced

by Derry~Londonderry’s status as UK City of Culture and their long-standing involvement in the European Business Innovation Centre Network.

The Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure, Carál Ní Chuilín said: “The NORIBIC EBN Congress is a hugely significant event which takes in elements of the Creative Industries but also includes social and cultural strands. To have such a distinguished line-up of delegates in Derry underlines the city’s growing international status as a nurturing ground for ideas. This conference is for innovators and entrepreneurs here and across Europe. But there is much here for everyone as the world comes to Derry to talk about how we can develop ideas which improve communities. It is another landmark event during Derry’s year as City of Culture and I hope it will prove to be an inspirational event with a lasting legacy.”

From start-ups to multi-nationals, for entrepreneurs and innovators, for those who just want to say “I experienced EBN Congress 2013”, with over 40 organisations exhibiting across the Digital, Social and Cultural Villages, it is an event, you’ll not want to miss out on.

Benefits to delegates will include an opportunity to participate in an unconventional business and innovation conference and to get inspired and amazed by a stellar line-up of speakers.

Those attending will also have the opportunity to share knowledge, best practice and contacts, find new partnerships and avail of unrivalled networking opportunities in the event’s Villages.

Headline speaker, Steve Wozniak, who has been a Silicon Valley icon and philanthropist for more than thirty years, will be speaking in Northern Ireland for the first time. In 1976, Wozniak co-founded Apple Computer Inc with Steve Jobs, helping to shape the computing industry with his design of Apple’s first line of products.

More information about the EBN Congress is available at: http://www.noribic.com/ebncongress/

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Steve Wozniak, Co-founder of Apple Confirmed Keynote Speakers: Cultural Innovation Keynote Dr Richard Florida, Professor, University of Toronto and NYU; Senior Editor, The Atlantic.

Social Innovation Keynote Sir Tim Smit, Chief Executive, Development & Co-founder of the award winning Eden Project.

Digital Innovation Keynote Joanna Shields, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of Tech City Investment Organization and the UK's Business Ambassador for Digital Industries.

More than 600 participants & 50 exhibitors expected!

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more on www.noribic.com/ebncongress follow congress news on twitter: @noribic #ebncongress

Just say Yes! to Innovation

ECONOMY

Northern Ireland consumer outlook lacks confidence YouGov Northern Ireland’s Eamonn Finn presents the results of an exclusive survey for Ulster Business that shows we still have some way to go before confidence is restored in key areas of the economy.

A

s the Chancellor announced a fresh wave of spending cuts for 2013-2014, YouGov Northern Ireland polled a representative sample of 1,000 people across Northern Ireland on key issues such as household finances, job security, workplace activity and changes in house prices. A sample of our results is presented here to provide a quick snapshot into consumers’ outlook for the next 12 months in Northern Ireland.

PERSONAL FINANCES In pre-recession Northern Ireland, consumers spread expenditure across several areas at once. Post recession spend has been characterised by ‘focus’ and over the last year our research has found consumers reducing spend on non-essential items while focusing more on large experiences such as holidays. Over the next year this ‘focusing’ of spend is likely to continue with more consumers expecting their finances to get worse than get better.

Between January and February 2013 petrol prices pushed inflation to 2.8% and our research finds 37% of consumers expect their household finances to get worse over the next 12 months.

This is most acutely felt among adults over 40, particularly working parents, being most likely to expect a tighter wallet come February 2014. Despite high youth unemployment, young adults 18-24’s show a surprising lack of pessimism with 82% expecting no change or even an improvement to their finances over the same period.

For additional information on any of the results contact Eamonn Finn on email: Eamonn.finn@yougov.com or 028 9560 0330

22 APRIL 2013

ECONOMY

HOUSE PRICES Property is the biggest investment the average consumer makes and accounts for over a fifth of average monthly spend among Northern Ireland adults.

With property prices now 13% below 2005 levels it is no surprise that 31% of Northern Ireland adults are expecting further decreases in the value of their home between now and February 2014.

Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show Northern Ireland has the highest level of negative equity in the UK and this disparity is echoed in consumers’ outlook between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK with only 12% of Northern Ireland homeowners expecting their property to increase versus 31% of all UK homeowners.

JOB SECURITY Secure jobs mean secure wallets and allow consumers to plan for the year ahead.

50% feel their job is secure and are unlikely to be made redundant in the next year.

Despite government cutbacks, higher public sector employment in Northern Ireland than in GB means that only 12% of workers in Northern Ireland believe their job is at risk compared to 19% for the rest of the UK. Additional results (not shown) find that consumers are expecting business activity to increase over the next year at their place of work – with this being a major influence on their own feeling of security and, in turn, consumer confidence.

OVERALL OUTLOOK Northern Ireland consumer optimism is caught between tight personal finances, further expected drops in house prices but feeling more secure in their job and expecting business activity at work to increase over the next 12 months.

On balance, Northern Ireland has a negative outlook with 32% being positive about their personal financial circumstances for the next 12 months vs 37% with a negative outlook for the same period. Results show that affluent adults aged 25-54 are the most likely to be optimistic for their finances while adults over 55 are most likely to have a negative outlook for the next 12 month.

Over the next year we will be re-examining consumer confidence to take account of changes in the economy as well as to assess the impact of feel good factors such as the City of Culture and the G8 have on consumer confidence and outlook.

APRIL 2013 23

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Premier Electrics plans further European expansion As his company continues to win contracts around Europe, Ulster Business found out how Premier Electrics founder Mark Scullion has grown his business over the last 20 years.

M

ark Scullion has come a long way in the 20 years since he founded Premier Electrics.

The Bellaghy-based company started life as a ‘one man and his van’ operation in 1993 completing small electrical jobs for local clients.

Today, it is a business that has annual turnover of more than £30m and has undertaken major retail fit-out, electrical fit out and maintenance contracts across Ireland, the UK and Europe for internationally recognised clients such as Marks & Spencer, H&M, John Lewis, Debenhams and Primark.

The jump from small business into the big leagues came around twelve years ago when Premier won its first work from Primark and had to meet their demanding deadlines.

“That was the point of no return, as there was nowhere to hide once we committed to their projects. The challenges were great but, if truth be told, we excelled. As a client they were exacting but fair and we were very appreciative of the opportunity they gave us,” said Mark.

“They have a way of doing business and we had to follow their ethos. It was a culture change for us that made us up our game. It revolutionised the company and forced us to take a different view on everything from start times to the quality of the people we started employing, to our overall mentality.”

Meeting all the deadlines for those early contracts has helped Premier Electrics gain further deals with large retailers for new and existing stores in a number of European cities in countries such as Belgium, Germany and most recently Austria. The company has also secured new contracts in the Netherlands, which are due to commence imminently.

“It hasn’t been easy. We had a bad experience in Romania in the early days but we learned the lessons and went again. Invest NI have been brilliant in helping us with networking and finding partners to work with,” said Mark.

Some 45% of the firm’s work now comes from continental Europe, with Scotland, Wales and Greater London making up the remainder of its turnover. Tellingly, the company currently has no big jobs on the island of Ireland, although Scullion would like to see that change.

He is targeting further growth into Poland, the Czech Republic and France, but says this will be done carefully with its network of 200

24 APRIL 2013

staff and subcontractors.

The international expansion has thrown up its own challenges, among them operating in new languages, understanding strange technical compliance regimes, coping with different taxation and working under varying labour laws. However, all of these challenges are surmountable.

“When the hard work is done and you prove you are capable of doing the job on time and on budget, there is repeat business there to be had. It is a heavy investment but it does pay off for the future,” said Mark.

The Premier Electrics founder also sees potential in the maintenance sector and has been developing its capabilities, both in the UK and Europe, to take advantage of this.

“Over the past few years we’ve found the maintenance and small works sector is growing.

We’ve been successful in developing that side of the business to complement what we’re doing

in the main products. It has given us a tighter control on after sales and means we don’t have to let go once the job is complete,” he said.

But any success will be achieved without the support of banks, which Scullion does not believe are backing SMEs in the construction sector at present.

Where the company expands to next will also depend on the markets its clients see long term potential in. Wherever that may be, Mark Scullion expects the ethos which has led to the company’s success to date to be the basis for any business wins in future.

“We stand in the shoes of the customer and we look at what it will take to get the project over the line, taking as much of the hassle out of it for them as possible,” he explains.

“For the likes of the M&Ss and Primarks of this world, I would say we tick a lot more boxes for them than any other electrical contractor. It counts for a lot.”

Enterprising NI

ENTERPRISING NI

Nicola Donnelly from Intelesens helps Professor Jim McLaughlin demonstrate its technology to University of Ulster chancellor Jimmy Nesbitt.

Connected health: is it a pipe dream or reality?

As fundamental changes are introduced into the health service in Northern Ireland, Connected Health technology could have an increasingly important role to play in patient care. Ulster Business takes a look at what the concept actually means and how far away we are from it being used in our own health service.

W

hen the Transforming Your Care report was released at the end of 2011 it heralded the biggest ever shake-up of the Northern Ireland health and social care system.

Among the 99 proposals made by John Compton to make the health services more resilient, sustainable and safe were a reduction in the number of acute facilities, more provision of patient services by GPs and more people being cared for at home.

Last month Health Minister Edwin Poots announced measures that will potentially see the loss of 180 hospital beds and a 50% cut in the number of residential care homes over the next five years. He again said that greater emphasis will be placed on providing care at home.

26 APRIL 2013

Since the Compton Report the concept of Connected Health has been gaining traction.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Departments of Health and Enterprise to explore mutually beneficial technology that could improve care provision and have positive economic spin-offs.

Professor Jim McLaughlin from the University of Ulster, who has been at the forefront of research and development in the sector, believes it is a rapidly developing area with huge potential for good.

“Connected Health is the term used to describe a new model for healthcare delivery that uses technology to provide healthcare remotely. It is a rapidly evolving area of multi-disciplinary research spanning

engineering, technology, healthcare, medical devices, academia and industry,” he told Ulster Business.

“It is creating great interest among investors as healthcare providers in the public and private sectors and consumers alike increasingly recognise its potential as a way of improving health and wellbeing and supporting economic development.”

Professor McLaughlin says that an ageing population, coupled with changes in disease prevalence, has led to shifts in health care demands and put the focus firmly on early intervention.

“Connected Health uses technology to provide healthcare remotely and allow patients more freedom to get on with their lives. The

ENTERPRISING NI

aim is to optimise the use of healthcare resources and provide increased, flexible opportunities for patients to engage with clinicians and to better self-manage their care. It is a ‘win win’ situation.

“The use of technology allows carers to gather and transmit vital statistics such as pulse or breathing. The information could then be supported by analysis where warning signs of declining health could be detected. This could allow people to live more independently at home with support and preventative care provided when it is needed, freeing up hospital beds for other patients and making savings for the Health Service,” he said.

A cross section of businesses from Northern Ireland have just completed a series of workshops on key areas for future research hosted by the Connected Health Innovation Centre (CHIC) at Ulster’s Jordanstown campus. The most recent event had attendees from big name companies like GSK, 3M, BT, and EMC, as well as hospital and Health Trust leaders.

“It is clear from the success of the business workshops that CHIC will have a major role to play in developing the overall Northern Ireland Connected Health Ecosystem. CHIC is working with care providers, IT system integrators, medical device developers and digital media providers who can collectively provide a strong commercial solution which seeks to addresses changes to the way health care is delivered,” said Prof McLaughlin.

So, how far away are we from having accessible affordable technology that’s integrated into the health service to enable more people to be treated at home?

“People panic about that question,” says McLaughlin. “The negative answer would be that some of the barriers like security and inter-operability do require some really big cash injections, not what I would call the current budget injections.

“But as we are speaking there is all sorts of roll out happening. People are experiencing technology and not realising it. At my GP I can order my prescription on line. It is not fully connected but any time I go back it improves,” he added.

While there is an undoubted challenge to connect up all the electronic patient information that is already available into one homogenous system, progress is being made, says McLaughlin.

“The rollout of electronic patient record systems is happening – the government has chosen a New Zealand-based company to come in and roll the technology out in the next six months. So on your next visit to the GP they might have much more information about you available. The next stage from that is that you might have access to that information yourself which in future might help you self manage.”

WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY Belfast’s Heron Road hosts a trio of companies which are leading the local charge in terms of

“CONNECTED HEALTH USES TECHNOLOGY TO PROVIDE HEALTHCARE REMOTELY AND ALLOW PATIENTS MORE FREEDOM TO GET ON WITH THEIR LIVES.” connected health – Intelesens, Heartsine and Heartscape, part of Verathon. Much of the IP and technology in these companies originates from the University of Ulster, which continues to work alongside each of them.

Intelesens has become an internationally recognised innovator in targeted vital signs monitoring, producing a range of marketchanging wireless vital signs monitors for use both in hospital and at home.

The company has been providing medical devices to well-known OEMs since 2001 and will next month fully launch its Aingeal monitor into the hospital market after signing a partnership deal that is still under wraps but which it hopes will add to its credibility as well as its income.

Where other devices monitor heart rate, wifienabled Aingeal also monitors breathing and ECG (the electrical activity of the heart).

“We know for a fact that typically 60% of patients in hospital are not connected to a monitor. So there was a need for a cost effective and efficient technology for that 60%,” CEO Michael Caulfield said.

Where the hospital monitoring market is well defined, with big players such as Philips, GE, Toshiba and Bosch all involved, it is in the home monitoring market where Caulfield believes the biggest changes are taking place.

Intelesens last year received FDA and CEA approval for a new device named Zensor, which clips on to a replaceable three electrode patch and measures a patient’s heart rate, respiration rate and motion, with alerts sent when ECG arrhythmias (palpitations) are detected. A new means of measuring pulsox – the haemoglobin levels in the blood – is expected to be added to the device by next year.

This built in intelligence to detect irregular hearbeats, record them and send them wirelessly to a remote database with Intelesens software on it, is what the company believes sets the product apart from its competition.

“Basically if you’re wearing the device your data is on a server accessible by the clinician in real-time,” explains Caulfield.

“Zensor is already FDA and CEA approved so all we’ve got to do is convince the clinicians it does what it says it does. We’re running clinical trials now and have most of that data ready to go. We plan to sell thousands, tens of thousands of these.”

Caulfield notes that if, for example, 1000 people that present with palpitations have the

device put on them by their GP and 600 are found not to need to go to see a cardiac surgeon, a huge saving in money and resources would be generated.

Intelesens estimates in the initial stages it will sell about 2,500 units of the Zensor mainly in Northern Ireland, the Republic and the UK, and while the number is small, it still means 100,000 patients will benefit from the technology by the end of 2013.

Statistics suggest that an astonishing 350 million citizens in the US and EU have at least one chronic disease that could be managed by remote monitoring – including diabetes, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and bronchitis.

“We live in a connected world, there are seven billion mobile phones in the world. You put in typically 12 digits, and you can potentially connect to any one of those other phones,” notes Michael Caulfield.

“The connectivity is there so why are we not using that network for healthcare. Why are we not using the cloud. The infrastructure is there, the technology doesn’t have to be invented any more for us to take the device that sticks to your chest or your ribcage and for the data from that to get to the doctor.”

The big challenge the CEO sees in the shift to a hi-tech, connected health model, is in managing the data created by devices like Zensor, which GPs do not have the resources or time to analyse on their own.

“What’s evolving in the US is telehealth companies – private sector businesses who work out a business model that says, we’ll put Intelesens software on our server, we’ll gather the data from 500,000 patients, we’ll employ staff to manage that data and ask GPs what exactly do you want if we’ve been monitoring a patient on your behalf for seven days?

“There might be a gazillion megabytes of data out there but the GP probably wants one report with the patient name, period of monitoring and salient data. So there’s a business model challenge as well. We talk about innovation and we’re innovating the technology, the hardware and software, but there needs to be innovation in how the business model runs,” he explained.

“We’re ready with the solution but we’re subject to the change happening within the health service. We’re not going to solve everything but we believe our technology can be a very key and innovative component of Transforming Your Care.”

APRIL 2013 27

ENTERPRISING NI

A business with heart HeartSine’s innovative technology is saving lives from football fields to jet liners. Symon Ross met CEO Declan O’Mahoney to find out about its plans for new products and future growth.

N

orthern Ireland has a long history of innovation when it comes to treating cardiac arrest.

The process emergency departments use to treat cardiac arrest is known as ‘The Belfast Protocol’ because the world’s first out-of-hospital defibrillator was created here in the 1960s.

Alongside Professor Frank Pantridge, Professor John Anderson led the biomedical engineering research into the development of a mobile defibrillator. Prof Anderson, who died last year, would go on to found HeartSine Technologies in 1997 with the aim of making the lifesaving technology more widely available.

HeartSine now designs, develops and manufactures Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in Belfast which are used to save lives in more than 40 countries around the world.

Cork man Declan O’Mahoney became its CEO late last year. An experienced technology entrepreneur, he says he has never been involved with a product that is so “morally right,” pointing out that more people die of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) than from lung cancer, breast cancer and AIDS combined.

“I was at an event recently for some of the world’s top cardiac surgeons and at the start they stood up and told everyone where the fire exits were but they didn’t say where the AEDs were or even if they had one in the building,” he said.

“Maybe a thousand people die from fire every year, but a quarter of a million die from SCA. There is legislation saying you must tell people where the fire exits are and where the fire extinguishers are, but there is no legislation saying you must have an AED, which is mad.”

SCA kills 270 people every single day in the UK and many of these deaths could be prevented if a defibrillation ‘shock’ was administered to the victim within five minutes.

The chances of surviving an SCA decrease by 10% for every minute a ‘shock’ is delayed.

O’Mahoney says the message is now getting out, in part thanks to the miraculous survival of former Bolton footballer Fabrice Muamba.

“I met him last week and he was shocked by Heartsine devices on that field. Our devices kept him alive until the paramedics got there. He was a perfectly health man, playing soccer, super fit, and he drops to the ground without warning or symptoms. The lights just went out. That’s how sudden SCA can be.”

The light, portable and easy-to-use devices, guide the user step-by-step through the rescue process, from applying the pads to pushing the button to deliver a shock to the heart.

HeartSine’s samaritan PAD uses a patented

28 APRIL 2013

technology to tell a rescuer if they should push harder, faster or slower when delivering CPR compressions and also when to deliver the ‘shock’.

The investment it has put into its technology allows the one-time spinout from the University of Ulster, which has 70 staff, to compete with globally recognised rivals. HeartSine assemble 2,500 units a month in 23 languages and its AEDs can be found everywhere from GAA fields, schools and Shell Oil super-tankers to Air Force One and the White House.

“We’ve now started a year-long roll out of putting new AEDs in 104 aircraft for American Airlines. As well as saving lives, they’ve made that decision because it costs them millions of dollars to do an emergency landing in the wrong place. Having these devices is a no brainer,” said Declan. “If the chief medical officer of American Airlines is choosing to use a product from a Northern Irish company rather than one of the big guys that tells you that we must have the right technology.”

The CEO says HeartSine is moving from

being a “head down” technology company in the development phase into sales mode.

Big markets for its products currently include the US, Canada, Mexico and across Europe, but new business is emerging from Asian countries like Thailand and South Korea.

“All of our profit has been reinvested in R&D into next generation products and expanding our markets. We’ve added three countries in the last couple of months to our distribution channels and I am in China and Japan in the next couple of weeks where we hope to do major things,” he said.

“We have a major R&D road map for new products both at the higher end and lower end of the scale. Right now our focus is on better, more complicated devices that are capable of making really clever decisions.”

“I am a technology guy but this is a product that just sells itself. In my other businesses it was all about out manoevering the other guy,” he said. “Now we’re saving peoples’ lives every day.

That’s a great career.”

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ENTERPRISING NI

Enterprising Northern Ireland Gordon Gough, Chief Executive of Enterprise Northern Ireland, explains how the local enterprise agency network is helping to create a more enterprising Northern Ireland.

M

ost economic commentators are in agreement that we need to grow the private sector in Northern Ireland and move away from an over-reliance on public sector job creation. In other words, we need to be more enterprising and entrepreneurial. Easier said than done, some would say.

Against this backdrop Enterprise Northern Ireland (ENI) is responding to the needs of the small business community. Since our launch in 2000 as the umbrella organisation representing Northern Irelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 32 local enterprise agencies (LEAs) we have played a significant role in stimulating economic growth and private sector job creation. There is an LEA in every local council area in Northern Ireland, all delivering a range of business services to help people set up and grow their businesses.

ENI members contribute to the development of the Northern Ireland economy through the provision of a continuum of support, helping those people who want to start a business through to business owners who want to take their business to the next stage of development.

Over the past twelve months we have dealt with thousands of enquiries from people looking to set up in business. Some people say there has never been a better time to start a business.

Recent research from Enterprise Nation UK shows that during 2012 the highest number of people in over a decade started their own business. Why? Because it is now perfectly possible to start and grow a business (even in your spare time and from home) on a small budget. And if you are looking for business premises then look no further than your LEA. Across Northern Ireland LEAs provide workspace for over three thousand small businesses.

Social economy businesses are big business in Northern Ireland. The LEA network over the past year helped to set up forty six new social enterprises with a combined projected turnover of over ÂŁ3m, creating over one hundred new jobs; thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s real impact!

With the current dearth of start-up capital the ENI small business loan fund has never been more appealing to small business owners.

During 2012 we loaned almost ÂŁ750,000 to local businesses â&#x20AC;&#x201C; since the fund was established in 2002 we have provided over 1200 loans totalling ÂŁ7.5m to help businesses across Northern Ireland.

The spirit of enterprise is holding up well in Northern Ireland judging by the number of business start-up enquiries. People in their

thousands are spotting gaps in the market or turning their hobbies into a way of making a living.

So, back to my opening comments. Is growing the private sector in Northern Ireland easier said than done? Certainly organisations like the LEAs are well positioned to assist the Northern Ireland Executive to meet its social and economic goals. If the sector is given the financial investment it needs to continue to deliver the range of services which I have detailed, then, its contribution to the economy and local communities will be immense.

Here are just a few of the programmes and initiatives that LEAs are delivering across Northern Ireland. For more information log onto the ENI website, www.enterpriseni.com or contact your local enterprise agency (see pages 32-33).

THE ENTERPRISE NORTHERN IRELAND LOAN FUND The Enterprise Northern Ireland Loan Fund provides loans to individuals starting a business.

The Loan Fund was originally established in early 2002, to make funding more accessible to those starting or operating a small business and since then has provided over 1,200 loans totaling in excess of ÂŁ7.5m to help businesses across the whole of Northern Ireland.

Now in its tenth year of operation, the ENI Loan Fund is receiving more enquiries about its products than at any time since its inception.

The ENI Loan Fund is geared towards helping businesses get started prior to obtaining mainstream finance.

Loans can be used to help businesses: t 4FDVSF CVTJOFTT QSFNJTFT BOE QBZNFOU UPXBSET refurbishment costs. t 1VSDIBTF FRVJQNFOU UPPMT TUPDL BOE SBX materials. t 1BZ NBSLFUJOH BEWFSUJTJOH BOE QSPNPUJPO costs.

The loan fund provides: t -PBOT PG CFUXFFO b UP b t 3FQBZBCMF PWFS ZFBS UP ZFBST t 'JYFE JOUFSFTU SBUF o DVSSFOUMZ "13 UP

and also ongoing support to help develop and grow businesses. So, how does it work? Simple, KVTU DBMM UP CF EJSFDUFE UP B business adviser in your local enterprise agency.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMME Social entrepreneurs bring innovative business solutions to some of the most pressing issues affecting society. The Invest NI funded Social Entrepreneurship Programme provides business support and mentoring to social economy business start-ups. The programme promotes sustainable models of finance as well as providing ongoing training to help sustain these businesses.

BUSINESS BOOTCAMP *G ZPV SF BHFE BOE MJWF JO UIF DPVODJM BSFBT of Belfast, Lisburn, Castlereagh, Newtownabbey, North Down and Carrickfergus, then you could be eligible for the Business BootCamp programme. BootCamp helps you to start or grow your business. You will be supported every step of the way by experienced business professionals and by our unique online support platform.

EXPLORING ENTERPRISE Exploring Enterprise develops employment opportunities for the long term unemployed.

The focus is on helping people from disadvantaged backgrounds. One to one advice and training is available leading to a certificate in Understanding Business Enterprise.

TRADELINKS Tradelinks is our cross border business development programme designed to assist and grow the micro enterprise sector across Northern Ireland and the border counties of Louth, Monaghan, Cavan, Leitrim, Sligo and Donegal.

Tradelinks will directly assist micro businesses on both sides of the border to identify and address barriers to cross border trade and development.

Using a portfolio of business improvement techniques, Tradelinks will assist small businesses to become more sustainable and competitive and generate greater added value. Particular emphasis is in developing cross border trade opportunities and linkages.

GO FOR IT Always wanted to start a business? The Invest NI funded Regional Start programme is the way to go about it. Regional Start provides a range of guidance, support, training and business clinics

APRIL 2013 31

NEWTOWNARDS 028 9181 9787 karen@ardsbusiness.com www.ardsbusiness.com

BELFAST 028 9023 3777 info@abcni.biz www.abcni.biz

ARMAGH 028 3752 5050 info@abcarmagh.com www.abcarmagh.com

BALLYMENA 028 2565 8616 info@ballymenabusiness.co.uk www.ballymenabusiness.co.uk

BANBRIDGE 028 4066 2260 info@bdelonline.com www.bdelonline.com

COLERAINE & MOYLE 028 7035 6318 info@causeway-enterprise.co.uk www.causeway-enterprise.co.uk

DOWNPATRICK 028 4461 6416 business@downbc.co.uk www.downbc.co.uk

BELFAST 028 9094 2010 info@eastbelfast.org www.eastbelfast.org

COOKSTOWN 028 8676 3660 info@cookstownenterprise.com www.cookstownenterprise.com

LARNE 028 2827 0742 / 028 2826 9973 info@ledcom.org www.ledcom.org www.willowbankbusinesspark.com www.wbpconferencecentre.co.uk

CRAIGAVON 028 3839 6520 info@cido.co.uk www.cido.co.uk

NEWRY 028 3026 7011 info@nmea.net www.nmea.net

Providing support for business starts, established businesses and the socialeconom y

BELFAST 028 9074 7470 mailbox@north-city.co.uk www.north-city.co.uk

BELFAST 028 9031 1002 hq@ortus.org www.ortus.org

BANGOR 028 9127 1525 mail@nddo.co.uk www.nddo.co.uk

BELFAST 028 9033 9906 info@ormeaubusinesspark.com www.ormeaubusinesspark.com

DERRY 028 7135 2693 info@north-westmarketing.com www.north-westmarketing.com

LIMAVADY 028 7776 5655 / 2323 info@roevalleyenterprises.co.uk www.roevalleyenterprises.com

STRABANE 028 7138 2518 info@seagency.co.uk www.seagency.co.uk

BELFAST 028 9043 5778 info@townsend.co.uk www.townsend.co.uk

BELFAST 028 9061 0826 info@workwest.co.uk www.workwest.co.uk

EACH COUNCIL AREA IS REPRESENTED BY A LOCAL ENTERPRISE AGENCY. FOR A FULL LIST OF ENTERPRISE AGENCIES OR TO FIND YOUR LOCAL AGENCY,PLEASE VISIT OMAGH 028 8224 9494 info@omaghenterprise.co.uk www.omaghenterprise.co.uk

w w w .enterpriseni.com

ENTERPRISING NI

Bombardierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CSeries set for take-off in June Ulster Business reports on the huge project being undertaken by Bombardier to launch a brand new aircraft into the aviation market - a project in which Belfast is playing a key role.

34 APRIL 2013

ENTERPRISING NI

The new model will put the Canadianowned firm head to head with the smaller jets produced by the world’s two largest aircraft manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus.

So far Bombardier has received booked orders for 382 aircraft from 14 customers, with firm orders for 148 planes.

“We are very pleased with the progress being made on the CSeries aircraft program and we are excited to open our facility and publicly show the world the advances and key milestones we have achieved as we get ready for first flight,” said Mike Arcamone, President of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft.

“The CSeries aircraft program is making solid progress, having met a number of key milestones over the last few months... we are now focusing on three key areas that will lead to our safety-of-flight permit: static airframe testing, building of flight test vehicles and on-the-ground testing.”

As the first completed jet was unveiled in Canada, reporters in Northern Ireland got a first look inside the £520m factory in Belfast where the advanced composite wings for the CSeries are being designed and manufactured.

The 600,000 sq ft factory, the first new facility the company has built here since the 1930s, is at the cutting edge of advanced composites engineering technology and represents a huge investment for Bombardier.

The company confirmed production is already underway, with four sets of wings shipped to Canada for assembly with the other components at the time of writing. Capacity exists in the massive facility to supply upwards of 120 sets of wings a year when full production is reached and Bombardier management in Belfast are confident it will be able to ramp up as orders come in from airlines.

N

orthern Ireland’s largest manufacturer, Bombardier, has confirmed it is on track to complete the first test flight of the new CSeries aircraft - which is partly manufactured in Belfast - by the end of June.

At a recent briefing for journalists held simultaneously in Mirabel, near Montreal, and Belfast, the company said it was making “excellent progress” as the CSeries programme gets ready to move to the flight phase at the end of the second quarter.

More than 800 Bombardier staff in Belfast are working on the new aircraft project.

Designed for the growing 100- to 149-seat market, Bombardier has called the CSeries a “game changer” for both the company and the aircraft market, claiming it is cheaper to operate and more environmentally friendly than rivals in the category.

PROUD OF BELFAST At the briefing, Bombardier executive Mike Arcamore praised the state-of-the-art CSeries factory and staff in Northern Ireland, saying the company was “very proud of its Belfast family”.

Bombardier bought Shorts PLC in 1989 and since then has invested more than £2.1bn in its five locations in the province.

Bombardier Belfast has a role in production of all of Bombardier’s family of aircraft and as a result the company now accounts for 10% of Northern Ireland’s manufacturing exports.

Of the firm’s 5,000-strong workforce more than 800 are currently engaged in the CSeries project, with 2,000 more jobs supported in its supply chain.

The number of direct jobs will remain about the same when production ramps up over the next two to three years, with some engineers moving off the project but more production staff coming on to it.

The programme has not been without its problems. Last year the company delayed the first flight by six months due to supply chain issues.

And prior to the CSeries update, there was some concern among analysts that Bombardier

was running behind its targets for sales and customers.

But Mr Arcamore said the firm was on track to meet its goal of securing 20 customers and 300 orders by mid-2014. He noted that the aerospace manufacturer had brought three new customers on board towards the end of 2012 and said he “fully expected this momentum to continue”.

Of Bombardier’s new range, the smaller CS100 model has 100 to 125 seats and a list price of $62m. The CS300 will carry 120 to 145 passengers and has a list price of $71m.

Bombardier claims that when it enters service, the CSeries will offer a 15% cash operating cost advantage and a 20% fuel burn advantage to airlines versus aircraft currently on the market. It is designed to achieve reduced noise (four times quieter than similar sized existing aircraft) and emissions (20% less CO2 and 50% less NOx).

It is also significantly lighter than other aircraft in the same seat category.

The plane, due to enter service by mid-2014, will compete against the smaller variants of Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’s A320. Both manufacturers are developing reworked versions of these models (the 737 max and A320neo) which will have more fuel efficient engines.

But Bombardier has responded to its competitors by upping the ante again, announcing at the briefing that it had introduced an extra capacity seating option that will increase the CS300 aircraft seating to up to 160 passengers, providing customers with additional payload and range flexibility, as well as increased productivity. It also confirmed that Latvia-based airBaltic is one of the customers to have selected the version with more seats.

“Our main focus continues to be the development, optimization and marketing of the CSeries family of aircraft in the 100- to 149-seat market segment. The CSeries aircraft is a gamechanger in a changing economic environment, and following keen customer interest and market trends, we have enhanced the productivity of the CS300 aircraft further by offering the extra capacity seating option,” said Arcamone.

Having spent billions of dollars developing the CSeries, its success or failure will undoubtedly play a big role in the future health of Bombardier Aerospace.

It will also have massive implications for the economy of Northern Ireland and it is to be hoped that the orders start flying in soon.

FACT FILE Between 1986 and 1992, Bombardier acquired Canadair and de Havilland in Canada, Short Brothers in Northern Ireland, and Learjet in the United States. These four companies were integrated to form Bombardier Aerospace, which has become a major force in world aerospace. The third largest civil aircraft manufacturer in the world, Bombardier Aerospace had annual sales totalling $8.6bn and a backlog of $32.9bn at December 31, 2012.

APRIL 2013 35

ENTERPRISING NI

Quantum leap Glen Dimplex is preparing to launch an innovative new heating product for the renewable energy market which has been designed, developed and manufactured in Portadown. Symon Ross reports.

I

rish heater manufacturer Glen Dimplex is set to launch a new type of storage heater which it believes will shape the company’s future by catapulting it into the renewable and sustainable energy market.

Named Quantum, the new heater represents the biggest investment the company has made in a single piece of technology – some £8.5m over two years – but those behind the project believe it will be a “game-changing” product.

Quantum is described as a more energy efficient and controllable heating system that utilises off-peak heating but has the ability to store energy, which is of use to utility companies.

Through its innovative design and controls, the company estimates that the new heater could save end users – from individual homeowners to Housing Associations – as much as 25% on their energy bills a year and reduce energy usage

36 APRIL 2013

by 20%. Dimplex believes that the product will help alleviate fuel poverty, which continues to increase as energy costs go up, and also assist utility companies in meeting stretching new targets for renewable energy.

Alan McDonald, senior technical services manager, explained: “We started off to develop an innovative new generation of storage heater which would be significantly better in terms of energy efficiency and comfort control.

“But we were talking to utility companies and we quickly realised this was a product that would help address the key challenges facing them, particularly in light of the increasing amount of renewable generation. Renewable generation is intermittent so you need some kind of storage if you’re going to make best use of it. We realised that our heater would be ideal for that at a distributed level.”

In layman’s terms Alan explains that Dimplex

has managed to de-couple the energy supply to the heater and the point of which that heat comes into the room. That gives the energy company flexibility as to when they charge the heater against the constraints on their network without disturbing the end user’s choice of when they use the heat.

“Our own testing has suggested you are looking at up to 20% energy saving and up to 25% running cost savings for systems, which is significant,” he adds.

The R&D for Quantum was driven by Seagoe Technologies in Portadown, and this is also where the product will be manufactured for export.

Originally founded in Newry in 1973, Glen Dimplex’s Northern Ireland operations employ 500 people in various divisions in Newry and Portadown. Now the world’s largest manufacturer of electrical heating, it has over 10,000 employees across four continents and annual revenues in excess of £2bn.

The company expects to produce a minimum of 10,000 units of the Quantum heating system before the end of 2013, which could have huge benefits for the local economy. It estimates that if 50% of the two million electrically heated homes in the UK converted to the new heaters this would create 3,000 jobs a year for ten years across manufacturing, distribution and installation. It will initially support 37 direct jobs in Portadown with potential for 200 manufacturing jobs as the market develops.

Dimplex initially plans to go after the replacement market in the UK to build the reputation of the product and is already running demonstration installations to show customers that replacing old heaters makes sense. Test installations are in place at properties owned by the Northern Ireland Housing Association, and also in Ireland, the Shetland Islands, North Eastern Canada, across Europe and Japan.

“We’re aiming very much at our traditional market, which would be the social housing market and the off-grid market – houses that are not on the gas network. Initially we’ll be going after the electric market but we hope to expand that into other fuels,” says Alan.

“We’re the only one doing this at the moment. Outside of the group we’re not aware of anyone developing anything similar.

We’ve got seven patents as we’ve developed the product, so there is a lot of innovation in it.”

The group intention is that Quantum will eventually be a worldwide product.

“The products we make currently are sold across the world and all utilities are facing similar problems no matter where they are.

Energy efficiency is a big issue and we can offer something that improves that situation. It has to be attractive anywhere in the world,” said Alan.

“What’s behind the name is that it is a quantum leap forward for this type of heating which really makes it competitive with other types of heating. We’re bringing something new into the marketplace that benefits our customers and the general public and so as an organisation we’re very excited.”

A game changer for business benefit from accessing 4G with the ability to: t 8PSL BT FGGFDUJWFMZ XIFO BXBZ GSPN UIF PGGJDF desktop t )BWF GVMM DPOOFDUJWJUZ PO UIF NPWF o TFOE large files fast, access complicated documents and use business applications such as video calling t /P XBJUJOH PS MPBEJOH UJNFT BOE GBTU streaming t $VU DPTUT XJUI MFTT PGGJDF TQBDF SFRVJSFE BT more employees can work on the move, while reducing printing costs as documents can be easily accessed and sent between devices

Launching into a vacuum, consumer reaction revealed EE priced too highly for the service, coverage was patchy and the superfast service wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as fast as they claimed.

Because of this, the real benefits of 4G were lost between the teething problems as reality failed to live up to expectation. EE may be able to turn it around, but may well be superseded by its rivals, more equipped to deliver the benefits of 4G including efficient remote working and wide spread coverage.

EEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ROLLOUT Although, it would be understandable if expectations are low for the remaining network rollouts after EEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s problematic 4G launch. But, watching EEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approach and learning from the mistakes, the four remaining network providers are much more prepared to implement this mobile revolution.

Appearing as an early advantage, gaining access to the 4G spectrum at the end of last year, EEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s launch in hindsight provided a 4G testing ground for the other networks, learning what worked and what didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. Being first isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always a good thing.

RATE OF UPTAKE Devices need to be 4G ready so they can connect onto this frequency, some new handsets come 4G ready such as the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10. As these 4G enabled devices become more widely available and costs are reduced, large scale adoption should be driven over the coming 18 months. Devices that provide highquality resolution and longer battery life will be most popular, creating the greatest desirable user experience.

Robin Brown from Connect Telecom

OFCOM AUCTION The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;loadingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; symbol in the middle of our smartphone screens will be a thing of the past when we gain 4G coverage from all networks later this year. Not only this, many predict 4G will go much further and become a real game changer for business mobile communications.

Vodafone, Telefonica O2, EE (a joint venture between Orange and T-Mobile), Three and Niche Spectrum Ventures (a subsidiary of BT) have all been given expanded bandwidth, meaning more capacity for faster service delivery to you. Service obligations will also ensure a higher quality of service from networks and should lead to more competition on pricing.

Where the numbers really stack up are the efficiencies enabled for business mobilisation.

It is estimated that 37 million work hours will be saved each year through faster download speeds as workers have a greater ability to access internet on the move. In the United States 67% of organisations in a recent 4G survey have seen increased productivity. This translates to savings of ÂŁ75bn in the national UK output over the next decade.

CHANGES FOR NORTHERN IRELAND BUSINESSES Northern Ireland businesses will immediately

VODAFONEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S VALUABLE SPECTRUM Vodafone has been 4G ready for some months and has spent over ÂŁ800 million purchasing TQFDUSVN JO UIF .)[ BOE ()[ frequency bands, now with a portfolio worth over ÂŁ2 billion. Recent research shows that they have the most valuable 3G and 4G spectrum, according to Analysys Mason. Vodafone edged EE into second place and O2 into third based upon the value of each spectrum. For Vodafone customers, this will mean a higher quality of service as the network can control this in a way other networks canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t due to the extent of spectrum owned. Their chunk of spectrum also includes the low frequency mobile phone signal that will strengthen indoor coverage. With preparations advancing every day, Vodafone already has several 4G-ready phones. This all ties into the ÂŁ1.8m the provider invests every day to deliver the best mobile experience.

For further information on how 4G will transform your business visit www.connect-tele.co.uk

APRIL 2013 37

ENTERPRISING NI

Securing our economic future through collaboration Dr Norman Apsley, Deputy Chief of MATRIX, the Northern Ireland Science Industry panel and Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Science Park, believes industry, academia and government must work more closely together to create conditions in which global companies can be founded here.

T

he Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) is a centre of excellence stemming from Queen’s University’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT).

Its leader, and one of Northern Ireland’s foremost academic innovators, John McCanny understands the importance of being recognised as a global research innovator – namely that it offers tremendous opportunities for growth.

He is fond of saying that research is the process of turning money (often lots of it) into ideas, whereas innovation is the process of turning ideas into money (hopefully even more of it).

Unsurprisingly, with this basic philosophy, he has a background in using technology and research to found global companies.

For Northern Ireland to excel, we need to encourage and support our researchers and scientists - people like John who have vision, passion and the entrepreneurial spirit that drives innovative ideas into commercial entities.

So why isn’t it happening more? The conditions seem ideal - we live in a free market and democratic economy, with a global market and global trade rules. Yet commercialising research appears difficult. The so called ‘valley of death’ is perhaps due to the lack of funding - government funded research stops short of near market demonstration. Or it could be that the risk appetite of the private sector, especially for disruptive solutions, has still to kick in.

Either way we need a broad based education and research agenda so we can take part in our increasingly complex world. And in some cases we may just have to acknowledge that this small region does not have the industrial or business base necessary to develop each discovery or invention that is made. It is not a straightforward process.

The solution is independent and meaningful communication across the academe-industrial divide and with the policy makers. MATRIX, the Northern Ireland Science Panel, provides such a platform through which advice on future global market opportunities can be developed.

It influences policy makers, funders such as Invest NI, universities and the Northern Ireland Science Park and the business community itself.

As a result we have seen increased velocity of entrepreneurship and innovation investment, both public and private.

38 APRIL 2013

The Science Park helps create the environment for knowledge based businesses to flourish, it provides the space where researchers and innovators can meet, interact, learn from each other and share knowledge with other entrepreneurs and funders.

CSIT, which is also based at the Science Park, is working with leading companies in the cyber security sector to develop and commercialise technologies which solve some of the world’s security challenges. We here in Northern Ireland can work in, and compete on, a global scale because of the access we have to the fastest telecommunications services available to us.

This connectivity enables our local innovating companies to do business around the globe as well as multinational companies to be based here. Approximately half of all financial software used on Wall Street is written here in Northern Ireland, and the process employs thousands of graduates.

At the same time a growing band of polymath entrepreneurs who are a combination of geek, artist and author are building winning web-portals for retail specialists, who are then making serious export inroads in the fashion, jewellery and leisure industries.

Another example, Sofia Search has become the latest University of Ulster spinout company to achieve multimillion investments for its

multinational business.

Our transport sector has never been more buoyant, with NI becoming the centre of a growing trade in efficient ground and air transport using the latest in lightweight carbon fibre technology and digital design techniques.

This work is backed by NIACE, our state of the art composite research centre, in which member companies work together to solve tomorrow’s problems today. And NIACE is itself a result of the MATRIX process.

Within the health sector, digital connectivity is enabling patients to move ever more to the centre of their healthcare needs. It has also allowed our local companies to grow their businesses, such as in pharma and medical devices, and it has facilitated companies to exploit digital pathology and wire-wound care.

Not a bad success record, I would say. But the current global downturn will continue to impact on us all in academia, industry and government.

Only by working together can we start to regain control of our own destiny and continue to develop a stronger culture of innovation and creativity. The work of CSIT, ECIT, the Science Park and MATRIX are all important pieces of the solution.

Further information on MATRIX can be found at www.matrix-ni.org

SUBSCRIPTION OFFER Dine FREE at Malmaison with Ulster Business

Malmaison Brasserie on Victoria Street provides a perfect setting for business lunch or dinner. The surroundings are unique and stylish and can offer allocated booths to you and your clients for seclusion to conduct your meeting. Coupled with iconic dishes prepared with a modern twist and served with passion and personality as well as a mouth watering wine list, you will certainly impress your guests.

Malmaison use local ingredients carefully selected and prepared by Head Chef Stephen Jeffers. This infusion of

bistro classics with locally inspired cooking, creates a very memorable dining experience.

As a business destination, Malmaison Belfast also offers two stylish meeting rooms with wow-factor as standard. Your meeting or private event should be pure theatre with absolutely no dramas. Our team are dedicated to providing amazing hospitality and putting the show back into your business. For more information or to make an enquiry, please call Julie Lynch on 028 9022 0204 or email: jlynch@malmaison.com.

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OPINION

Belfast: a reality you can’t sugar coat

by David McClure, Director, Osborne King Commercial Property Consultants

A

t the risk of sounding sensational, Belfast is at a crossroads. Our traditional city centre having failed to flourish sufficiently in the boom years is in danger of being left behind in the bust, as limited existing development continues to focus regeneration on peripheral locations.

Reach for any modern text on the subject of ‘regeneration’ and you will find infinite commentary on and explanation of the ‘Doughnut Effect’; a phenomenon that affects the shape of some cities when a central vacuum is created by concentrating economic activity around the extremities of the traditional urban core. Sound familiar, yet?

Sadly, it appears that we are continuing to neglect our city centre at a time when investment has never been more acutely required. The extent of the decline in the general retailing market as a result of out-of- town planning policy, property rates and the internet has left us quite simply with too many shops. At the last count almost one in four of our city centre retail units now lie vacant and I would suggest that even filling half of these again for their original use is probably impossible.

We need to think about radical alternatives for our vacant spaces: cultural, artistic and community-based-enterprises are parts of the equation. As a consequence of the ‘Troubles’ most of the upper floors in buildings in

42 APRIL 2013

our traditional city centre are unused. With appropriate investment, this accommodation could once again provide residential, student, office and hotel accommodation in common with any other regional city in the United Kingdom.

The limited central population and small scale of Belfast arguably contribute to the problem.

Even the welcome regeneration potential offered by the expansion of the University of Ulster’s Belfast campus focuses physical development within another peripheral location; tantalisingly close yet at the same time far enough to remain detached from the core commercial activity offered by the city. The future challenge lies in creating a genuine connection with the surrounding area when students arrive in 2018, as well as sustaining the undoubted momentum generated.

Local government and in particular Invest NI in its role as ambassador for Northern Ireland, must urgently recognise that business and office occupiers should be encouraged to locate in our traditional urban centres. Positive discrimination may be necessary to ensure that city centre “opportunity” sites and existing buildings are explored ahead of easier business park alternatives. Anyone exposed to the local property market knows that in the current climate this is easier said than done, with funding for speculative projects simply unattainable.

Osborne King estimates that there is

currently only c. 150,000 sq ft of genuine Grade A office stock available in Belfast, and with office take-up in 2012 estimated at some 275,000 sq ft it is clear that our current supply will shortly be exhausted. So what happens then? Given the obvious practical delay in the planning and construction process, the only alternative for occupiers will be comprehensively refurbished secondary accommodation.

Opportunity exists within this sector and a brave developer with the support of his bank will be equipped to mop-up demand once the supply scales have tipped.

It is logical that city centre regeneration should be retail-led and whether this is via the proposed Royal Exchange development or a more modest strategic approach is a matter of opinion; one certainty is that Environment Minister Alex Attwood’s recent decision to restrict retail development at Sprucefield is good news for Belfast.

If we are to re-invent Belfast’s commercial core, strategic government intervention is required. This must support and encourage private sector development and once again promote the very heart of our city. If we are not prepared to address this issue urgently, then I fear that come 2018, the University’s intake of Planning & Property Development students won’t have too far to walk to find their Doughnut!

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TOP 100 SMEs

Support for SMEs is crucial to our economic future Katherine James, Head of Small Business at Danske Bank, says the bank continues to work closely with small and medium sized businesses to help them realise their potential.

A

s the business environment continues to evolve and becomes more and more technology-driven, the way in which businesses are choosing to do their banking is also changing, with companies seeking a more convenient approach to managing their finances that can save time and increase efficiency.

At Danske Bank we are thinking differently about how to offer the best in modern, progressive banking and are encouraging local SMEs to think differently about how they do business in order to achieve growth.

Northern Ireland businesses are reaping huge benefits from Danske Bank’s ongoing investment in new, innovative banking solutions.

We want to make banking as convenient as possible for our business customers so that they can spend less time on administrative tasks and more time on running their businesses.

Building on the success of our award-winning mobile banking app for personal customers, we have just launched our innovative new Mobile Business smartphone app. We expect the ease and convenience of this to be of great benefit to our customers – enabling them to do their business banking ‘on the move’.

More and more we are also seeing our customers turn towards our telephone and online business banking solutions as an alternative to going into their local branch and our recently launched Business Plus proposition has already proved extremely popular.

Business Plus gives our customers the option to do their business banking over the phone or even by email at a time that suits them – be it first thing in the morning or after trading hours in the evening – meaning that they don’t have to try and find time out of their busy day to visit their local branch.

Danske Bank is constantly updating and improving these services for its small business customers and more is yet to come. We will soon be introducing a new notifications service which will also be of benefit to our small business customers. It’s a free service which businesses can sign up to through our Business eBanking to receive information about their account balance every day by text or email – enabling them to keep on top of payments going in and out of their accounts without having to contact the bank.

We very much recognise the importance of the SME community as the backbone of our economy in Northern Ireland and have always worked closely alongside small businesses to help them achieve their full potential.

Our commitment to supporting these

“WE VERY MUCH RECOGNISE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SME COMMUNITY AS THE BACKBONE OF OUR ECONOMY” 46 APRIL 2013

businesses and helping propel them to greater success remains as firm as ever – be it through our range of lending options, our marketleading technology solutions, or the expertise of our dedicated teams of business bankers and cash managers.

For us, it’s about helping our customers derive maximum value from their business, helping them to increase efficiency, manage their cash flow better and ultimately achieve their full potential.

Despite Danske Bank’s advances in banking technology, face-to-face banking still remains an important part of its service. Our ongoing investment in cutting-edge technology complements our traditional face-to-face business banking rather than replacing it.

A recent banking study by the Ulster Business School and the Federation of Small Businesses calls for relationships between banks and small businesses to be characterised through advice, information provision and networking with the full range of professional services and business bodies needed to support business growth in Northern Ireland. This is very much the case with our business customers.

We are still out on the road every day, meeting with our customers and helping them take the first steps to export into new markets, or looking at ways to enhance their business performance through e-commerce or diversification in terms of their offering.

For years we have been running regular business events to advise small businesses on how they can better manage their working capital and optimise their cash flow. This year, we will be focusing more directly on how businesses can modernise and make themselves more self-efficient through our continued investment in technology to support their business needs.

This element of education – equipping small business owners with the knowledge, skills and confidence to take the next step in their business - is crucial if we are to achieve sustainable economic growth in Northern Ireland.

Top 100 SMEs

Sponsored by

TOP 100 SMEs

Rank

Company Name

Turnover £(000s)

Pre-Tax Profit £(000s)

Net Worth £(000s)

Account Date

1

Prestige Insurance Holdings Ltd

39,971

2,116

-21,461

31/03/2012

2

Copeland Ltd

39,889

2,555

11,552

30/09/2012

3

Bettercare Keys Ltd

39,285

858

-7,507

31/03/2012

4

Phoenix Natural Gas Ltd

39,177

-1,951

-97,061

31/12/2011

5

C&J Meats Ltd

39,056

-144

-325

30/11/2011

6

Savage & Whitten Holdings Ltd

38,989

398

1,231

31/12/2011

7

Foyleside Ltd

38,876

-10,039

8,792

31/07/2011

8

Acheson & Glover Group Ltd

38,813

-4,812

-33,974

31/03/2012

9

Crossgar Foodservice Ltd

38,009

335

5,432

31/03/2011

10

Heat, Energy & Assoc. Technology Ltd

38,003

9,161

20,155

30/11/2011

11

Veterinary Surgeons Supply Co. Ltd

37,991

662

3,900

31/08/2012

12

Desmond Motors Ltd

37,960

18

4,277

31/12/2011

13

McAleer & Rushe Properties Ltd

37,906

12,510

-100,691

31/03/2012

14

United Feeds Ltd

37,823

1,261

2,483

31/03/2012

15

Galen Ltd

37,747

3,667

5,647

30/09/2011

16

Harry Corry Ltd

37,288

-2,029

8,724

29/02/2011

17

David Prentice (Properties) Ltd

37,207

-1,393

5,522

31/12/2011

18

PBN Holdings Ltd

37,131

-3,754

3,923

30/06/2011

19

Heatons (NI) Ltd

36,652

537

7,010

30/04/2011

20

Graham Asset Management Ltd

36,626

1,441

4,762

31/03/2012

21

Calor Gas Northern Ireland Ltd

36,514

3,093

1,858

31/12/2011

22

United Wine Merchants Ltd

36,466

1,360

6,512

31/12/2011

23

Radius Plastics Ltd

36,424

978

-6,228

31/03/2012

24

Hampden Group Ltd

36,225

10,835

3,634,997

03/03/2012

25

BHC Ltd

36,221

1,379

8,929

31/03/2012

Figures were research and compiled by D&B T: 0845 601 2677

48 APRIL 2013

TOP 100 SMEs

Rank

Company Name

Turnover £(000s)

Pre-Tax Profit £(000s)

Net Worth £(000s)

Account Date

26

Murdock Group Holding Ltd

35,951

202

8,656

31/12/2011

27

T&A Kernoghan (Holdings) Ltd

35,917

-5

4,217

31/03/2012

28

Walter Watson Ltd

35,758

307

7,231

31/12/2011

29

Aghareany Ltd

35,601

1,241

5,202

31/07/2011

30

Harcourt Construction (NI) Ltd

35,397

-4,545

-2,019

31/12/2011

31

Wineflair (Belfast) Ltd

35,346

521

11,010

30/09/2011

32

Avondale Foods (Craigavon) Ltd

35,132

872

18,185

31/03/2012

33

O’Reilly’s Wholesale Ltd

35,128

514

-2,598

30/11/2011

34

Dillon Bass Ltd

35,009

23

165

30/06/2011

35

WD Irwin & Sons Ltd

34,822

-416

3,623

27/02/2011

36

Camden Group Ltd

34,789

-1,941

6,300

31/03/2012

37

Lagan Homes Ltd

34,776

-4,268

4,189

31/12/2011

38

Motis Ireland Ltd

34,543

1,366

1,232

31/12/2011

39

Bryson Charitable Group

34,420

1,571

11,035

31/03/2012

40

Herbel Restaurants Ltd

34,399

824

3,315

31/12/2010

41

Montgomery Transport Ltd

34,212

752

15,643

30/09/2011

42

H&A Holdings (NI) Ltd

33,825

1,479

13,467

31/05/2012

43

John Woods (Lisglyn) Ltd

33,648

375

6,957

31/07/2011

44

North West Silos Ltd

33,634

204

1,586

31/07/2011

45

Rigel Petroleum (NI) Ltd

33,595

17,723

13,781

31/12/2011

46

Brunswick (No.1) Ltd

33,588

-32,338

59,611

31/12/2010

47

CTO Holdings Ltd

33,405

751

-706

02/07/2011

48

The Titanic Foundation Ltd

33,141

32,445

83,517

31/03/2012

49

Fold Housing Association

32,958

2,204

44,533

31/03/2011

50

Frylite Ltd

32,519

1,572

4,636

01/04/2012

Figures were research and compiled by D&B T: 0845 601 2677

APRIL 2013 49

TOP 100 SMEs

Rank

Company Name

Turnover £(000s)

Pre-Tax Profit £(000s)

Net Worth £(000s)

Account Date

51

TBF Thompson (Garvagh) Ltd

32,306

216

797

31/12/2011

52

Killyvally Holdings Ltd

32,306

215

2,306

31/12/2011

53

Doherty & Gray Ltd

31,926

113

1,893

31/03/2012

54

Printcast Ltd

31,879

-2,191

-5,833

31/12/2011

55

Corbo Ltd

31,768

-4,466

190,400

31/01/2012

56

John McQuillan (Contracts) Ltd

31,556

943

9,283

31/03/2012

57

Dennison Commercials Ltd

31,271

-2,496

5,923

31/12/2011

58

Agnew Corporate Ltd

31,115

993

1,291

31/12/2011

59

Mutual Energy Ltd

31,025

-51,308

-126,373

31/03/2012

60

Premier Electrics Ltd

31,003

338

2,724

30/09/2012

61

McBurney Refrigeration Ltd

30,899

474

6,476

31/12/2011

62

SERE Holdings Ltd

30,888

-80

2,017

31/12/2011

63

Almac Pharma Services Ltd

30,828

-322

17,819

30/09/2011

64

Belfast International Airport Ltd

30,231

2,749

106,443

31/12/2011

65

Hilton Meats (Cookstown) Ltd

29,607

1,008

1,597

31/12/2011

66

Irish Salt Mine & Exploration Co. Ltd

29,599

9,865

24,197

30/11/2011

67

Patmond Energy Ltd

29,440

1,715

4,522

30/06/2012

68

Liberty Information Technology Ltd

29,274

7,215

8,898

31/12/2012

69

Eurostock Foods NI Ltd

29,253

364

2,412

31/01/2012

70

MJM Marine Ltd

28,504

774

4,080

31/12/2011

71

Moyola (Cellars) Ltd

28,462

593

25,276

31/10/2011

72

Hastings Hotel Group Ltd

28,462

742

28,919

31/10/2011

73

A & FA Dundee Ltd

28,261

3,344

-7,509

31/08/2011

74

Autoline Direct Insurance Ltd

28,062

62

1,766

31/12/2011

75

BSG Civil Engineering Ltd

28,054

4,929

15,656

31/12/2011

Figures were research and compiled by D&B T: 0845 601 2677

50 APRIL 2013

TOP 100 SMEs

Rank

Company Name

Turnover £(000s)

Pre-Tax Profit £(000s)

Net Worth £(000s)

Account Date

76

Amey Lagan Roads Holdings Ltd

27,994

-1,699

-1,437

31/03/2012

77

James Tolland & Company Ltd

27,987

247

1,993

31/05/2012

78

Diesel Card International Ltd

27,194

582

1,218

31/05/2012

79

Praxis Care

27,159

1,141

7,886

31/03/2012

80

Evron Foods Ltd

27,138

377

6,043

31/08/2011

81

Decora Blind Systems Ltd

27,135

1,491

7,840

31/12/2011

82

Delta Print & Packaging Ltd

27,059

430

6,941

30/06/2011

83

Huhtamaki (Lurgan) Ltd

26,940

3,115

9,774

31/12/2011

84

Shelbourne Motors Ltd

26,899

192

4,625

31/12/2011

85

Ballinaskeagh Grains Ltd

26,742

459

1,823

30/11/2011

86

Terumco BCT Ltd

26,555

1,944

3,525

31/03/2012

87

Smyths Toys NI Ltd

26,515

663

-3,080

31/12/2011

88

Seagoe Technologies Ltd

26,415

6,578

26,381

31/03/2012

89

JKC Specialist Cars Ltd

26,297

271

3,229

31/12/2011

90

Elite Electronic Systems Ltd

25,994

4,079

12,247

31/03/2012

91

Western Building Systems Ltd

25,842

2,250

11,439

30/04/2012

92

Germinal Holdings Ltd

25,765

1,898

18,294

30/06/2011

93

D McGranaghan Ltd

25,686

426

2,517

31/12/2011

94

Pyperhill Ltd

25,660

-1,685

-2,819

31/10/2010

95

Greiner Packaging Ltd

25,554

887

8,300

31/12/2011

96

Total Produce Belfast Ltd

25,553

1,285

9,292

31/12/2011

97

AJ Power Ltd

25,520

1,138

2,898

30/06/2011

98

Component Distributors Group Ltd

25,382

354

2,299

31/12/2011

99

Kainos Software Ltd

25,379

2,033

7,655

31/03/2012

100

Kilrea Service Station Ltd

25,358

726

6,668

31/03/2012

Figures were research and compiled by D&B T: 0845 601 2677

APRIL 2013 51

TOP 100 SMEs

Analysing the Top 100 SME list Ulster Business explains the rationale behind the Top 100 SMEs list and takes a closer look at the firms who have made it on to this year’s table.

F

or those who don’t already know, SME stands for small and medium sized enterprises.

The European Union defines a small business as having turnover up to €10m (£8m) and a medium sized business as having turnover of up to €50m (roughly £40m).

Having found in previous years that listing the top 50 of both small and medium sized companies using these measurements left us with a large swathe of businesses that fell between these two levels, we decided to make things simpler this year by only focusing on the medium sized companies.

That has given us a start point of £40m stretching down to the company ranked in 100th place at £25m. In many ways ranking businesses of this scale makes this the second tranche of Ulster Business’ long-running Top 100 companies list because it includes many businesses which are well known but whose turnover places them outside the main list. In Northern Ireland terms, where we have so many micro enterprises, these are still large businesses, but they fall into the official SME category.

The figures were compiled for us by Dun & Bradstreet and date mainly from the 2011/2012 financial year.

One interesting characteristic about the list is that – in keeping with the findings of last year’s larger company Top 100 – some 19 of the 100 medium sized firms made a loss during their financial year.

That is no surprise given the continued economic malaise, and it is also noticeable that for many firms, pre-tax profits are minimal when compared to the multi-million pound turnover that they are generating.

Holding companies for businesses feature prominently as do subsidiary companies of larger groups. We’ve kept these in to show the contribution made by those Northern Ireland businesses to their parents’ balance sheets – for example Seagoe Technologies (part of Glen Dimplex), CTO Holdings (a division of Tayto), and Galen (part of Almac Group).

In terms of business sectors there are construction firms which in years gone by made the main Top 100 list – Acheson & Glover and McAleer & Rushe – as well as some who are up and coming – such as Western Building Systems.

52 APRIL 2013

Greiner is one of several packaging companies on the list.

“ONE INTERESTING CHARACTERISTIC OF THE LIST IS THAT 19 OF THE 100 MEDIUM SIZED FIRMS MADE A LOSS DURING THEIR FINANCIAL YEAR, CONSISTENT WITH OUR LARGE COMPANY TOP 100.”

Social enterprises also feature strongly, which may come as a surprise. However with turnover in excess of £30m at both Bryson Charitable Group and Praxis Care, perhaps social enterprises are no longer the small organisations we think.

Encouragingly the list also includes a number of growing export focused companies, among them the likes of Premier Electrics, Decora Blind Systems, MJM Marine and Kainos Software.

Agri-food is also well represented with firms such as Hilton Meats, United Feeds, WD Irwin & Sons, Avonddale Foods and United Wines all included, demonstrating the growing importance of the sector to Northern Ireland.

And for some reason a number of our best known packaging firms also fall into this bracket in terms of their sales, including Delta Print & Packaging, Greiner Packaging and Huhtamaki.

Of course ranking all of these companies based on their turnover is like comparing apples and oranges in many ways. A high volume manufacturer may have greater sales but a lower profit margin that a technology-driven IT services provider.

But we hope this list proves useful in judging just where some of our large small businesses fit in to the picture, and an idea of which firms could be pushing for a place on the main Top 100 in a couple of years time.

AGRI-FOOD

Queen’s University aims to create a Food Fortress Queen’s University’s new Institute for Global Food Security is aiming to put Northern Ireland at the forefront of global good safety. Symon Ross spoke to its director, Professor Chris Elliott, to find out more.

T

he launch of Queen’s University’s £33m Institute of Global Food Security could not have been better timed last month.

With the horse meat scandal fresh in the minds of the food buying public and the issue of food provenance, quality and safety being discussed daily in the news, the need for the new research facility was clear for all to see.

The Institute aims to play a key role in national and global efforts to provide the world’s growing population with a sustainable, safe and secure supply of high quality food by creating what the university called a “food fortress” in Belfast.

Its director, Professor Chris Elliott, said: “We want to build a food-fortress, ensuring everything we import is of the highest quality and that what we sell locally and internationally is also 100 per cent safe, nutritious and authentic.”

The university has been developing the food fortress concept since the food scare related to dioxins in 2009, when it worked with the animal feeds sector to check and test materials that were being imported into the province’s supply chain.

“What we’re saying now is that every sector needs to do this – whether that’s red meat, white meat, eggs, milk – they need that mentality,” said Professor Elliot.

“We are really striving to keep being competitive. One of the ways to be more competitive is to have brands which wear the integrity badge. We can’t compete on cost. If we want to sell into the big markets, they are buying on quality now.”

Currently the production and processing of food plays a critical role in the Northern Ireland economy, with the sector providing 85,000 jobs and generating sales of over £5bn each year.

The industry was given a further boost at the opening of the IGFS when Tesco CEO Philip Clarke made a commitment to double the amount the supermarket giant spends on buying fresh beef, pork and chicken from Northern Ireland farmers.

The announcement was driven by the scandal which saw horse meat from as far away as Eastern Europe discovered in beef products sold on the shelves of a number of supermarkets.

Clarke said retailers needed to work more closely with producers closer to home so they had more control of the meat supply chain.

“There is demand for our food and there is a real opportunity to sell our products as safe, high quality and authentic in the current

54 APRIL 2013

Tesco plc CEO Philip Clarke launched Queen’s University Belfast’s new Institute for Global Food Security alongside Tracy Meharg from Invest NI, Professor Chris Elliott, Director of the Institute for Global Food Security, Queen’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Peter Gregson and Mike Harrington, Vice-President of Waters Corporation.

environment,” said Prof Elliott.

“In the US, Michigan is thinking along the same lines as we are here. They are working with the likes of Kellogg’s, which has had a few issues in the last couple of years with its supply chain.

So what’s happening here is happening around the world. I think we’ve got a huge advantage here, which is that we are on an island,” he added.

“There are only seven ports in Ireland which means we have greater control over what’s coming in. That’s where you do your checking. If you compare that with somewhere like Holland, it shares land borders with several other countries where materials can be transferred. As a small island we are uniquely placed to control it.”

Staff in the new Institute will work alongside the food sector locally, and worldwide, to improve the integrity of the food chain and deliver best value and quality to the consumer.

Prof Elliott said several local food companies have already asked to bring their customers to the new IGFS laboratory at Queen’s to demonstrate the hard science behind their quality testing.

The £2.5m laboratory houses state-of-the-art equipment provided by technology company Waters Corporation which is capable of undertaking unique forms of testing in order to

provide early warning of food contamination and adulteration such as the horse meat crisis.

“I have been telling people for quite a long time that these sorts of issues would appear on the horizon. I couldn’t have predicted the horse meat scandal, but I just knew that there would be an issue around the quality of our food,” he said.

“The two big drivers are the unbelievable complication of the food supply chain and the enormous effort to keep the cost of food low.

If you put those two things together there are so many opportunities for things to go wrong.”

Prof Elliott also said he has seen a marked shift in interest in the agri-food sector from young people which has allowed the University to help create an expert industry base for the future.

“Ten years ago you couldn’t recruit into agriculture or food science, it was dead. There was such a negative perception of the whole sector,” he said.

“To get to the point where now we have 500 applicants for 70 places that we have available is a huge transformation. And when you have 500 people applying that means we can now select the cream. These are people with straight As in A-levels, which has never happened before.”

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AWARDS

Enter the 2013 Irish News Workplace & Employment Awards

T

Launching The Irish News Workplace & Employment Awards 2013 are business partner representatives Minister for Employment and Learning Dr Stephen Farry; Investors in People, Lynn Livingstone, Tesco Northern Ireland; William Hamilton, Liberty IT; Judith Owens, Titanic Belfast; Alan Egner, Power NI; Anna Beggan, Tughans Solicitors and Mark Regan, Kingsbridge Private Hospital.

Pictured (from left) guest speakers Marie Lindsay, principal of St Mary’s College and Professor Deirdre Heenan, University of Ulster pro-vice-chancellor (communication) and provost (Coleraine and Magee), along with Irish News director Anne Sykes and business editor Gary McDonald.

56 APRIL 2013

he Irish News Workplace & Employment Awards have been lauded for having developed into one of the biggest and most successful business initiatives anywhere in Ireland.

Now in their seventh year, the 2013 awards will take place in Titanic Belfast on Thursday June 13, hosted by the BBC’s Karen Patterson and, as in previous years, is likely to be a 400-plus sell-out.

The awards seek to unearth those exceptional companies and organisations in the north which are putting an emphasis on developing, nurturing and getting the best out of their people.

Department for Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry was among guests at the formal launch of the awards in Titanic Belfast, where he was welcomed by Irish News chairman James Fitzpatrick.

Representatives of the Workplace & Employment Awards’ six key business partners – Tughans Solicitors, Liberty IT, Investors in People, Kingsbridge Private Hospital, Tesco and Power NI – were also present along with representatives from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), which have again endorsed the Irish News initiative.

Mr Farry said: “These awards help to recognise excellence and dynamism in the workplace and clearly support the skills work being taken forward by my department.

Skills are widely accepted as the key raw material in the modern knowledge-based economy and are the key driver in how we in Northern Ireland can achieve our economic goals.”

For the first time since the initiative’s inception in 2007, the Irish News Workplace & Employment Awards were also launched in Derry.

The Great Hall at the University of Ulster’s Magee campus hosted guests from the City Council, academia and the north west’s business community.

Professor Deirdre Heenan, the university’s Pro-ViceChancellor (communication) and Provost (Coleraine and Magee) hosted the launch reception, at which guests were welcomed by Irish News director Anne Sykes.

Marie Lindsay, principal of St Mary’s College in Derry (a past winner of an Irish News Workplace and Employment Award), spoke in glowing terms of the awards initiative and encouraged businesses and organisations in the north west to enter.

She said: “We work as a team in St Mary’s, and promoting courses which enable staff to do a better job can only result in pupils having a more rounded learning experience.

“Managing talent is easy in St Mary’s, because there is an abundance of very talented people here.”

This year’s awards have seen two thirds of the categories significantly revamped, while brand new for 2013 is a special green award, open to organisations and businesses across all sectors, both in the public and private sectors.

For your 2013 entry pack and awards information visit www.irishnews.com/wea

PROFILE

Valuing people, valuing time Pioneering work force time management software, which helps people feel more valued, has proved to be a big success for Gartan Technologies’ clients. Ulster Business met with Malachi Eastwood, Managing Director of Gartan Technologies to discuss the firm’s latest push into Northern Ireland.

T

here are not many technology company bosses who can say they spent their formative years as a bass player in a folk band on New Orleans’ famous Bourbon Street.

But then again, Malachi Eastwood doesn’t fit the mould of your average tech business leader.

The Belfast-born man left his job in the family scrap business in Belfast at the age of 20 to explore fresh opportunities in America.

After staying for five years in the Big Easy, he met Margaret his Donegal born wife. Malachi found himself back in Ireland as recession hit in the early 1990s and spent three years as a house husband while struggling to make a living as a musician in Donegal.

With the goal of getting a job Malachi enrolled to do a degree in computing as a mature student at the Letterkenny Institute of Technology. Little did he know he would soon be running his own company.

It was there, while working on his final year project that Malachi met and worked with Peter Cunningham, with whom he went on to form Gartan Technologies in 1996, after realising his university project had a real practical use in the commercial world.

The software developers quickly identified a gap in the crew payroll software market for their local Donegal Fire & Rescue Service (FRS) and developed a payroll, billing and management information system for them.

After rolling this out to other fire services in Ireland, they realised there were further opportunities to create improved products for the sector. With increasing pressure to measure performance and incidents in the fire and rescue services, Gartan Technologies began to expand into broader crew management software to facilitate staff availability and roster management.

In 2004, the entrepreneurs took the decision to try to crack the GB market by forming a partnership with Central Scotland FRS, who

58 APRIL 2013

worked with the company to develop systems to meet specific UK requirements.

This led to the development of the “Retained Staff Availability” (RSA) system that would prove key to the company’s success in the UK. The product allows part-time retained and volunteer teams to book on and off duty using the Internet and mobile devices.

In the UK most fire services have a roster of part-time reserves who are only allowed to be scheduled to work 120 hours a week – meaning there is a 48 hour period where they are not available and managers had no clear idea of how many fire-fighters were available at any one time. Gartan’s software solved the problem, informing managers of pressure points and letting emergency control rooms see in real-time how many are available at each fire station in their area.

“I was meeting with fire services all around the UK and I could tell immediately that we had something they wanted,” Malachi told Ulster Business.

“There were challenges to overcome, not least that we were a small company and we weren’t based in the UK, but we won a contract with Gloucestershire FRS in mid-2007. Once we had the reference point we spent three years signing one deal after another.”

Today, Gartan’s products are used by more than 40 UK and Irish Fire & Rescue Services, and it has 30% of the UK FRS market and 90% of the Irish market. In the last three years the company has trebled turnover and doubled the workforce at its headquarters in Letterkenny to 19.

INNOVATIVE PRICING MODEL While Malachi puts the company’s success to date down to the quality of the products and his talented staff, he also believes Gartan’s innovative approach to licensing its software has proved attractive to clients.

The price structure is unique in the workforce software sector since customers don’t have to pay massive up front fees. Neither are they handcuffed into hidden charges because the software can evolve as the organisation does.

This gives clients’ flexibility and encourages customer loyalty – many customers have been with Gartan for over 12 years.

“Traditionally what happens in the software market is you sell the software with the option of an annual maintenance contract and if you want to make any changes you have to pay for it. We licence the software for an agreed contract period. Clients’ get the support, maintenance and development time to help when their needs change,” he explains.

“The problem with the traditional model is, from the moment you buy the software the clock is ticking and it becomes less and less

“OUR SOFTWARE IS AS RELEVANT AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT AS IT WAS AT THE START. IT’S FUTURE-PROOF.”

Malachi Eastwood

PROFILE

relevant. The advantage of our model is that because we’ve been working with clients to meet their needs throughout the lifetime of the contract (at no additional cost), the software is as relevant at the end of the contract as it was at the start. It’s future-proof,” he adds.

“If you talk to anyone in industry they’ll tell you they’ve had a bad experience with IT. That someone has sold them a pup and when they get back to the vendor they are not helpful because all they’re interested in is the sale,” says Malachi.

“What we’re interested in is a long term relationship. For example I’m currently negotiating with another new client and I’m not looking at it as a three year contract, I’m looking at this in terms of a long term relationship. If you keep giving customers value then renewing the contracts is a formality.”

Having won 20 contracts from 20 different local authorities in the space of a few years, Gartan decided to spend 18 months restructuring, using ISO standards to ensure its clients would continue to get good service and support as it grew. Gartan’s MD says its customers were hugely supportive.

“Our clients were prepared to work with us as we introduced structures that would enable us grow to a medium sized company. They could see we wanted to professionalise the company and obviously they wanted us to be resilient. If we had behaved like sharks in the early years we would have had a problem,” he said.

AMBITIONS FOR GROWTH Since the fourth quarter of last year Malachi has taken a more strategic role at the company and is spending a lot of time on the road to promote Gartan Technologies.

Having spent 17 years developing innovative workplace management software for the emergency services sector, he is now keen to show that by presenting information that has real strategic value, Gartan’s products could lead to increased savings and improved performance for other types of organisations.

Its core product, Gartan Managed Time, comprises a suite of Staff Availability, Roster and Payroll software designed to help organisations organise tasks and people in a way that improves efficiency and performance through real-time tracking and accurate performance measurement. The principle behind it is giving people a better way to manage their time and helping managers get the best from their people.

Any organisation which has a large workforce and which needs quick responses to situations at unexpected times, could use Gartan Managed Time in the same way fire services do currently, says Malachi.

“One of the challenges we have now is taking the expertise we’ve gained in the fire and rescue market out into other markets. An interesting aspect of that is that companies are not used to the model that we offer. They expect to have to buy a piece of software and pay through the

nose if they want it changed.” he says.

“Many organisations who need to manage people around the clock, in multi-locations, could really see the value of our products, so we are talking to nursing agencies, call centres, private healthcare providers, social services and other council departments.” he adds. Licensing its software means Malachi has visibility on Gartan’s future income based on existing business. That has meant the company has been able to grow business year on year at an average of 35% since 2007.

Such clarity has given him confidence to expand into Northern Ireland while at the same time growing in its traditional sector by extending the firm’s geographical reach.

“The future for us lies in introducing our products to new markets, including Northern Ireland. We want to bring the benefits of Gartan Managed Time enjoyed by our existing clients, to other industries. We’ll continue to expand our emergency sector base by introducing new products to the UK and Irish regions, as well as offering Gartan Managed Time to FRS jurisdictions including Europe and Australia,” says Gartan’s MD. “I’d like to think that with Gartan Managed Time we’ve proved there is a better way of doing things. We believe that if you make software intuitive you can make people look forward to using it. Who knows perhaps GMT will have a different meaning in the future – Gartan Managed Time.”

APRIL 2013 59

PROFILE

Banking on Success Kevin Kingston, Deputy CEO of Danske Bank in Northern Ireland is the second of the alumni to be profiled in our “Ulster Business School – Leaders In Business” series.

Kevin Kingston, Deputy CEO, Danske Bank, MBA, Ulster Business School

WHAT IS YOUR EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND?

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT ROLE AND WHY DOES IT APPEAL TO YOU?

I completed my Master of Business Administration degree at the Ulster Business School, University of Ulster in 2007. Before that, I’d spent some 13 years in banking after having qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

The decision to undertake a three-year course of study after having been out of the academic environment for so many years certainly generated some questions from my banking colleagues at the time. However, I felt that I had reached a stage in my career that, while I was confident in terms of the necessary technical skills, I was ready to challenge myself further and the MBA seemed like the perfect option to do just that. While I had studied some of the MBA topics in my undergraduate and accountancy training, it was fascinating to have the opportunity to revisit the subjects with the benefit of some real-world experience.

I am Deputy CEO at Danske Bank in Northern Ireland and also have the privilege of leading the Business and Corporate Banking teams. In addition, I am the Honorary Treasurer of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and was delighted to have recently been appointed as one of two Vice-Presidents.

The main part of my role in Danske Bank is leading the various banking teams which serve the Northern Ireland business community.

That includes Corporate Banking, Finance Centres, Small Business, Markets and Specialist Business which incorporates Asset Finance, Invoice Finance, Merchant Acquiring and Cash Management. It’s a broad role which covers a lot of areas and so there is always plenty happening.

I genuinely believe that I am fortunate enough to be working in one of the most exciting and interesting banking jobs in Northern Ireland. I work with a really strong team of committed people who are proud to be part of the local community which the bank serves.

WHAT ARE THE TOUGHEST PROBLEMS THAT YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH? Needless to say, being a banker is now a very different job to what it used to be when I began my career over twenty years ago!

The challenges of the local economy and the wider financial crisis are continuing to drive an unprecedented level of change. I’m glad to say that many of our customers have managed to

6 APRIL 2013

“I WAS READY TO CHALLENGE MYSELF FURTHER AND THE MBA SEEMED LIKE THE PERFECT OPTION TO DO JUST THAT.” successfully adapt their business models to this new world. It’s really great to see some of these success stories of growing export-led Northern Ireland companies that have shown that they can compete effectively on a global basis.

Just like these successful local management teams, we in Danske Bank need to constantly challenge ourselves to make sure that we are adapting our own business model to reflect this relentless rate of change, and to make sure we are best placed to support our customers in their growth ambitions.

WHAT IS THE MOST REWARDING PART OF YOUR JOB? I have always loved meeting our new and existing customers and hearing about their businesses. We have some really world-class companies in Northern Ireland and it’s always a pleasure to have the opportunity to play a part in helping such businesses to grow and succeed.

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BUSINESS SUPPORT

Entrepreneurship campaign is putting Young People First Ulster Business reports on a new support programme which The Prince’s Trust has established to help aspiring young entrepreneurs get going in business.

As part of its Masterclass series targeted at young people who are seeking to establish their own business, The Prince’s Trust invited Social Media expert Sam Flynn to share her insights on online brand building. Sam is pictured with the Trust’s NI director Ian Jeffers and young ambassador David Rainey.

I

nvest Northern Ireland has added its support to The Prince’s Trust in a sponsorship deal that will provide valuable additional resources for young people who have successfully completed The Trust’s Enterprise programme and are now running their own businesses.

As part of The Prince’s Trust Young People First Campaign, the joint venture between the two organisations will see a full programme of activities including a series of Masterclasses over the next two years looking at topics such as increasing sales and social networking contacts, as well the opening of a fully equipped dedicated Enterprise and Employment Zone at The Prince’s Trust’s new Centre in Weavers Court, Belfast.

The Invest NI ‘Young People First’ Zone, the first of its kind locally, will be dedicated to supporting around 1200 young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) to enter the world of employment or self-employment while allowing young entrepreneurs to market their products and services and network with potential suppliers and buyers.

Bill Scott, Executive Director, Regional

62 APRIL 2013

Business at Invest NI commented: “This new Zone will incorporate one-to-one enterprise and employment clinics each week along with a telephone advice line open five days per week.

In partnership with The Prince’s Trust we will establish a dedicated online ‘Young People First’ business network for young people who have set up in business, provide users with practical tips, advice and the opportunity to share ideas, contacts and most importantly, referrals.”

Young people visiting the Zone will have access to more than 300 Prince’s Trust business mentors who have a range of experience in marketing, accessing finance and preparing for employment while having access to free hot-desking facilities with IT, telecoms, help with administration and use of meeting rooms.

Ian Jeffers, Director with The Prince’s Trust in Northern Ireland said: “The Explore Enterprise programme aims to support around 350 young people in the coming year who wish to set up in business. They will be among 20,000 young people who fall into the core NEET group who have faced a range of personal barriers that have prevented them from participating in education,

training or employment that is specifically targeted by The Prince’s Trust. Each of these young people has taken the initiative to sign up for this programme to develop business ideas that they have rather than stay unemployed.

“We are delighted that this additional sponsorship provided by Invest NI will help us to add even more value to the support we give those who have completed the programme and are now in a position to use our additional resources to find methods by which they can further establish and grow their businesses in the marketplace.”

Bill Scott added: “The series of Masterclasses and Inspirational Speaker events will provide an invaluable and practical insight into how various techniques and skills can be used to grow your business as well as providing excellent opportunities for participants to showcase their products and services and network with their peers and potential customers.”

For more information about how to help The Prince’s Trust help more young people visit www.princes-trust.org.uk or follow The Trust on Facebook or Twitter www.facebook.com/princestrust / www.twitter.com/princestrust

Business Start-Ups

BUSINESS START-UPS ROUND TABLE

Start-up nation?

VINCENT RAINEY Founder of Quiz Fortune, a web-based business that combines quizzes, games and social interaction.

VINCENT BRESLIN Co-founder of Siansplan.com, an innovative provider of digital healthy eating recipe plans.

JONATHAN CHESNEY Co-founder of World Desk, which lets you to carry your entire workspace around on any device.

AARON TAYLOR CEO of mobile gaming tournament platform Goprezzo, which helps games developers to monetize their games.

Ulster Business got together four entrepreneurs who have international ambitions for their relatively young companies to discuss the start-up landscape in Northern Ireland and ask them what would improve the chances of success for local start-up businesses.

Symon Ross: In terms of support for starting a business, perhaps looking at Invest NI, what is done well here in Northern Ireland, and what have you found has been lacking?

Aaron Taylor: I think a lot of people torture Invest NI for the wrong reasons. A lot of people see Invest NI as something you are automatically entitled to because they’re from here and so think that Invest NI should be funding their business. But Invest NI money is purely there to support businesses. It is not there to provide a funding channel. If you’ve raised money yourself there is a good chance you’ll get more from Invest NI because they are there to support projects that can sustain themselves.

That slightly skews the support, but at the same time there is no right to get Invest NI funding and you certainly shouldn’t build your business around it or tailor your business around the criteria for support. That’s so wrong.

Vincent Breslin: You can do it the right way though. The way we are hopefully doing it is to use money from Invest NI to our advantage, but not be reliant on it or guide the business around it. You have to work out how it fits into your business and for someone starting off like myself, I had never done this before, I didn’t

64 APRIL 2013

know who to look to for money and for that purpose Invest NI were brilliant. As a starting point it is great.

SR: Vincent, you have gone down the bootstrapping route, with investment from friends and family. Has that been the right decision so far?

Vincent Rainey: I’ll tell you the answer to that at a later date! For now I think it was the right and appropriate thing to do and I was in the privileged position that I could do it. Not many people are able to do that. But the main challenge for me at the moment is to make sure that before I run out of money I have a business that is clearly investible. The way I’ve done it is unorthodox and with it comes huge responsibility to execute and deliver.

SR: How hard have you found it to get away from reliance on Invest NI and raise funding elsewhere, even internationally?

AT: It is as hard as you make it. My final thoughts on Invest NI is that you have to look at it for what it is. A lot of people beat them up and say they do this and don’t’ do that. But you have to structure your business model and

BUSINESS START-UPS ROUND TABLE

then see if there’s anything that could potentially be supported by Invest NI, not the other way around. The responsibility for them to make sure they are supporting companies is to make sure they have really great client executives who can get things done. We have an awesome client executive but I’ve come across some people who think their client executives are just useless.

VB: Invest NI made it really easy for us, maybe because we were perceived as an international company at that stage because we weren’t based in Belfast. But we had a great client executive who made it easy for us.

Jonathan Chesney: Do you think, when you talk about internationalising or getting funding from other places, that Invest NI have a branding exercise to do to get it known that we have credible start-ups coming from here?

Or even, one of my frustrations would be, why are we not as a country trying to get attractive American start-ups to set up base here. I’m not saying we’ll get them why aren’t we going in to bat for them? Dublin has Facebook, Google, Dropbox are starting there, Twitter are there. Are we not having these conversations or, even if we know we’re going to lose, shouldn’t we have those conversations to publicise Northern Ireland?

VR: You mean, lose a few and then we might win one?

JC: Exactly. But at a country level is it our ambition to attract these kinds of companies? To be a start-up hub like Dublin or London.

VR: I think that links to what I believe is a cultural hurdle here to overcome. We’ve had a long history of too many civil servants living in their comfort zone. We have to reinvent this place.

JC: What I’m saying is we have to think of new ideas. For example how many vacant buildings

“IT’S OKAY TO BE A BIG FISH IN A SMALL POND HERE, BUT YOU GO TO AMERICA AND REALISE THERE ARE PEOPLE THERE WHO ARE RIDICULOUSLY GOOD.” are there in Belfast? What difference would it make for them to say tomorrow, right this place is going to be solely for start-ups, we’re going to give them 24 months free rent, office space, divide the bills between the start-ups and then all of a sudden it looks like you’ve got a start-up hub in Belfast. It is happening in other places.

AT: We’re talking about Government doing something again though. In the US there is very little government support, you would have to attract investment to create a start-up

workspace like that, people would have to pay if it was going to be a sustainable business model. There’s more emphasis on start-ups in general and on us deciding that rather than going to a default location like the NI Science Park if it is not the sort of environment you want to work in, I’ll go to Vincent and Jonny and other people I know and find a place in the city centre that has space for 10 or 15 start-ups, pool resources for the first couple of months and after it is up and running pull in investors. There is a certain responsibility on us as entrepreneurs to think outside the box – it goes back to that whole Invest NI thing about thinking we have a right for someone to do something for us. Maybe that would change if Invest NI asked for equity.

JC: What I’m asking though is, is there a better way of doing what they are doing?

AT: I completely agree with you that they could re-prioritise what they spend their money on. We had these guys come in to do an independent review of the Propel programme in front of everyone and I said they would be better after the first couple of months dropping 75% of the people from the programme and giving all the money to the five or ten brightest and best. It went quiet in the room and some people were saying, who do you think you are?

But if someone said that I would immediately be thinking, I agree, because I am one of those brightest and best. If you’re not thinking that >>> you won’t make it.

APRIL 2013 65

BUSINESS START-UPS ROUND TABLE

JC: It’s that one size fits all approach. At the South by Southwest festival last year there was a person from a big enterprise who wanted to discuss enterprise solutions. The way it worked was that there were two people presenting before me who were pitching things that weren’t ready yet, so by the time he got to me, even though we were ready, there was no real interest. Even in a situation like that there has to be an account taken of which company is likely to make the bigger impact.

SR: How hard is it to get noticed outside of Northern Ireland?

AT: It’s tough but you just have to pound the road and do it. In America there’s a strong affiliation with the Irish, which helps. But it is hard because people see so many companies doing so many different things. It’s okay to be a big fish in a small pond here, but you go to America and realise there are people there who are ridiculously good. People who’ll just throw into conversation that they’ve sold a company to Twitter for $9m, or raised $50m in cash, or they used to work for Barack Obama. It can make you just want to crawl under the table.

JC: But is that a useful comparison point or do we use a comparison point that is something more realistic?

AT: I think what we have to do is look at what is the difference between what they do and what we do. There is no difference except opportunity and the only way to be given opportunities is to be there. The opportunity may not exist here but you can easily get a flight over to America and spend two or three weeks there. It is just making the sacrifice of working hard and meeting the people who are strategically placed to help you.

VR: I am starting to do that now. I went to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and

66 APRIL 2013

made it my business to connect with people that I wouldn’t ordinarily have met. I did the same with the recent IntertradeIreland Venture Capital conference in Dublin, which was also good for me in terms of meeting VCs. I was deeply impressed by the honesty and the amount of support from people who said I could not speak to them too soon. They said if you want to get your business to the US, come to us early.

The one thing they want is no bullshit, just tell us where you are and we will help you as best we can, they said. It’s not just about the money – it is about the motivation and the expertise and the skillset. So it is more about meeting the right people. Because if the idea is right and you have the right team, the money will follow.

AT: The type of infrastructure that exists in the US doesn’t exist here. We have to be realistic in our expectations but at the same time we should be looking at trying to set up some kind of

infrastructure that makes it closer to what they are in New York.

SR: What would be the first thing you’d do to start the process to make that happen?

AT: You have to set up networks and channels where investment can move backwards and forwards, and create something where you have the ability to meet people.

VB: I couldn’t agree more. When I set up I struggled to find an opportunity to meet people like you guys, there was nothing there that I could find.

AT: Well why don’t we start a Belfast meet up, a proper meet up for the Belfast tech community.

How hard would it be to go out and hire a venue like this and get somebody to speak at it?

We all know people all around the world and a

BUSINESS START-UPS ROUND TABLE

Photography by Richie Lavery

lot of those people want to help. So why don’t we? The four of us should actually start that.

SR: What would be the ultimate aim of that?

VR: For me, selfishly, to help ourselves; two, to encourage people who are considering starting up but don’t know what to do; and thirdly to expand our vision beyond Belfast Lough.

AT: The aim would be to get like minded entrepreneurs together who want to be bigger than Finn McCool.

JC: There are a few different issues though.

Number one there are already networks out there who are doing a good job. For example they held a Pub Summit here as part of the Dublin Web Summit. The background to that is that when the Web Summit guys were trying to get some traction around Europe, Belfast wasn’t included. Loughshore Investments asked why it wasn’t happening and stepped in. I wouldn’t want to just create a separate event for the sake of it. In terms of our aim, my perspective would be that there is a lot of protectionism and a lot of silos and people who won’t share information, which shouldn’t be the case. That ties into what we’re talking about in terms of networks. For example if you’re looking for a person to work for your company you need to have access to talk to guys who have done it before.

AT: But say every month you have a meet up for start-ups themselves, people looking for jobs, people who are looking to pitch an idea to investors, and create an environment where once a month everybody in the tech community gets together to talk about what they’re doing.

It’s more about building networks so that if you want to go to America, you can find people who are also working in America. It could create a support network and make a real difference to creating a new generation of people who are hungry and practical and see the options that are available.

SR: In terms of where you all want to take your businesses, what has got you to where you are now and what will stop you achieving your goals?

VB: My motivation initially was that I hated working for other people and then having the belief that I could do what I wanted to do better than anyone else.

VR: What motivated me on this project was that I had this passion in life for quizzes and also that I always wanted to grow a business in Northern Ireland from an early age. I already have some validation that the product is spot on, people are interested in being supplied with games and content that are about their own interests. It makes everyone a potential customer and I think, how cool is that? That’s what will

“PARTNERSHIPS FORM THE BASIS OF MOST GOOD BUSINESSES, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE SCALING REALLY QUICKLY.”

keep me motivated. And people are looking for clever ways to do marketing, particularly around mobile.

JC: So is the key to succeeding in finding the right partnerships? Whether it be finding the right guys to help you invest and give you advice, the right guys to manufacture your product, or, in our case to have the right big company test your product and give it critical mass?

VB: We are taking advantage of what Belfast offers. We have an opportunity to really test our market really well and then we can go to the US and show we have all the metrics and all the data. In order to get to that point we need support from the media to get the concept out there, to build a big user base, and then also potential partners or advertisers that want to be on our platform.

AT: Partnerships form the basis of most good businesses, especially if you are scaling really quickly.

VR: If you meet with like minded people and do it often enough, your chances have to increase.

SR: Finally, you all have competition, how do you deal with it?

JC: Our competitors are at enterprise level. So again the key for us is partnerships, finding the right people to use our product.

AT: You have to be aware of your competition but you can’t fear them.

VR: At the end of the day if there was no competition there would be no market!

APRIL 2013 67

BUSINESS START-UPS

Presenting with Impact Whether you’re starting a business or just raising your profile, honing your presentation skills JT essential, writes Billy Dixon.

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hen was the last time you sat and listened to a presentation that grabbed your attention, was inspirational and delivered the message in a simple lucid way that included everyone? Sadly it is more likely that the majority of us have been subject to dull, boring deliveries that have more to do with endurance and staying awake.

It takes courage to present and there are many find the thought of standing up in front of an audience too painful to contemplate. However, done properly, it is one of the most effective ways of raising your profile.

68 APRIL 2013

DON’T TRY TO COVER TOO MUCH This is one of the most common mistakes made by presenters, they try to tell everything and as a result lose the audience early on. It is better to leave the audience wanting more than batter them into submission with volume.

USE THE POWER OF THREE For some deep psychological reason we tend to remember best when things are presented to us in threes. The most successful orators, political campaigners and teachers throughout history have used this simple premise to their advantage. The best presentations are usually prepared under three main headings. This gives the audience a simple structure to follow, helps make the content more memorable and makes it much easier for the presenter to follow.

TELL STORIES Facts and figures are fine and dandy and are useful to validate an argument or principal.

However the average person can only relate to such data for very short periods of time after

which they simply switch off. A presenter needs to stir the emotions, and there is no better way to do this than to tell stories. A story paints a picture, creates emotion and brings the subject to life. It was Stalin who said that one person’s death is a tragedy, one million deaths is a statistic.

AVOID THE FIRST PERSON IF YOU CAN There are few things more irritating than individuals who constantly talk about themselves. First party statements such as “in my opinion” “I think” “I believe” are weak statements and leave the presenter in a vulnerable position where they are less likely to be trusted and more open to attack. The general rule is: as far as humanly possible prepare a presentation in the third party. Using terms such as “research has shown” “Professor X stated” “University Y has proven” “the prime minister said”. This gives the presenter more creditability as they are seen to have done their homework and they are not putting themselves on a pedestal.

BUSINESS START-UPS

Ashley Dickson

Business Insurance â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a vital component to the livelihood of a new business

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tart-up businesses often struggle to obtain insurance because either the insurance providers donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fully understand the risks around a new product or service, or due to insurers setting prohibitive minimum premiums which are hard to take when a company is most financially fragile. At this time a new venture needs the help of insurance professionals who will take the time to fully understand their business and who can see the potential in a longterm working partnership rather than simply an immediate gain. Only then will they get the cover they need to protect them through the vulnerable early years at a viable premium.

Following all the original inspiration and research, every new business start-up needs to make a Business Plan which will include planning of finances for at least the first year. It is important to the future success of your new business venture that costing provision is made for an adequate insurance programme, which is accurately and competitively priced. Insurance must be put in place before trading commences to ensure protection whilst you commence promotion of your business and to meet legal requirements. The assistance of a good commercial insurance broker will be needed for many reasons: t 5IFZ DBO BTTFTT UIF SJTLT UP ZPVS CVTJOFTT GSPN loss, damage, legal liability and legal expenses, and ensure that adequate insurance protection is offered to meet the demands and needs of your business. This programme will need to be with reputable insurers of sound financial strength and who provide a pro-active and efficient claims handling service. If these risks are not accurately assessed then your new business could face an uninsured loss in the early days and may

never recover. A good commercial insurance broker will ensure that you have no gaps in cover, that all sums insured are adequate and that all compulsory insurances required by law are in place. t 5IFZ DBO FOTVSF UIBU UIF JOTVSBODF QSPWJTJPO in your financial plan is accurate. If the costing is too low, then this will lower the original estimate of profitability and could affect the amount of available grants. If the costing is too high then profitability projections may be too low and could adversely affect loans, finance and investment. To ensure accuracy, marketing is required by a broker who has expertise in assessing risk to new start-ups and understands the production of new and even unique goods and services. They will understand modern technology and production techniques and specialist covers such as product recall, financial loss, directorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and officersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; liability and environmental impairment liability. They will ensure that all the correct information (including the relevant experience of key personnel) is provided to underwriters to ensure consideration with merit nearer that of an established risk with operating experience. t 5IFZ DBO DBSSZ PVU B NBSLFU FYFSDJTF UP FOTVSF that the quotations are competitive based on both price and quality of cover, having access to

a wide range of markets with whom they have strong relationships. t 5IFZ XJMM QSPWJEF BEEFE WBMVF o GJOBODF GPS UIF insurance premiums, claims handling assistance and be there at all times to help and give advice as your new business grows, changes and faces difficult challenges.

BUSINESS START UPS Dickson & Co have an affinity to new startups, as they themselves are a relatively new and expanding business. The business was established in 1992 by Managing Director, Ashley Dickson with two staff, but has now grown in size and reputation, and now has 45 trained insurance personnel in six offices o 0NBHI #FMGBTU /FXSZ $PPLTUPXO /FXUPXOTUFXBSU BOE %VOHBOOPO 1MFBTF WJTJU www.dickson-insurance.com for contact details.

Dickson & Co have assisted the growth of new start-ups with their insurance programmes for many years and continue to do so as these companies grow. They realise the future value of time and energy spent in this area and with their pro-active approach can visit clients at any time and place.

Dickson & Co want to share your inspirational ideas, the results of your research and the future plans for your company and help you be successful.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;INSURANCE MUST BE PUT IN PLACE BEFORE TRADING COMMENCES TO ENSURE PROTECTION OF YOUR BUSINESS.â&#x20AC;?

APRIL 2013 69

BUSINESS START-UPS

Tom Davies of Seedrs

Crowd-funding to be major source of start-up finance ‘within five years’

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rowd funding will be the initial financing mechanism of choice for most start-up companies within five years, according to the investment director of one of the leading names in the fledgling sector.

Speaking to Ulster Business at the InterTradeIreland Venture Capital conference, Tom Davies from London-based Seedrs said that the new asset class is beginning to gain traction.

Seedrs allows entrepreneurs to list their idea on its site, saying how much they want to raise (up to £150,000) and how much equity they are prepared to offer. They have to raise the whole amount for the deal to proceed. Investors are able to put in as little as £10 or as much as £150,000.

Davies said a combination of factors including poor returns from traditional investment classes, a desire among angel investors to spread their risk and the lack of available finance for early stage companies, mean it is a serious option for entrepreneurs and investors.

“I think within five years time crowd-funding will be the go to place for businesses to get that first bit of money to get going,” said Davies.

“There are a lot of companies and ideas that never see the light of day because a person doesn’t have a wealthy family or rich friends. So crowd-funding starts to make a lot of sense.”

There are three categories of crowd-funding.

The first, which many people have heard of, are donation based models such as the US platform Kickstarter – which is used for projects which aren’t necessarily a long term business opportunity but which people support in return for the product or some small acknowledgement.

The second main category is the peer-to-peer debt lending carried out by the likes of Zopa

70 APRIL 2013

and Funding Circle, where investors group together to lend money and get a return on that loan.

The third category – and the one into which Seedrs fits – is equity funding, where a lot of people put different amounts into a company in return for shares in it and a return when that business is able to pay dividends, is sold or launches an IPO. To be eligible, companies have to either be pre-revenue or trading less than one year and registered in the UK. Seedrs operates at a level which is too small for venture capitalists, too much for friends and family, and before the stage at which most angel investors are interested.

“We are trying to help potentially high growth, potentially scalable, exciting businesses get the money to get started,” he said.

“We’re talking about the very first amount of money companies need to get off the ground.

The average amount based on our research is about £50,000,” he added.

“Based on our research it is the hardest capital to get in the entire lifecycle of business fundraising. Our view has been, rather than taking another mortgage on the house, crowdfunding helps you access a pool of capital that hasn’t always been available, and it doesn’t stop you then going on to get angel money.

It enables you to get traction to have those conversations with angels.”

Far from encroaching on angels’ territory, Davies says that many angel investors are using Seedrs to help them diversify their portfolio of start-up investments – still able to take advantage of the tax benefits for early stage investments under the Seed EIS scheme.

Seedups also operates under a nominee structure, meaning the company which takes the investment only ends up with one legal shareholder, rather than a register of thousands.

That makes that company more investable if it tries to raise follow on funding from VCs and also gives protection to the small shareholders because Seedrs has a contract that ensures terms cannot be altered to put them at a disadvantage – for example by issuing new preference shares without their consent.

Davies also stresses that Seedrs is regulated by the Financial Services Authority, a key factor in making equity crowd-funding viable in the long term.

“I can guarantee you that if crowdfunding isn’t regulated, there very quickly won’t be a crowd,” he said. “We welcome competition in the space because it brings more eyes to it.

It means more people are looking at crowdfunding. But it has to be regulated because it is financial services just like the stock market. This is an investment that can take five or six years to pay off.”

At present equity crowd-funding is illegal in the US, giving Seedrs a huge first mover advantage. It plans to be in all 27 European countries by the end of the year and Davies is confident the funding model will catch on.

“Kickstarter has raised $450m in the last three years from people donating money. That’s from people putting money in and getting a watch or doing it purely for altruistic reasons.

I can’t believe if someone’s got the opportunity to put money in to what could be the next big thing that they wouldn’t do it, particularly when traditional asset classes are not the steady option they used to be.”

ASSET BASED LENDING

Close Brothers launch integrated ABL product for SMEs Already at the forefront of commercial lending in Northern Ireland, Harry Parkinson, Managing Director of Close Brothers Commercial Finance is focusing on the organisation’s ABL offering as an innovative solution to a range of typical business problems. Here, he tells us why using a blend of asset based lending could be just what your business needs.

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lose Brothers Commercial Finance is now offering the Northern Irish SME a unique, joined up funding solution; true asset based lending or ‘ABL’.

We’ve had considerable success over the past six years with our invoice and asset finance products and we are now able to take each of those elements and devise bespoke funding packages that also include property and stock.

We focus on the collateral a business has as well as company financials, and this enables us to create tailored packages that other lenders may shy away from. Essentially, the business offers equipment, stock, property or other liquid assets in exchange for funding.

For many companies, obtaining credit through traditional methods continues to be difficult. ABL is a strategic product that can help to bridge that gap, providing finance to those who need it, when they need it.

So if you’re a business that needs cash and has sufficient receivables and inventory, ABL could be the answer.

Many businesses have been reluctant to or hadn’t considered seeking funding against property or stock given the nervousness surrounding property and its role in the global economic slump that began in 2008.

Understandably, with property prices falling,

the perceived value of buildings to a business has been diminished.

Yet, in an appropriate funding package, property and stock both remain pertinent, and can be used in a balanced way alongside invoice or asset finance.

The latest Close Brothers Business Barometer has shown that only 18 per cent of Northern Irish SME owner managers understand what ABL is and the benefits it could bring to their business.

Of those who were familiar with ABL, more than two fifths said they’d never considered using it.

Yet more than a quarter told us that problems accessing funding and an inability to invest in necessary equipment was the biggest barrier to the growth of their business.

We’re encouraging businesses to think about ABL as a means to solving these problems.

Let’s consider some likely scenarios.

A business wants to grow and has identified several ways of doing so including; merging with another, acquisition, investing in new equipment/machinery, increasing employment in anticipation of an upturn, taking on a new contract that requires more resources or purchasing more floor space for production.

Each objective requires new levels of funding.

Traditionally the first place one looks for finance is to an overdraft or term loan – external sources that cannot be fully relied upon to deliver the required result.

Perhaps the answers lie closer to home and companies should look to themselves first when searching for current and future finance solutions.

That’s where Close Brothers Commercial Finance can assist, providing answers to financial problems that business men and women running companies face every day.

ABL is a smart financial solution, it is dynamic ‘living finance’ that grows as the company being funded grows.

Businesses seeking funding between £2m and £25m should seriously consider this option, whether they are looking for cash for a management buy-out or buy-in, an acquisition or simply to refinance.

Typically these businesses are event-driven in their need to improve cash flow and solutions exist to meet their circumstances. Once stable cash flow is in place, the enterprise is free to do what it does best.

For more information please contact Close Brothers on 028 9026 9280 or email harry.parkinson@ closebrothers.com

APRIL 2013 71

CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING

Understanding the taxing side of corporate restructuring Sean Lavery, Tax Partner at BDO in Northern Ireland, outlines some of the tax implications that can arise from the different types of restructuring currently taking place in lots of businesses.

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n these economic times, there is a significant element of corporate restructuring taking place – whether it is to streamline organisations, tidy-up existing group structures, merge entities together to create a stronger group or sell loss-making businesses to new owners.

No matter what type of restructuring is taking place, there are likely to be numerous tax issues arising at both the business entity level and at shareholder level.

For example, when looking at buying lossmaking companies, pertinent corporate tax issues can include: TRADING LOSSES If there are trading losses, how can these be preserved and utilised going forward?

It is vital to ascertain the history of these losses and establish from what trade they arose.

It has to be remembered that brought forward trading losses are only available to carry forward against future profits of the same trade.

In addition, if there is a change in ownership of the “loss company”, there are additional anti-avoidance provisions which need to be considered by the purchaser covering the period three years before and three years after the change in ownership. If there has been or will be a major change in the nature or conduct of the trade in that period, the losses could be lost. A similar result could arise where, prior to change in ownership, the activities of the trade have become small or negligible. It is important to ensure careful attention, planning and structuring is undertaken to preserve the value of these losses post takeover.

CAPITAL ALLOWANCES Often a loss making company may have significant unclaimed capital allowances i.e. its tax written down value exceeds the balance sheet value of those assets. Following recent

Sean Lavery

anti-avoidance legislation, where the company is sold, this “excess” is transferred to a “new pool”.

Future losses generated by capital allowances from this pool are only available for offset against subsequent profits of the same trade and cannot be group relieved if the main purpose or one of the main purposes of the purchase was a tax advantage.

Therefore, it is important to be able to show that the purchase of such a company with “excess” capital allowances is part of a normal commercial transaction with the benefit of unclaimed capital allowances being ancillary to the transaction, to ensure such a restriction does not apply.

DEBT RELEASES Generally speaking, any release of trade or bank

“RESTRUCTURINGS SUCH AS MERGERS OR SPLITTING GROUPS CAN LEAD TO TAX ISSUES AT THE SHAREHOLDER LEVEL.” 72 APRIL 2013

debts will give rise to a taxable credit in the company’s accounts and tax computations. It may be, however, that the company has losses brought forward to cover such taxable releases.

Beware any potential mismatch between trading and non-trading credits as a non-trading taxable credit cannot be reduced by brought forward trading losses.

Where the release is of a connected party loan or where it is part of an insolvency arrangement, the credit may not be taxable. This is a very complex area and specific advice should be sought where the amounts involved are significant.

SHAREHOLDER ISSUES Restructurings such as mergers or splitting groups can lead to tax issues at the shareholder level. In these circumstances, it is generally possible to seek HMRC clearance in advance of any restructuring or reorganisation, to confirm that HMRC will apply CGT reliefs such that these transactions will not be a disposal for CGT purposes. It is important, however, that each shareholder considers any differences between the old structure and the new that could have a material impact going forward. For example, if a shareholding drops below 5%, entrepreneur’s relief (which allows for 10% CGT on first £10m of lifetime gains) will not apply on any future capital gain.

As ever it is important that tax issues are considered as soon as practically possible in any restructuring process to allow for appropriate consideration of tax issues and ensure that any unexpected tax charges or restriction of losses do not apply in the event of a commercial restructuring exercise.

Sean Lavery is a Tax Partner at BDO Northern Ireland and can be contacted on tel: 028 9043 9009 or email: sean.lavery@bdo.co.uk

Corporate Restructuring

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CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING

Light touch regulation is now ‘a thing of the past’ Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the Bank of England’s new financial watchdog the Prudential Regulatory Authority, talked to Symon Ross on a recent visit to Belfast about the changes to the supervisory regime, the potential restructuring of Royal Bank of Scotland and why banks are unlikely to show forbearance to zombie business customers for much longer.

T

he Bank of England’s Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) this month officially took responsibility for the prudential supervision of banks, investment banks, credit unions and insurance companies from the much maligned Financial Services Authority.

It was a move prompted by the perceived failure of the FSA’s brand of light-touch supervision of the banking sector which, though praised in the boom years, did nothing to avert the chain of events which led to some of the UK’s biggest banks requiring massive Government bailouts.

The new watchdog, the Bank informs us, will have teeth, taking a more intrusive approach to regulation than its predecessor to ensure the British banking system is never again brought to the brink of collapse.

Chief executive of the PRA Andrew Bailey told Ulster Business it will be much more focused on the big risks to the financial system than box-ticking compliance exercises.

“When I go to talk to the boards and senior management of institutions, I tell them I have only come to talk about the small number of big risks to the statutory objectives that we have for prudential supervision of the safety and soundness of firms. We’re not there to talk about 40 compliance points, that’s their responsibility.

We want to be focused on the big risks,” he said.

“There is also a greater element of judgement – it is not just a rules based system. It has to be more forward looking than it has in the past.

The problem with a rules based system is it becomes backwards looking. That gives you a starting point but it doesn’t tell you what challenges will affect the institution in the future.”

As Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation and CEO of the PRA, Bailey

74 APRIL 2013

Andrew Bailey

will also be a member of the Bank’s Court of Directors, the PRA Board, the Financial Policy Committee, and the Board of the Financial Conduct Authority. As a prudential supervisor his focus will be on capital, liquidity, risk management, risk control and governance.

“It has been said about the FSA that the attitude to prudential supervision before the crisis was ‘light touch’. What that tells you is that prudential supervision was in the back seat relative to conduct and business supervision.

Once the crisis struck however that changed and the FSA moved to intensive and intrusive supervision. My view is that is fine, but it has to be focused because if it isn’t there is no limit to it and we could be tearing drains up all over the place,” he said.

The Bank has stated very clearly that it is not operating a no failure regime with orderly failure permitted if it is consistent with the regulator’s objective of ensuring the continuity of supply of financial services to the public.

“The holy grail for us, as it is for all the supervisory authorities in major countries around the world, is how we crack the ‘too big to fail’ problem for the major banks,” said Bailey.

RBS AND ULSTER BANK One of the major banks that came close to failure during the financial crisis was Royal Bank of Scotland – owner of Ulster Bank – which remains 82% owned by the taxpayer following the bailout by the Government.

Bailey says the Bank, Government and board of RBS all agree it is important to get the company back into private ownership, but questions remain about how to do this.

“What the board of RBS has said it is going to do is undertake a full assessment of what size and scope of investment bank RBS needs in future to be a predominantly UK-focused commercial and retail bank with the clear understanding that the answer to that question is a smaller one than it has today,” he said.

“Both the RBS board and Government have said they envisage starting to return RBS to the private sector by the end of 2014 and RBS has committed to starting the process of selling its US banks. What they have now got to do is get on and work out how they are going to do it.”

The regulator said nobody should assume that the restructuring of RBS will mean it will sell Ulster Bank – which contributed a £1bn loss to its parent’s balance sheet last year.

“There’s no question that if you look at the history of the financial crisis, since the point at which RBS was recapitalised by the government at the end of 2008, amongst the things that have hit since then have been the problems in Ireland.

It has been a big drag . But I don’t say that in the sense that I think therefore it follows that Ulster Bank must be in some sense got rid of.

The important objective is that RBS in future is

CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING

a UK-focused commercial and retail bank, and the big task is to get it to that point.”

At the end of March the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee said major UK banks must increase their capital reserves by a total of £25bn to guard against potential future losses of around £50bn relating to fines and bad loans, particularly to vulnerable Eurozone economies. The FPC didn’t name the banks it believes needed to raise extra cash – though RBS and Lloyds are likely to account for a large part of the £25bn. However, it acknowledged that some banks have increased capital buffers to well above the minimum required.

Andrew Bailey is confident that while the UK banking sector needs to be properly capitalised, neither the new requirements or the more hands on regulatory regime should stop banks from increasing lending.

“I do believe that a stable financial system is an absolute prerequisite to support lending,” he said.

“I think there has to be a more targeted approach to issues around small firm lending, what the blockages are in that area. Some issues are around the sort of security that small firms can offer – I certainly hear stories about changes in attitude by banks towards different forms of security. There is a sense of déjà vu because we had many of these problems coming out of the 1990s recession when quite rightly the biggest focus was put on small firm lending.”

On his visit to Belfast, much of the discussion

Bailey had with business leaders focused on credit conditions, lending and what tools the BoE has to improve the current situation.

He notes that Northern Ireland has a “quite distinctive” banking sector, with its mix of Irish, Danish and UK-owned banks.

“The common element is to get all of the banks back into a situation that allows them to lend normally. Obviously in Northern Ireland this depends not only on actions that we take but also on actions that the authorities in the Republic take,” he said.

“We are making progress on that front. I think it is important that other banks do see opportunities to enter the Northern Ireland banking market because there is no doubt in the current environment that some banks, in terms of their net lending capacity, are in a better position than others. I well understand that one of the difficulties Northern Ireland faces is that there is a preponderance of those banks that are in a less good position. That’s probably what marks Northern Ireland out as a region more than other regions of the country.

“It goes back to my comments on RBS, but we certainly are pushing these banks to be properly capitalised to the point where they can sustain lending adequately,” Bailey added.

AN END TO FORBEARANCE In terms of the supervision of banks’ treatment of their customers, the regulator believes there has been greater forbearance through the

recession than is sometimes acknowledged.

Though banks are often criticised for changing the terms of a contract with a customer, more often than not changes have been made in response to pressures on the borrower to keep them in business, he adds.

“We’ve done a lot of work over the last six months to get a handle on the scale of forbearance in the mortgage market and we’re now turning our attention to corporate lending.

We know that the low interest rate environment has enabled greater forbearance to take place and therefore the fact that rates of insolvency and repossessions of homes is lower than expected, is not surprising,” he commented.

“The fact that people are still in jobs and homes is a good thing. What is clear, and other recessions have borne this out, is that more companies tend to fail as we come out of a recession than at the peak of a recession. That’s because forbearance happens at the peak and then there’s an evaluation which says well this company has survived so far, but does it really have a sustainable business model?”

Bailey added: “When you talk to corporate restructuring bankers they will tell you that good companies don’t fail, that the ones that fail are the ones whose business models are at the end of the road. I don’t think forbearance is a bad process because you give the company a chance to prove themselves and it supports employment. But at some point there will be a transition.”

APRIL 2013 75

CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING

DIRECTORS â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Keep on the right side of the law survival in all cases. If it is more than a blip, working through to maximise the return for your creditors should be your primary focus. All good businesses can be restructured â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but only if you have time on your side. You need to take the right advice, be committed and be prepared to weather the storm. You need to retain the support and trust of creditors and customers. If you act in good faith, have a good business and work with your advisor, you will get back on track.

R

ecent statistics show that in just under a year, 80 directors in Northern Ireland have been disqualified following the collapse of their business. It is estimated that more than 100 are in line for Court action in the coming months. In this article, Rachel Fowler, Director of Corporate Recovery & Insolvency Services at Cavanagh Kelly, sets out how directors can keep on the right side of the law.

When a business fails, the writing has very often been on the wall for some time. All too often, directors have continued to trade when they have no means of paying their debts and consequently the position for those who are owed money often worsens with every day that passes.

As well as working to realise assets for creditors, an Insolvency Practitioner must file a report to the Insolvency Service on the conduct of all those who acted as directors or shadow directors in the three years preceding the insolvency event.

Where wrongdoing is proven, the Insolvency Service may then take proceedings to have the individual director disqualified. A disqualification order can last anything from 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 15 years, depending on the scale of the alleged wrongdoing. The reputational impact for the director can go on much longer; it can also lead to personal liability for Company debts. So what is the message for directors leading companies through financial pressure? How can they make sure they keep on the right side of the law?

GET THE RIGHT ADVICE If you are concerned about your business talk to your accountant or an Insolvency Practitioner.

Taking advice, even if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just going through a cash flow blip, will maximise your chances of

76 APRIL 2013

PLAY IT STRAIGHT Financial pressures can play on the mind and can make reasonable people unreasonable.

Directors under pressure can take what can afterwards be seen as crazy decisions and act in irrational ways to try to keep the doors of their business open. Whilst this may sometimes seem the morally right thing to do, it often earns little sympathy from an Insolvency Practitioner or the Insolvency Service who, with hindsight, can look back with 20/20 vision â&#x20AC;&#x201C; without any of the pressure.

Some common malpractices which can cause difficulty for directors include: t 4UPQQJOH QBZJOH ).3$ and continue with the remaining creditors. Whilst this will keep suppliers away from the door, the Revenue will eventually catch up with you. A poor track record of payments will leave it difficult to negotiate a restructuring plan. Retention of Crown funds is a major black mark in terms of director misconduct. t 4FU VQ i/FX$Pw transfer assets out and move the trade. This naive approach is still considered and continues to happen. Moving assets beyond the reach of creditors and setting up phoenix operations are serious offences and decisions in this regard should not be taken lightly. They may even lead to criminal action.

t Taking deposits with no chance of supply.

Cash is king and when insolvency looms, those in difficulty will look to the quickest way to get it. This may be through taking deposits from customers in the knowledge that they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t supply. Never mind the negative media attention; such action is seriously frowned upon by the Insolvency Service. t Paying themselves - in many cases Directors cut their salary when facing financial pressure, opting rather to keep creditors on-side a bit longer. Unfortunately, we have also seen those who continue or increase payments to themselves when faced with insolvency. t 5BMLJOH JU VQ - at times the rumour mill and miscommunication can impact on the ability to restructure a business. Directors tend to put on a brave face, inflate the business potential and give creditors a view that all is rosy when it is not. This can lead to action and will in all cases damage the reputation of the directors involved.

THE MESSAGE FOR STAKEHOLDERS Creditors and the public have a right to be protected by law from rogue directors but equally those who act responsibly and in good faith deserve to have the opportunity to start again. The high number of director disqualifications reflects the irrational and erroneous decisions being taken when faced with the current recession environment. The key message is if you act fairly and responsibly there should be nothing to fear.

Rachel Fowler is a Director in Cavanagh Kelly and can be contacted at the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Belfast office on 028 9091 8230 or by e-mail: Rachel.fowler@cavanaghkelly.com

â&#x20AC;&#x153;DIRECTORS UNDER PRESSURE CAN TAKE WHAT CAN AFTERWARDS BE SEEN AS CRAZY DECISIONS AND ACT IN IRRATIONAL WAYS TO TRY TO KEEP THE DOORS OF THEIR BUSINESS OPEN.â&#x20AC;?

CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING

Where has all the money gone?

Toby McMurray, Partner and Head of Insolvency at Tughans, comments on recent cases in which debtors have been accused of trying to put assets out of the reach of their creditors.

“

….it appears that they have created and operated a scheme of mesmeric complexity on a deliberate and premeditated basis which has cynically sought to achieve a twofold purpose. I regret to say that the scheme reeks of dishonesty and sharp practice.”

The Judge in a recent decision of the High Court in Dublin did not miss – his finding focussed on the intent of a debtor to structure, or hide, his assets beyond his creditors in an effort to ride the storm and emerge the other side with some level of his former wealth.

Of course it is right that we pay our debts however, in the face of economic implosion, it would be unwise not to consider the various options available for structuring or restructing both assets and liabilities. This consideration must also look at the remedies available to creditors to unravel and overturn certain types of asset transfers. If you are a creditor of an individual or a company who have recently disposed of valuable assets, resulting in that individual or company not being able to pay your debt, you may have real and legitimate concerns about the circumstances of the disposal.

78 APRIL 2013

In two related decisions of the High Court in Northern Ireland in 2012, in which I acted for a number of creditors, the court set out clearly certain options available to a creditor (or as the legislation puts it a ‘victim’) to challenge asset transfers out of a debtors estate. The discretion of the court as to the orders it may make in such cases are wide, however it will normally include an order unravelling the transaction, as if it had never taken place.

The proofs required in these cases, called ‘transactions defrauding creditors’ cases, are that, firstly, the purpose of the transaction was to put assets beyond the reach of creditors, and, secondly, the transaction was at an undervalue.

In one of the Northern Irish cases referred to above, the transaction involved the assignment

of a book debt of $100m for only $5,000. It was not hard, in these circumstances, to prove the second limb required, of undervalue. The first limb, showing that the transaction was carried out with the intent to put assets beyond the reach of creditors, is, on the face it, a more difficult proof to meet. However, in the simplest of terms, in circumstances were a debt of $100m is sold at 0.005% of its value and there is no legitimate commercial explanation for selling the asset at that level then there is little other explanation other than it being carried out to put assets beyond reach.

Not all cases will have this stark difference between asset value and disposal value and, particularly in the present climate, real difficulties can be had in putting a credible valuation on an asset – when assets are not selling in an open market what value, if any, do they really have?

A number of points should be noted when considering bringing a transaction defrauding creditors case. Firstly, the more historic a transaction is, the more difficult it will be to challenge albeit there is no time limit prescribed in the legislation for bringing such a case.

Secondly, unlike other remedies for unravelling undervalue transactions, there is no requirement that the transferring party is insolvent. These cases are by no means a penalty kick and, if a transaction is structured properly, with the appropriate advice it will be more difficult to unravel.

One thing is for sure – as we progress further into this recession there will be many more instances where creditors are faced with debtors who had at one time, but no longer have, assets of considerable value. Equally both corporates and individuals will continue to endeavour to protect themselves in an effort to still be standing beyond the storm.

“THERE WILL BE MANY MORE INSTANCES WHERE CREDITORS ARE FACED WITH DEBTORS WHO HAD, BUT NO LONGER HAVE, ASSETS OF CONSIDERABLE VALUE.”

CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING

Building for the future through Corporate Restructure Nick McCafferty, Regional Sales manager for Bibby Financial Services in NI highlights the funding options readily available for corporate restructuring.

T

he recent budget announcement will have provided some comfort for Northern Ireland’s SMEs with the Chancellor claiming that the UK ‘is open for business.’ However the government’s proposals to extend the Funding for Lending Scheme appears to have been received with scepticism by many small business owners who are still struggling to access finance and secure loans via traditional routes.

Furthermore, the current climate has given rise to both increased necessity and difficulty in securing funding for corporate restructuring. Despite the fact that the very idea of restructuring indicates that a company has

a future, when seeking funding for it from the traditional avenues, this future is most often compromised by decisions made in the past.

However, with invoice finance, corporate restructuring is a very real and viable option to turn the business around to becoming profitable again. As a leading invoice finance provider, Bibby Financial Services are pro-funding in restructuring companies – we have products and a service designed to assist recovering/ restructuring companies that have a viable future. We are experienced in dealing with funding in the main restructuring processes, that is, liquidation/rebirth, administration and receivership, including the forming of a new start company that needs funding and support. In fact, Bibby Financial Services have a number of clients who suffered from very quick contraction of existing banking facilities but that we have managed not only to stabilise, but have developed and grown. This is because we

provide a high level of flexibility, individually structuring facilities to meet the requirements of each business we deal with. Moreover, such is the capability of our funding processes that we are generating a lot of interest from insolvency practitioners and corporate recovery specialists.

This support goes beyond simply helping to restructure ailing companies – as a global business, Bibby Financial Services can offer financial solutions to companies to expand their operations into or further into export markets.

BFS are the leading UK Corporate Recovery and Turnaround Specialist funder, supporting Northern Ireland’s sustainable SMEs to undergo successful restructure, recovery and rebuild for the future.

For further information on Corporate Restructuring with Bibby Financial Services, contact Nick McCafferty on 028 9091 8366 or visit www.bibbyfinancialservices.com

APRIL 2013 79

CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING

A&L Goodbody team is the real deal

Having opened its Belfast office in 2007, A&L Goodbody has quickly established itself as one of the leading corporate law firms in Northern Ireland, consistently ranked at the top of its market by leading international publications and receiving instructions on some of the most significant legal transactions. The firm and its respective practice areas have since reported rapid growth, including its Restructuring & Insolvency practice, led by partner Michael Neill.

“I

think it’s fair to say that the Restructuring & Insolvency practice at A&L Goodbody is widely regarded as a market leader in Northern Ireland,” says Neill, “and that’s down to a number of factors, including the quality of our people; the strength of our all-island capability with our counterparts in our Dublin office; and our collaborative approach to working together with the various expert teams within the firm to offer the best possible service to our clients.”

The team has advised on many of the most high profile assignments in Northern Ireland and also across the island of Ireland, working closely with other specialist teams in A&L Goodbody’s Belfast and Dublin offices.

“Over the past five years we have picked up leading roles on the highest profile and ground-breaking cases year on year. Backing this up with illustrative examples, this is perhaps best demonstrated most recently by the firm’s

80 APRIL 2013

appointment as the advisors to the Special Liquidators of IBRC – the first of its kind and the most high-profile all-island insolvency this year.

“We also acted, again on an all-island basis, for the Quinn Group on all aspects of its corporate restructuring of debt in the region of circa €1.3bn – the biggest ever restructuring in Ireland using an innovative CVA platform.

We continue to advise the Administrators of the Taggart Group of companies – which was a defining moment in 2008 as Northern Ireland was on the cusp of the recession.”

Neill adds that the work of the team has been recognised with numerous awards over the past five years, including a ‘Deal of the Month’ award in 2012 for its role in acting for Lorne Stewart on the purchase of subsidiaries of Rotary Limited out of administration by Finance Monthly Magazine and a Deal of the Year award in 2011 for the Quinn Group restructuring.

It is therefore of no surprise that the firm’s restructuring & insolvency practice is ranked in the Top Tier of the leading Chambers UK and Legal 500 Directories.

THE TEAM According to Neill, the success of the restructuring and insolvency practice is based around each of its individuals, and not just him as head of the team.

“A lot of firms’ focus is on the lead partner in a team but, frankly, the success of our restructuring and insolvency team is the product of each of the lawyers’ individual skills and experiences, which complement each other and add a real sense of strength and breadth to our offering.”

With over 15 years’ experience in restructuring and insolvency, Neill is one of only a handful of insolvency lawyers in Northern Ireland to have built his reputation prior to

CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING

the recession. He also comes from a litigation background – something which he says adds considerable strength to the team.

“One of the unfortunate consequences of recessionary times is that the financial services industry is now faced with a mounting number of disputes, and the volume and nature of these contentious matters continues to evolve.

“One of the niche strengths of our restructuring and insolvency team here at A&L Goodbody is our strong ability to deal with the contentious aspects of insolvency and this is evidenced by an increasing number of instructions for these types of cases, with my colleague, Sam Corbett, having just completed three trials in two weeks.”

Vice-Chairman for the local region of R3 – the Association of Business Recovery Professionals – Neill notes: “More and more legal firms are beginning to follow the market by building an insolvency specialism, but I think what sets us apart from these firms is that we have been doing this type of work prior to the recession.

“Our overall team is further strengthened by our close working relationship with our top-ranked three-partner banking practice, which consists of seven further highly skilled lawyers.

“This enables us to offer a fully integrated legal service to our client base which consists

of all of the key insolvency practitioner firms, all of the local banks and a large number of international banks and alternative capital providers.”

MARKET CONDITIONS Commenting on the insolvency market in Northern Ireland, Neill says: “2012 was notable for the activity taking place in the acquisition of distressed debt. I think this will certainly continue in 2013 and beyond as the alternative capital providers become a key stakeholder in the Irish market. Furthermore, lenders are becoming increasingly focussed and strategic.

It is a common myth that banks are too quick to enforce as more often than not other factors trigger a reactive response from the bank.

“As for appointment activity, relatively speaking, this was high in 2012, but fairly static as compared to 2011. If anything, there has been a lull in appointment activity during the early part of 2013. Whilst this can be attributed to a number of factors, restructuring professionals well know that as the economic cycle begins to improve, this often results in more work until activity normalises and then reduces over time.”

THE FUTURE “I’m extremely positive about the prospects for A&L Goodbody, our practice areas and my team in particular. We have worked hard to stay at the

top of the market and each of us is committed to providing the highest quality of service to our client base,” he adds.

“Our clients have responded by providing us with the platform to work on a number of projects of the highest quality and which, when they hopefully come to fruition during 2013, will be firsts of their kind for Northern Ireland.”

Clients are “impressed with the team and the people they deploy. The quality of work is consistent and we have an excellent working relationship with it.”

Chambers UK 2013 The ‘excellent’ A&L Goodbody Northern Ireland team provides a ‘top service’ to its corporate clients.

Legal 500 2012 Michael Neill is “knowledgeable, quick to respond to any queries and creative in his ability to find solutions to problems.”

Chambers UK 2013 Michael Neill is a “Technically excellent’ insolvency expert.”

Legal 500 2012

The A&L Goodbody Restructuring and Insolvency team.

APRIL 2013 81

ANALYSIS

Lending performance of the banks is challenged again A detailed new report on access to finance adds more ammunition for those looking for reasons to criticise the performance and behaviour of our local banking sector, writes John Simpson Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster with EAG chair Kate Barker

T

he Economic Advisory Group (EAG), chaired by Kate Barker, following consultations with the business community and after discussion with the Minister, Arlene Foster, decided during 2012 to undertake a review of the Access to Finance for local business.

The review has been published and makes 13 different recommendations for actions by Government, banks and other stakeholders which are designed to improve the availability of finance for businesses.

The review started with a range of reported perceptions. High on the agenda were the

â&#x20AC;&#x153;THE REVIEW STOPS SHORT OF SAYING THAT THERE IS A PROVEN MARKET FAILURE BUT IT DOES RAISE ROOM FOR DOUBTâ&#x20AC;?

82 APRIL 2013

many and diverse perceptions that there is an inadequate supply of finance available and that business growth is unduly restrained. Making a contrasting argument, the banking community argued that they were ready to lend to viable business propositions.

The EAG has published a competent and extensive review of the characteristics of the demand for, and supply of, finance for business in Northern Ireland ranging from bank lending to sources of equity and debt funding as well as the expanding range of funding schemes being developed by Invest NI. A critical constraint faced by the EAG was the refusal by the commercial banks operating in

ANALYSIS

Northern Ireland to allow the EAG to publish, even in aggregate form, information on the changing scale of bank lending to businesses in recent years.

The critical feature that was acknowledged was that local lending has been decreasing.

The inability of the EAG to quote quantitative evidence has pushed the review authors into a well presented but essentially qualitative discussion. There is no surprise that the EAG recommends that this information gap should be corrected.

The Review examines a wide range of questions on the impact of the local commercial banks in the economy and points to a number of deficiencies, including an organisational problem in implementing the Bank of England Funding for Lending Scheme, where only the Ulster Bank (as part of RBS) is actively involved.

The EAG, as a quasi-official group, has dealt with the local banks with polite but restrained criticism.

The formal result is that, in a Review of Access to Finance, there are no statistics on the amount of outstanding lending to business and only a little reference to the admittedly increased costs of borrowing. The banks which are authorised to operate in Northern Ireland, although three of the main groups are headquartered outside Northern Ireland, have responded (at best) minimally to legitimate questions.

ACCOUNTABILITY One of the areas which the Review does not explore is a more formal role for the devolved Government in these topics. Because banking is not devolved, nominally the Bank of England and HM Treasury have responsibly to ensure banks in Northern Ireland comply with UK policies. In reality, this linkage is working poorly both because the Bank of England has only modest influence here and also, equally significant, the banks with external headquarters are permitted to operate with little local accountability.

In a renegotiation of the relationships and responsibilities of banks which are headquartered outside Northern Ireland perhaps the Westminster Government, acting on behalf of the devolved Northern Ireland administration, might remind these banks that the privilege of operating from an external base also brings the profitable privilege of note issuing authority. A little persuasion that they should co-operate more readily with the Minister of Finance would be logical.

Seven of the 13 recommendations from the Review push for an increased role by local departments by touching on improving the effectiveness of the devolved institutions, particularly the Departments of Finance & Personnel (DFP) and Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI).

These departments are asked to consider how the EFG (Enterprise Finance Guarantee) scheme should be strengthened to encourage greater

“A LITTLE PERSUASION THAT THE BANKS SHOULD CO-OPERATE MORE READILY WITH THE MINISTER OF FINANCE IS BE LOGICAL.” local take-up. In addition, the Bank of England should be asked to allow the benefits of the FLS (Funding for Lending Scheme) to be available through all the locally operating banks.

In a reference to a problem which looms larger in Northern Ireland than in England, the departments are asked to get involved with the banks to better understand the extent to which the banks and businesses are being affected by property debt exposure and how the overhang should be handled. This feature is well documented from the wide ranging business survey.

Three of the recommendations are directed to DETI or Invest NI. In different strands, each asks for a reassessment of the scale and form of local non-grant funds - including venture capital and equity finance - provided from Invest NI. In a final 13th recommendation, the Review underscores the conclusion that local departments should have an acknowledged stronger influence. DFP and DETI are asked to engage with those at Whitehall responsible for developing proposals to set up a new business bank to support the more extensive proposals and to ensure that “its design is appropriate and relevant to the needs of small businesses in Northern Ireland.”

COLLECTING THE EVIDENCE The EAG Review is well researched and persuasively presented. Although the banks proved restrictive in offering useful public evidence, much interesting evidence has emerged of the nature of the demand for finance and the gaps as experienced in a large sample survey of small and medium sized enterprises (SME).

Also in a helpful compilation the authors have brought together in a single document a comprehensive statement of a wide range of funders and funding opportunities, with the exception of the constrained information from the banks.

A recurrent theme in parts of the Review is whether the survey evidence justifies, statistically, the perception that SMEs are facing a shortage of funds, particularly from banks, or are coping with an unhelpful level of loan refusals or deterrents to even asking for loans.

There is a diverse range of replies to a well-structured interview questionnaire.

Minimising the scale of a shortage of funds,

the survey shows that only 8% of SMEs applied for a bank loan in 2012. Of the applicants 69% were wholly or partially successful. Of the small number of refusals, half were for conventional banking reasons such as poor credit rating or potentially risky business. Other refusals were from changes in bank lending policy or because the rates were too high. On this evidence, the banks would take some comfort.

There is, however, a more selective analysis that is less reassuring.

The success rate in seeking bank finance was only 16% for ‘medium’ sized firms and these are more likely to be the growth businesses.

Also, around one fifth of all SMEs who made an informal approach to a bank did not proceed and this filtering out of possible requests is a concern. One fifth of medium sized firms were carrying a recent property related debt - another acknowledged deterrent feature.

In an inconclusive part of the Review, the authors asked whether the evidence could support a suggestion of market failure in the provision of assess to finance for businesses.

Several pointers confirm that there are, or have been, unique features of the local market.

However, the Review stops short of saying that there is a proven market failure although it does raise room for doubt.

The EAG deserves congratulations for a competent discussion. The recommendations now need to be implemented. The doubt remains on whether the banks and the supervisory authorities of the banks will be sufficiently motivated to play a more pro-active part in improving the access to finance by local businesses.

The EAG now inherits a continuing responsibility to stimulate positive action.

APRIL 2013 83

PERSONAL FINANCE

Eggs in Baskets!

Ralph McGuicken, Director of Financial Planning with Bloomfield Corporate Consultancy, takes a closer look at what current investment conditions mean for investors looking to find a better home for their cash.

W

ith negative interest rates being mooted by the Bank of England, investors have never had it so bad! Following the crisis in 2008 and the catastrophic collapse in markets, billions of pounds took flight to cash. Safety became the new priority at all costs. But the crisis created a further difficulty and the security of the banks was called into question.

So, investors have had to deal with the triple whammy of: t 5IF MPXFTU *OUFSFTU SBUFT JO MJWJOH memory. t .BSLFU WPMBUJMJUZ BU IJHI MFWFMT t " DPNQMFUF MBDL PG USVTU JO UIF CBOLT and fear of default.

"MM PG UIJT IBT DSFBUFE DPOEJUJPOT where cash is eroded by inflation and even the best rates barely break the 2% barrier after tax! So what can private investors do in these difficult times?

5IFSF JT B SFBM OFFE GPS JOWFTUPST UP take professional advice. Cash is not and will not be King â&#x20AC;&#x201C; particularly if the Bank of England introduce a OFHBUJWF PS [FSP CBTF SBUF 5IF XPSE 3*4, JT VOGPSUVOBUFMZ NJTVOEFSTUPPE when it comes to investment and many private investors believe the hype in the press and consider investment risk to be the same as placing a bet on a horse at Newmarket.

Risk is of course relative and there is a wide spectrum of investments all with varying degrees of risk. For some a specialist fund investing in technology shares may be suitable but for others a fund investing in government Gilts may be as far as they are prepared to go. Risk is a personal thing and needs UP CF BTTFTTFE QSPGFTTJPOBMMZ *U JT UIF starting point in building a portfolio.

5IF UFSN PG UIF JOWFTUNFOU NVTU BMTP be established as if you need access to the capital it may be best to stay in cash no matter how poor the returns. .POFZ JT IBSE UP DPNF CZ BOE ZPV should only use assets that carry risk if you are prepared to take at least a NFEJVN UFSN WJFX 5IBU JT UP TBZ BU least five years and possibly longer if you are using higher risk investments. *T JU BMM CBE OFXT 4VSF NBSLFUT

84 APRIL 2013

have had a hard time and the fact that UIF '54& JT TUJMM TJHOJGJDBOUMZ CFMPX the level achieved late in 1999 yet the past few months have seen some big gains in equity markets. Property prices have plummeted in Northern *SFMBOE BOE XF IBWF JO NBOZ DBTFT TFFO values fall by 50% but now seem to be stabilising. So could this actually be an indicator that things can only get better?

5IF USVUI JT OP POF LOPXT * remember writing an article for this very magazine around the start of 2007 and pointing out the dangers of the crazy property market and the risk that faced private investors if the market DSBTIFE * XBT JOVOEBUFE CZ UIPTF with certain vested interests telling me UIBU * EJEO U LOPX XIBU * XBT UBMLJOH about â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they told me that property was different and demand would continue o UIFZ XFSF XSPOH 5IF NFTTBHF * XBT giving was not intended to put people off property as an investment class but merely to ensure they diversify and use EJGGFSFOU BTTFUT "WPJEJOH UIF USBQ PG QVUUJOH BMM POF T FHHT JO POF CBTLFU IBT long been established as good practice.

5IF TBNF JT USVF UPEBZ BOE NZ message is broadly the same â&#x20AC;&#x201C; find your risk profile and use an asset mix that matches with this. Professional advice will ensure this process is methodical and based on sound principles. For many of my clients the

It has always been good practice not to put all your eggs in one financial basket.

use of technology has become central to the investment process and we now have an investment service unique to the Province where we review portfolio holdings on a monthly basis and make SFHVMBS BEKVTUNFOUT BT XF HP *OEFFE the review of the underlying holdings is essential to make sure your investments stay on track.

So what do investment conditions IPME GPS UIF QSJWBUF JOWFTUPS .Z professional opinion is based on the WBTU BNPVOU PG JOGPSNBUJPO * SFDFJWF on a daily basis, not to mention over ZFBST BT BO *'" BOE UIF GBDU UIBU XF all know past performance is no guide UP GVUVSF QFSGPSNBODF o * SFJUFSBUF o /0 0/& ,/084 .BOZ GVOE managers seem more positive now than they have been for some years BOE NPTU UIBU * UBML UP UIJOL XF XJMM see a sustained bull market is largely irrelevant â&#x20AC;&#x201C; we all have our own views.

5IF LFZ JT BOE BMXBZT XJMM CF UP diversify and not put all your eggs in POF CBTLFU *G JO EPVCU BMXBZT TFFL B second professional opinion from a fully qualified and competent adviser.

The content of this article is the writerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opinion on the current state of the financial markets. The opinions in this article should not be taken as fact and should not be taken into account when making investment decisions. Ralph McGuicken can be contacted on 028 9045 1688 or by e-mail ralph@bloomfieldcorporate.com

18 Boucher Way, Belfast BT12 6RE www.agnewcorporate.co.uk

TECHNOLOGY

Time to move forward?

L

eaf understands that Microsoft Exchange Email, with Outlook and Outlook Web Access, is the best solution for email, calendar, task and contact sharing and collaboration.

Many Leaf clients have gained significant advantages in terms of efficiency and improved working practises by using MS Exchange services.

Plenty of companies are complaining about SBS’s death. But Leaf thinks businesses should look at the bigger picture. The writing is on the wall. Small businesses are buying fewer and fewer servers.

Leaf understands that the decision to terminate SBS is a difficult pill to swallow. But it might be the opportunity that many SMB IT companies need to re-evaluate their business choices.

Cost: The cost of a single Hosted Exchange account is now £2.60 per user per month. When you compare this with the cost of the server hardware and required licences to run your own Exchange, or Small Business Server, this is great value for money.

Disaster Recovery: Using Microsoft’s Online Hosted Exchange disaster recovery is not an issue. These services are provided by geo-redundant data centres. That means your data is not restricted to a single server in a single physical location. So, even if Microsoft lost one of their data centres your data would be safe and your service uninterrupted.

Business Class Security: Having your own server, or a hosted solution provided by another supplier means you have to think about Anti Virus and Anti Spam solutions. Using Microsoft’s Online Exchange gives you Anti Virus and Anti Spam by default.

Availability: Microsoft’s Online Hosted Exchange solution comes with a 99.9% up time SLA (Service Level Agreement). An on-premise server solution would struggle to reach this.

Scalability: With an on-site solution you purchase server hardware that can cope with the number of users you expect. Of course there is room for some scalability but at some point the physical hardware is going to be too slow for additional users. With a hosted solution scalability is easy whether you need one more account or 100.

Mobility: We all need our email, calendars etc. on a variety of devices. What happens when a new “must have” device is released, which only synchronises with a newer version of Exchange than the one you have installed? Do you upgrade your exchange server at a cost just to support this device?

With MS Hosted Exchange you know you are always going to have the latest version, so your new device won’t create any extra expense.

For more information please contact Kyle Johnston, sales manager at Leaf on cloudservices@leafconsultancy.com or call 028 9089 7650.

86 APRIL 2013

Learning by Doing

A

s Executive Director of Digital Northern Ireland 2020 I see too often how local business owners are encouraged to look further afield for examples of companies exploiting digital technology successfully, writes Sinclair Stockman. However, right here in Northern Ireland, we have a company that has in just six years become one of the leading providers of e-learning across the UK. Based in Derry-Londonderry, Learning Pool offers a unique service, which has seen them deliver e-learning and online training to over 300 organisations – training one million people a year.

The company is a clear example of how harnessing digital technology and exploiting the infrastructure that we have in Northern Ireland can enable companies to not only expand their market reach, but also becoming global leaders in their field.

The focus of the company is to replace expensive, inconsistent, face-toface training delivery with online solutions that can train people who are traditionally hard to reach, while also providing real proof of return on investment and making tangible savings for organisations.

The company, founded in 2006 by Mary McKenna and Paul McElvaney, has saved these organisations over £50m on the cost of training.

“A lot has changed since we first began operating,” explains Paul. “We have been able to consistently reduce the cost of delivering our services by using cloud technology. In fact, we no longer own any servers, our telephony line is even in the cloud and we don’t have a leased line – rather fibre connections give us all the connectivity we need.”

Learning Pool has grown from employing just one team member, in just six years, to a complement of 55 full time staff – and they have plans to recruit 30 more people in the next few months.

With organisations both in the public and private sector reporting that they were spending significant amounts on building infrastructure, investing hundreds of thousands of pounds on software and services, but not able to track what they had achieved, Mary and Paul spotted a gap in the training market.

“We offer learning as a service,” says Paul. “Rather than make large-scale capital investments and buy hardware, we provide a complete solution in a box. This has the technology, content, tools and know-how for organisations to start delivering the appropriate training right there – all you need is to connect to the internet.”

What’s more, the company is also spearheading the growth of the UK’s largest online public sector learning communities.

“We have over 12,000 people coming together online to share resources, learn best practice and refine their strategies. And it’s all free,” adds Paul.

The company has great ambitions, recently signing their first contract to deliver services to the hospitality sector and in the year ahead they will be working hard to deliver mobile learning solutions.

“Our ambition is to double the business in the next three years. We have the talent, the know-how and the digital infrastructure to keep on delivering cost-effective and consistent solutions for our clients,” says Paul.

It’s clear that Learning Pool is here for the long haul.

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HOSPITALITY

Coppi takes a laid back approach While many restaurants are struggling in the current economic climate, local business Thornyhill Restaurants has just opened its fourth venue, Coppi, in St Anne’s Square.

I

nspired by the warm and welcoming ‘cichetti’ or ‘small plates’ bars of Venice, Coppi was launched at the end of 2012 exactly a year after its popular New York/Italian sister restaurant Il Pirata in Ballyhackamore.

With the flag protests in full flow and the centre of Belfast deserted, it wasn’t the best time to open the doors of a new eatery.

But while the protests had an initial impact, it didn’t deter partners Tony O’Neill and Sam Spain from their plans for Coppi – named after the famed Italian cyclist of the 1940s and 50s, Fausto Coppi.

The team behind Coppi and Il Pirata, who also own The Barking Dog on Belfast’s Malone Road and Ace on Belmont Road, said the opportunity to open at St Anne’s Square, right next to The MAC was too good to miss.

Tony told Ulster Business that they felt the location was perfect for a continental style restaurant that dispenses with the stuffiness of formal dining to replicate the laid back style of Italy, France or Spain.

“We do restaurants and bars well in Belfast but we are trying to capture the essence of both so people can have a good night out,” said Tony.

“We have a habit here in Northern Ireland of overcomplicating things because we don’t have a food culture that goes back a long way like they do in Italy or France or China or Thailand. Our chefs tend to take a bit from everywhere else.

What a diner wants is a good plate of tasty food served in a nice environment at a good price.”

Tony believes the key to a good restaurant is in the experience, saying it is 1/3 about the

88 APRIL 2013

Tony O’Neill

food, 1/3 about the service and 1/3 about the atmosphere.

Where Il Pirata in east Belfast is stripped back, Coppi is a little bit slicker, with a richer feel to surroundings, although a third of the restaurant’s space is taken up by high seating designed to give it more of a bar feel.

The restaurant is about capturing the Italian style of eating where friends and family come together to share plates of food.

Head Chef Jonny Davison is offering Italian specialties using fresh pasta made daily in house and dishes such as porcini mushroom ravioli with duck ragu and Feta Fritters with truffled honey.

The vibe of the place, the menu and the

whole cichetti concept has already proved a big hit, particularly with people in their late 20s and 30s, who are finding Coppi a more appealing prospect than some noisy bars.

“Cichetti is really the way we like to eat when we’re out at a bar,” said Tony. “It’s about making people want to experience a bit of everything, to share dishes. We think that adds to the experience and maybe breaks down the formalities of dining. We have found that if people are ordering a number of starters to share, they become inclined to do the same with main courses too.”

Since opening Coppi has started offering a takeaway deli counter for breakfast and lunch as so many people now work in the Cathedral Quarter of the city.

And while there’s plenty of competition around the square and nearby, Tony says it is friendly competition, with the owners of the venues in Saint Anne’s Square meeting weekly with the goals of jointly making the area a food destination that brings more tourists into the city.

And Tony is confident they have the product to be a success, as well as a strong brand in Coppi.

“You only have to look at local food blogs to see how people really know what they want from the restaurant experience. People expect Belfast to offer choices similar to those they would find in any other city, be it New York, Paris or London. We hope to showcase a new and exciting restaurant experience here in the heart of the city.”

Executive Motoring

By Pat Burns

Sponsored by

www.fleetfinancial.co.uk EXTRA COMES AS STANDARD

MOTORING

Electric Avenue

A

s the fleet and contract hire industry continues to evolve so does the requirements of our customers. In the last number of years Northern Ireland business has shown it can adapt and change with the times, something that has put us in a good position for the future. As I write, the planned autumn fuel duty increase has been cancelled in the March budget but in reality we are not far from a litre of diesel costing £1.50 at the pump.

We have spent the past number of years working with clients to actively reduce Co2 emissions and find cars that a have greater fuel economy but a new option is becoming more of a reality. In the past six months we have been involved in a pilot scheme with Business in the Community Northern Ireland, they have been trialling the use of a Peugeot ION electric car with Charles Hurst Peugeot and ourselves.

Hybrid, extended range and electric vehicles are here and offer alternatives to the traditional petrol or diesel option particularly when studies show that 80% of journeys in the UK are 20 miles or less!

Hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius alternate between a battery and either petrol or diesel fuelled engine at any given moment, depending on speed, and battery charge.

Extended range electric vehicles (E-REV), such as the Vauxhall Ampera will exhaust their electrical charge completely before reverting to the combustion engine. These vehicles need to be plugged in to charge the battery which will give an approximate range of 15 to 50 miles but they can be run entirely on the combustion engine if the driver wanted to.

EXTRA COMES AS STANDARD

90 APRIL 2013

www.fleetfinancial.co.uk

Electric vehicles (EV) such as the Peugeot ION run entirely on a battery, which is charged by plugging into a traditional socket or at a charging point.

Range is generally considered to be between 60 and 100miles per charge.

If we look at the last two options most people in Northern Ireland will be surprised to know that with the support of the Northern Ireland government and its ecar project we have one of the best charging networks in the whole of Europe. After two years of hard work the network was recently launched at a three day event at the Titanic Quarter in Belfast. You will also have seen the charging points spring up in towns across the province and we are now no more than 10 miles from an electric charging point. ecar are also providing £1500 home or work charging point grants, which they are very keen to offer to electric or extended range customers and we are told that this grant will in most cases cover the complete installation of the charging point.

We can all come up with reasons why we shouldn’t look at these types of vehicles, such as range anxiety, cost of purchase… but the facts are, most people haven’t driven these vehicles or properly evaluated if they can be utilised by their business or employees. It is accepted these vehicles will not suit every business or employee but with reduced benefit in kind, Class 1 national insurance and a full battery charge starting from £1, is it time to take notice and actively consider if its time to change?

There is a wide and varied range of vehicles available in dealerships for test drives and evaluation so why don’t you talk to us and find out if your business can avail of the potential savings.

Damian Campbell is a Senior Account Manager for Fleet Financial (NI) Ltd. Tel: 9084 9777, Mobile: 07801 767 837, E-mail: damian@fleetfinacial.co.uk

MOTORING

New Octavia has even more appeal

T

he Skoda Octavia has always offered that little bit extra. The new generation builds on this, by adding more space, much more equipment, the latest technology and, of course, value for money.

The Octavia makes great sense on many levels. The build quality is superb, it is great to drive and for business users the emission figures are very appealing.

With its wide range of standard equipment, the Octavia is great value, both when compared to the previous generation and when comparing the value of additional standard equipment at each trim level step. Buyers opting for the entry level S model get an additional £3,500 of value over the equivalent predecessor car.

The Octavia also offers excellent interior space which can sit five adults in comfort while the boot volume is best in class. Centrally located in the centre console is the radio infotainment system. The newly developed systems feature touchscreen displays of up to 8-inches in size with proximity sensors fitted as standard on all models.

The new car also features many new high tech features. The Multi-Collision Brake, automatically slows the vehicle after a detected collision – even if the driver is no longer pressing the brake pedal.

Another system making its debut is the Front Assistant. This becomes active in case of an imminent head-to-tail collision. It uses

92 APRIL 2013

a radar sensor integrated into the front end to continuously measure the distance to the vehicle ahead. The system reacts in up to four ways, depending on the distance detected. Should the sensors detect that a collision is inevitable, full braking force is applied.

In a speed range of 3 to 18mph, the Front Assistant works in conjunction with the City Emergency Braking Function to bring the Octavia to a stop automatically if the driver does not react to an obstacle in the vehicle’s path. Adaptive Cruise Assistant– a system that automatically maintains a pre-set distance to the car ahead. The new Intelligent Light Assistant will switch to high beam and back automatically, increasing comfort and safety in traffic.

The Automatic Parking Assistant also makes parallel and bay parking the Octavia even easier.

Engineers have achieved significant improvements in the Octavia’s consumption and emission figures thanks to the introduction of new technologies, improved aerodynamics and reduced vehicle weight. All engines are equipped with Start/stop and Energy Recovery as standard.

The petrol engines in the new Octavia are both turbocharged and direct-injection TSI units. The entry-level petrol engine is the 1.2 TSI. It develops 105PS, has combined-cycle fuel consumption of 57.7mpg and CO2 emissions of 114 g/km. The TSI engine provides a maximum torque of 175 Nm at between 1,400 and 4,000

rpm. As an alternative to the manual six-speed, the engine can be ordered with an automatic DSG seven-speed transmission.

The 1.4 TSI 140PS is also available with a manual six-speed or an automatic DSG sevenspeed transmission. Fuel consumption of the 1.4 TSI is 53.3mpg and CO2 emissions are 121g/ km for the manual version.

Both diesel units available in the new Octavia are turbocharged TDI direct injection engines.

Fuel consumption of the 1.6 TDI 105PS with standard start/stop and manual five-speed transmission is 74.3mpg with CO2 emissions of 99 g/km. The engine delivers a maximum torque of 250 Nm at between 1,500 and 2,750 rpm. In addition to the manual gearbox, this engine can also be ordered with the automatic DSG seven-speed transmission.

The most powerful diesel engine for the new Octavia is the 2.0 TDI 150 PS. This highperformance engine achieves excellent fuel consumption of 68.2mpg on the combined cycle and CO2 emissions of 106g/km. Prices for Octavia start from just £15,990 with models separated into Skoda’s familiar three trim levels of S, SE and Elegance. Diesel versions start from only £18,040.

An estate version of the new Octavia will follow shortly along with a super efficient Greenline version and finally the high performance vRS Octavia should be in showrooms this summer.

AGNEW VAN CENTRE WINS UK AWARD

F

or the second year running, Isaac Agnew Van Centre is delighted to have won a major award at the Most Valued Van Centre Awards, held annually since 2011 by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles UK. With only six Category Awards on offer to the entire UK Dealer Network, this is an achievement they are immensely proud of.

Isaac Agnew Van Centre is the longest established Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle retailer in Northern Ireland, trading since 1953 as part of the Agnew Group of companies, which in 2012 was acquired by the UK’s second largest automotive retailer, the Sytner Group. Over the last number of years Agnew Van Centre have grown their market share in Northern Ireland significantly, presenting their customers with a first class level of service that goes far beyond simply selling vans. “With legislation around commercial vehicles continually changing, and a host of new technologies and cost saving attributes becoming available on a regular basis, it is imperative that all of our customers receive as much of an advisory experience as a sales one,” says Commercial Sales Manager Richard Kerr. “Coupling the most appropriate vehicle for the job with the most suitable commercial funding package is paramount to ensuring not only the most effective solution for a customer’s needs, but will provide the best opportunity for both incremental, and repeat business.”

Having developed a team with strong backgrounds in automotive sales, finance and insurance,

The Agnew Van Centre team.

accountancy, law and HGV sales, Richard is confident that 2013 will bring further success for the business. “The purchasing of a commercial vehicle goes far beyond simply being provided with a price – our customers need to fully take into account funding packages and their inherent taxation benefits, and availability of Capital Allowances in relation to their purchase, as well the running costs associated with specific models.

Selling a van for us is as much the providing of a fleet management solution for our customers, and I believe the efficiency, advice and support offered by my team is some of the best in the industry,” says Richard. “If we can show our customers the

most suitable way to purchase, lease or Contract Hire a van, it pays dividends for both parties, and establishes a trusted and professional relationship.”

Agnew Van Centre also offer the complete range of ‘Life’ vehicles, versatile seven, eight and nine seater MPV’s perfectly suited for both family and business use, and also hold a Volkswagen Tour contract, so enthusiastically supply the iconic California camper-van range. Working with a panel of approved converters, a complete range of vehicles are available with disability access, and bespoke, highly specialised conversions specific to a wide range of business needs.

Sydney Pentland, Sales Director and Richard Kerr, Sales Manager.

The Agnew Van Centre ladies.

Photographs by Neil Harrison Photography

Sam Mallon, Commercial Sales Consultant

Ricky Drain, Commercial Sales Consultant

Robert McFarland, Commercial Sales Consultant

Isaac Agnew Van Centre 2 Mallusk Way, Newtownabbey BT36 4AA Telephone: 028 9034 2111 www.agnewvans.com www.facebook.com/agnewvans.

Noel McAlister, Commercial Sales Consultant

Damien O’Hara, Finance & Insurance Specialist

MOTORING

Estate of the art

D

esigned to take on BMW’s Touring and Audi’s Avant models, the new Jaguar XF Sportbrake offers estate car motoring on an executive level. It’s one of the most stylish estates ever and is guaranteed to turn heads as well as offering one of the sportiest and most rewarding drives.

The 2.2 Diesel version is available in two power outputs – 163PS and 200PS. Both are driven through the rear wheels by a slick eight speed automatic gearbox and share highly competitive CO2 emissions starting from just 135g/km and 55.4mpg fuel economy.Despite its focus on versatility, the 2.2D XF Sportbrake can accelerate to 60mph from rest in just 8.2seconds.

The Sportbrake will also be available equipped with a 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 diesel engine in 240 PS and 275 PS Diesel S derivatives. Each emits 163 g/km of CO2 and returns 46mpg on the combined cycle.

Sharing its underpinnings with the XF saloon, the Sportbrake’s overall length grows by just 5mm, its weight by less than 70kg and its chassis structure matches the strength of the conventional XF. These characteristics mean

94 APRIL 2013

the Sportbrake can closely match the acclaimed handling of the XF saloon yet offers a large and highly practical load space.

Every panel on the XF Sportbrake, from the B-Pillar rearwards, is new. The strong silver signature line running the length of the car is extended while the C-Pillar is finished in gloss black, a trait shared with the XJ saloon. The result is a car that blends style and function with the rear seat occupants benefitting from 48mm of extra rear headroom.

The large, practical tailgate can be specified with power struts, opening to reveal a wide and highly versatile load space. Measuring 550-litres with the rear seats up, the boot is framed by a set of useful cubby compartments. With the seats folded, the total volume grows to 1,675 litres.

Practical touches are prevalent – as standard equipment – on the XF Sportbrake. Remote fold levers are mounted within the boot area to lower the rear seats – negating the need to stretch into the boot. Powerful LEDs throw a pool of light onto the ground when the boot is open while the tailgate itself features a soft close function, avoiding any requirement for it to be slammed.

Set into the boot floor is a panel that splits into three sections to allow smaller loads to be neatly wedged and avoiding a precious or fragile cargo being thrown about. A tray mounted under the boot floor helps protect valuable items.

Beneath the car there are extensive changes to the rear suspension. Self-levelling air suspension aids driving dynamics and means the Sportbrake can serve as an accomplished tow vehicle.

Prices for the 2.2 XF Sportbrake start at £31,940 for the 163PS version while the 200PS model starts at £36,440.

MOTORING

Two seater Coupé added to Mini range

M

ini had their most successful year ever in 2012 with the range expanding thanks to the arrival of the two seater Mini Coupé. Selling alongside the Mini Hatch, Convertible, Clubman and Countryman, the Coupé is the first two-seater sports car in the brand’s long and proud history.

The Coupé’s mission is to maximise the thrill of being behind the wheel. Drivers have been rewarded with high levels of handling and every aspect of the Mini Coupé is focused on delivering the best performance available. To prove the point,

the Mini John Cooper Works Coupé has the fastest acceleration and top speed of any volumeproduced Mini to date.

Coupé customers have been treated to a high standard of equipment including DAB digital radio, air conditioning, park distance control, alloy wheels, 3-spoke sport leather steering wheel and sport stripes.

It’s the first modern Mini to adopt the traditional ‘three-box’ body structure, splitting the car into distinct segments – the engine compartment, cabin and boot. While the overall

length and width are almost identical to the dimensions of the Mini Hatch, the Coupé’s overall height is 29mm lower. Visually, this and the stepped rear end give the car a more aggressive profile.

Even when pushed hard, the latest technology will make sure the Coupé stays out of trouble. The Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) system is fitted as standard on the Mini Coupé, and includes Antilock braking, Electronic Brakeforce Distribution, Cornering Brake Control, Brake Assist and Hill Start Assist. As an option the system can be extended to include Dynamic Traction Control (DTC) with Electronic Differential Lock Control (EDLC). DTC is activated at the touch of a button and the DTC system makes it easier to move off on loose ground by allowing the wheels to spin slightly, it also allows some wheelspin when powering through corners.

A sport button on the centre console is standard on all Mini Coupé models, pressing the sport button alters the response characteristics of the accelerator and electric power steering to deliver sharper, sportier reactions and is designed to support a more performance minded driving style.

The Cooper 1.6 turbo engine has also been upgraded. It has the same levels of output and torque as its predecessor - 211 hp output at 6,000 rpm and 260Nm of torque - but offers increased responsiveness, lower fuel consumption and cleaner emissions.

There’s more on the way from Mini as well.

Next up will be a Mini Paceman and that will be followed by a Clubvan...

The Mini JCW Coupé costs £23,795.

Dame Mary Peters with another winning team!

F

leet Financial NI Ltd, a trading division of Charles Hurst Group, have teamed up with Dame Mary Peters and provided her with a car to help fulfil her many sporting and charitable obligations in 2013.

Dame Mary competed in five Commonwealth Games and three Olympic Games, winning gold in the pentathlon competition at the 1972 Munich games. In recent years she has not only set up the Mary Peters Trust and been a pivotable figure in the 2012 London Olympics but also found time to be a patron for the upcoming 2013 World Police and Fire Games in Belfast.

Philip Miley, Sales & Marketing Director at Fleet Financial said, “Dame Mary Peters is a true ambassador for Northern Ireland success and as a local contract hire and fleet management company we are delighted with the opportunity to support such an inspiring and selfless individual.”

Fleet Financial NI Ltd in association with Charles Hurst Kia, Nissan and Vauxhall, will

be supplying a car for a one year. Dame Mary Peters collected her first car, a Kia Ceed from Fleet Financial on 4th March 2013 where she

met the team, giving an inspirational talk about her many experiences, challenges and successes throughout her life.

APRIL 2013 95

APPOINTMENTS

DAVID BECK

ANDREW MAYBIN

ELLVENA GRAHAM

DAVID BECK has been appointed as Managing Director of UTV CONNECT. David has 13 years of experience within the telecommunications industry with particular expertise in brand building, business development and marketing strategies.

This includes several years with Orange, Vodafone NI and BT Ireland.

ANDREW MAYBIN has been appointed as Managing Director of TIBUS, MLN k \a_alYd af^jYkljm[lmj] \anakagf$ o`a[` hjgna\]k cloud hosting and connectivity services. He has held a number of senior roles within Tibus since he joined the company in 2003, most recently as Network Services Director.

ULSTER BANK has appointed ELLVENA GRAHAM to the new position of Head of Ulster Bank Northern Ireland. Reporting to CEO Jim Brown, she will be responsible for the leadership of Ulster Bank Group within Northern Ireland, representing the Bank with Government, industry bodies and consumer groups.

She was previously COO of Ulster Bank Group.

CONAL DUFFY

BRIAN McCARTER

DONAL McARDLE

CONAL DUFFY has been appointed Consumer director for BT in Northern Ireland. Conal, who joined BT as an apprentice l][`fa[aYf$ `Yk egj] l`Yf *( q]Yjk ]ph]ja]f[] oal` l`] company. In his new role he has responsibility for the entire BT consumer customer business in Northern Ireland.

BRIAN McCARTER has been appointed Maintenance Manager at ALLIED BAKERIES, having previously worked as an Engineering Manager at Nampak Plastics. In his new position Brian is responsible for the management and development of 17 multi-disciplined engineers and the delivery of a preventative maintenance programme.

DONAL McARDLE has been appointed Plant Production Manager at ALLIED BAKERIES. He has previously worked as a K`a^l EYfY_]j ^gj Ajoaf k :Yc]jq Yf\ Hjg[]kk Aehjgn]e]fl Manager for Moy Park. In his new role he is responsible for the production, development and improvement of batch bread and pancake production.

STEVE JAMES

OISIN MURNION

JOHN MARTIN

BARCLAYS has announced the appointment of STEVE JAMES as Area Business Manager for Northern Ireland and Scotland. He will lead a team of relationship managers who specialise in working with small- and medium-sized companies who typically lmjfgn]j mh lg log eaddagf hgmf\k& Kl]n] `Yk +( q]Yjk experience in financial services.

The AGRISEARCH board of trustees has appointed OISIN MURNION to the board. A Kilkeel hill farmer and former UK chairman of the National Beef Association, Oisin pioneered conservation grazing in Northern Ireland using Galloway cattle in sensitive environments including the Mournes.

JOHN MARTIN has also been appointed to the board of AGRISEARCH. A Focus Farmer, who has hosted many thought provoking farm visits especially for those interested in lamb production, he also works closely with AFBI researchers in trials selected for support by AgriSearch.

96 APRIL 2013

APPOINTMENTS

JANET McCOLLUM, Group Finance and IT Director at Moy Park has been appointed to the BOARD OF NORTHERN IRELAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. BYf]l `Yk *( q]Yjk ]ph]ja]f[] within the food industry, commencing her career at Coca-Cola & Schweppes Beverages and joining Moy Park in 1993.

JANET McCOLLUM

MARTINA CRAWFORD

JOHN QUINN

RICHARD WISEMAN

CHRISTOPHER McCARTAN

GARY RAE

CIARA LAGAN

GARY McKEOWN

CHRIS LOVE

MARTINA CRAWFORD has been appointed as Gateways to Growth Project Manager with NORTHERN IRELAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. Martina will manage the new cross border initiative alongside Dundalk Chamber of Commerce, Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce and the COMET Councils of Northern Ireland.

JOHN QUINN `Yk Z]]f Yhhgafl]\ Yk Hjg_jYee]k =p][mlan] with the NORTHERN IRELAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. In this role John will support local business in developing trading opportunities through the Gateways to Growth, Danske Bank =phgjl >ajkl Yf\ f]o ;`YeZ]j ;gff][lagfk hjg_jYee]k& Bg`f joins the Chamber from Business in the Community.

RICHARD WISEMAN `Yk Z]]f Yhhgafl]\ Yk Y KYd]k =p][mlan] Yl MERCURY SECURITY MANAGEMENT. Richard will be field based, with responsibility for identifying new markets and target audiences, negotiating new contracts and sales. He has 18 q]Yjk g^ kYd]k ]ph]ja]f[] Y[jgkk Y jYf_] g^ af\mklja]k& CHRISTOPHER McCARTAN `Yk Z]]f Yhhgafl]\ KYd]k =p][mlan] at MERCURY SECURITY MANAGEMENT. He will play a supporting role to senior members of the sales team, attending service level agreement meetings with key account managers to ]fkmj] l`]q Yj] af daf] oal` [da]fl ]ph][lYlagfk& GARY RAE has been made ITC Manager at MERCURY SECURITY MANAGEMENT. @] oadd ^g[mk gf eYfY_af_ l`] ]paklaf_ Information Technology Communication operations of the business for clients on a local and international basis. He has previously worked for Allen & Overy and Leaf Consultancy.

Law firm TUGHANS has appointed CIARA LAGAN as Director to its Corporate Law Department. Ciara previously worked at international law firm Eversheds in both London and Cardiff Yf\ `Yk ]pl]fkan] ]ph]ja]f[] af e]j_]jk Yf\ Y[imakalagfk Yf\ also advises businesses on financing, restructuring and venture capital investments.

GARY McKEOWN has been elected as the new Northern Ireland Chair of the CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS (CIPR). Gary brings with him a record of leadership and innovation in the profession. He is also the longest-serving e]eZ]j g^ l`] ;AHJ k Fgjl`]jf Aj]dYf\ ;geeall]]& CHRIS LOVE, Managing Director of Love PR has been elected Chair-Elect of the CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS (CIPR) in Northern Ireland. Chris will support CIPR in its events to the membership base, organisation of the NI Media Awards and will take over as Chair in 2014.

APRIL 2013 97

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24 102 APRIL 2013

LIFESTYLE SFWJFX

From Bordeaux with Love

by Brian Hamilton

W

e are all drinking more wine (or is that perhaps just me)...and particularly at home. What we like has changed too. Who had heard of pinot grigio several years ago? Who knows, we might be drinking Chinese wine in a few years, though at £40 a bottle, it might be a while.

Wine is a little like fashion - everchanging but sometimes cyclical. There will always be the equivalent of the timeless well cut suit or the little black dress. Similarly there will always be the established masters of wine and for many that’s the French. If that is indeed your taste then you may have a few bottles of Bordeaux’s finest stashed away. If you have the willpower of course to wait until they have aged suitably and reached their best, your patience will nearly always be rewarded generously. But often it seems like you need a big bank balance to afford these gems. But don’t despair, what we do have for you covers a couple of bases in terms of your pocket.

Claret is a term which conjures a sense of winemaking history and is very much associated with the British and it simply means a Bordeaux red. The La Reserve Claret (£8.95) is smooth and very approachable. You do not have to strain thinking of a good food match because it drinks well on its own. It is often the case that a red Bordeaux excels, flourishes and truly comes into its own when you drink it with food. This wine is supple and velvety made from mostly Merlot. There is a sense that there is a good alcohol level of 13.5% but there is enough plump dark berry fruit to carry it. So what food would serve this wine well and complement its virtues? Well,it may seem obvious but it would go well with red meat be it steak or roast beef, game or cheeses like gouda, cheddar or Cantal.

When buying wine from Bordeaux, the sky can be the limit in terms of price. If you are someone for whom price is no obstacle then you may be buying wine “en primeur” as an investment in advance of the wine being bottled. For lesser mortals with shallower pockets there are still wines which typify the lineage and breeding of superb winemaking. A good quality Margaux for instance is a delight and this, a 2006, is from one of the great estates of the regions and from a good year. It is a fine example worthy of investment. For your £19.95 you have a wonderfully seductive wine, balanced in terms of fruit, alcohol and

106

ULSTER BUSINESS /April 2013

tannins which exudes class. These combine to provide enjoyment which only increases when consumed with food. With so many people opting to dine in/drink at home, it would be a good idea to mate it with roast pork, beef, lamb or duck or why not spare ribs! This wine will keep for 5-6 years but is beginning to drink well now.

Finally for fans of white wine, Chateau Bauduc is much lauded and has appeared as the house wine of many inimitable establishments. When a renowned restaurant chooses a wine for its list, it is a stamp of approval indicating quality, consistency and value for money. Chateau Bauduc is such a wine. The blend may alter from vintage to vintage but this 2010 is made from sauvignon blanc. It features on the wine lists of Gordon Ramsay’s and Rick Stein’s restaurants. The reason for this is that it tastes great - crisp, dry, fruity and characterful. It’s a consummate

food wine which Jancis Robinson described as “excellent value”. She recommends that it is well chilled for drinking on its own or at room temperature for serving at table. Who would dare to disagree?

All wines are available at www.FromVineyards Direct.co.uk, the online wine retailer which has recently launched in Northern Ireland. Already well-established in the UK and ROI, From Vineyards Direct is a boutique wine merchant with over 30 years’ experience of sourcing delicious wines direct from the vineyards and bringing them to wine-lovers at outstanding prices. They have many highly-reviewed wines as well as some which are regularly featured on the wine lists of top restaurants including those of Gordon Ramsay and Rick Stein. For more information go to www.

FromVineyardsDirect.co.uk and sign up for the latest news or follow us on www.facebook.com/ From-vineyards-direct-northern-ireland.

LIFESTYLE UFDIOPMPHZ

The Gadget Guide Technology journalist Adam Maguire reviews some recently released and soon to be available gadgets.

REVIEW: CANON 60D

REVIEW: TOSHIBA SATELLITE ULTRABOOK

S

laptop with tablet-style functionality baked in, the Toshiba Satellite Ultrabook takes a unique swing at the portable computer.

Samsung has had some success with its Note– a ‘phablet’ designed to bridge the phone and tablet. Perhaps Toshiba took note of this when designing its Satellite Ultrabook; which is two parts laptop, one part tablet.

In its ‘laptop’ form, it is everything you expect. As an Ultrabook – an Intel-led branding tactic – it is also intended to be a Windows alternative to Apple’s MacBook Air. However with a quick screen adjustment the device suddenly becomes a tablet – albeit a much larger one than others.

The Satellite risks falling between two stools by offering such functionality but the Windows 8 platform does well in either format.

Realistically it will appeal more to those wanting a laptop, but it might just be enough of a draw users looking to tap into the fringe benefits of touch without needing two devices.

itting at the sweet spot of Canon’s DSLR camera range, the 60D packs a punch that any professional – or serious amateur – would be impressed by.

Even after you decide to buy a DSLR it can be difficult to decide on what model best suits you. On one side there are affordable and accessible ‘bridge’ devices – on the other the bank balance-breaking models that demand an expert hand.

The Canon 60D sits in the middle of this, remaining somewhat affordable to enthusiasts while packing enough punch to please a pro.

The controls are easy to navigate, from the click wheel on the back to the LED screen that details current settings. Its rotatable viewing screen is also a nice touch, though the body is a bit too bulky to make the camera particularly portable.

The Canon 60D (body only) can be bought for £609 on Amazon.co.uk

A

The Toshiba Satellite Ultrabook U920T can be bought in Currys for £900

PREVIEW: SAMSUNG GALAXY S4

PREVIEW: SONY XPERIA TABLET Z

S

S

amsung has launched its latest attack in the ongoing smartphone war, though this particular phase seems more evolutionary than revolutionary.

Samsung’s Galaxy smartphone has come a long way in a short space of time. The first device to use the brand – also known as the i7500 – was an abomination; with an ugly design, clunky operating interface and generally awful user experience.

Four years later its descendant – the Galaxy S3 – is the most successful Android device and unquestionably the main competition to Apple’s iPhone. The S4 is its next iteration, though you may not realise that to look at.

For the most part the device has the same form as before – which is not an issue in itself. It also does the predictable thing of ramping up the various specs to ensure a faster, brighter and smoother experience.

In terms of what is new, there are features on offer – like the ability to use eye and hand movements to control various functions. However the list of these little knickknacks ultimately comes across as a bit gimmicky.

Ultimately the S4 may suffer from the same woes of the iPhone 4S – a great phone that lacks that unique selling point to encourage existing users to upgrade.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is due to launch on 26th April.

ony has made a big push for its Xperia Z smartphone as it seeks to become a real player in the mobile space – the next phase of that is an attempt to claim a stake in the world of tablets.

Apple’s iPad is still the dominant player when it comes to tablets, though Android devices have begun to catch up lately. Samsung was an early starter in competing; while Amazon, Microsoft and others have since followed suit.

Despite this the market is still relatively open – or at least less crowded than smartphones.

To that end Sony hopes the Xperia Tablet Z can grab some attention, with some nice features on offer in order to do so.

The tablet is strikingly thin – it is also water resistant, allowing users to be submerged for up to 30 minutes. Why you would want to bathe your tablet for an extended period of time is another matter.

The Sony Xperia Tablet Z is due for release at some point in mid-April.

April 2013 / ULSTER BUSINESS

107

BUSINESS TRAVELLER

Business Books Enda McShane, CEO, Velocity Worldwide How often do you travel, where to and why?

Every week to London and every two months to the United States.

Other than your phone, what are the three things you couldn’t do without when travelling on business?

My Mac Book Air, Tumi iPhone multi-charger and my headphones.

Have you found a good way to work while you are on the move?

Access to a business lounge is always the best way to get work done and I always plan to catch up on things I need read and write.

What would be your top tips for anyone embarking on a job that involves travel?

Understand that its not glamorous, prepare to see very little of your destination, book good hotels and never stay any longer in a destination than you have to.

What do you enjoy most and least about work travel?

I find doing business in other countries really challenging and exciting. It’s great to learn and to teach people things that are new. The downside is fatigue and delays!

What have been your best and worst experiences of travelling for work?

I have been spending a lot of time back in London and as a creative company I feel a real buzz again, especially in the West End. Bars and restaurants are full mid week so the atmosphere generates a real desire to succeed. I also love anywhere where our Grand Am Team has a race. Race weekends in places like Daytona are magical and very special to be a part of.

What do you look for in a good hotel when away on business?

Free Wi-Fi. I absolutely hate it if there is free Wi-Fi in a lobby but as a guest you are expected to pay. Hilton Hotels amongst others are guilty of this – sort it out guys! A good bar with a buzz is also a plus so you don’t have to leave your hotel.

Have you worked out a way to avoid jet lag?

Take a night flight and don’t eat on the plane, drink water and get your head down. It just feels like you had a late night when you get home but you can go straight to work.

Do you speak any languages and if so have they been of use on business trips?

I speak a bit of French and I only use it of I want a good red in a French restaurant!

LEAN IN: WOMEN, WORK AND THE WILL TO LEAD

By Sheryl Sandberg (Random House) In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg – Facebook COO and one of Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women in Business – looks at what women can do to help themselves and make the small changes in their life that can effect change on a more universal scale. Women hold just 20 per cent of seats in parliaments globally, and in the world of big business, a meagre eighteen of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women. She draws on her own experiences working in some of the world’s most successful businesses, as well as academic research, to find practical answers to the problems facing women in the workplace.

THE NEW DIGITAL AGE

By Eric Schmidt & Jared Cohen (Hodder) The New Digital Age is the product of an unparalleled collaboration: full of the brilliant insights of one of Silicon Valley’s great innovators – Eric Schmidt and Director of Google Ideas, Jared Cohen. Never before has the future been so vividly and transparently imagined. From technologies that will change lives, to our most important future considerations, to the widespread political change that will transform the ever present threats to our privacy and security, Schmidt and Cohen outline in great detail and scope all the promise and peril awaiting us in the coming decades.

MANAGEMENT IN 10 WORDS

By Terry Leahy (Random House) In his fourteen years as CEO of Tesco, Sir Terry Leahy not only turned the company into the largest supermarket chain in the UK but also transformed it into a global enterprise. In Management in 10 Words he draws on his experience and expertise to pinpoint the ten vital attributes that make successful managers and underlie great organisations. He tackles the challenges that every manager faces, in a series of insights that are personal, provocative, and down to earth.

Where in the world would you most love to work?

Sydney is my ideal city – to live on the Northern Beaches and work in the city... perfection.

Where are you off to next?

I am going to New York next week and Denver and Atlanta in April.

108 APRIL 2013

All titles are available at easons. To win copies of the featured books go the Ulster Business facebook page.

TRAVEL

Belfast City Airport expects 20 per cent increase in passengers in 2013

G

eorge Best Belfast City airport has forecast a 20% increase in passenger numbers for 2013 when compared to numbers for 2012.

Recent figures published by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have shown that passenger numbers at UK airports in 2012 were up 1.4 million from 2011.

Despite the fact that overall passenger numbers are still 8% below the peak reached in 2007, the recovery has been taken as a sign that the travel market in the UK is heading in the right direction for recovery.

This is reflected at Belfast City Airport, where 2013 is expected to be one of the busiest years in the airport’s commercial history with an expected increase of 20% in passenger numbers.

The airport saw a slight decrease in passenger numbers in 2012 (from 2011), due to the termination of low cost airline bmibaby and the withdrawal of its 11 routes. However, the arrival of Aer Lingus and British Airways will see passenger figures for 2013 peak at over 2.6 million, the airport has stated.

Katy Best, Commercial and Marketing Director at Belfast City Airport, said: “2012 was an exceptional year for Belfast City Airport as we suffered from the demise of two airline partners, bmi and bmibaby. However, this has been offset by a number of positives which include the arrival of two new airlines.

“After securing the bid for British Airways to return to Northern Ireland after an absence of more than a decade, Aer Lingus made the commercial decision to move its London Gatwick and London Heathrow operations to Belfast City Airport.

“This saw Belfast City Airport become Northern Ireland’s sole link with London Heathrow providing passengers with unrivalled global connectivity.”

The arrival of Aer Lingus to the runway at Belfast City Airport has also provided passengers with the option of flying to several European destinations directly from Belfast.

Ms Best continued: “Prior to the closure of bmibaby, the airline had commenced a number of sunshine routes to Europe. There was a huge demand for these services so we were delighted when Aer Lingus announced they would be flying directly to Faro, Malaga and Palma from April 2013.

“The demand for these summer destinations has been very encouraging and we look forward to working with all our partner airlines – Aer Lingus, British Airways, Citywing and FlyBE – to expand their networks from the airport.

“The strong route network we have puts us on extremely solid footing for growth of up to 20% in 2013, with expected passenger volumes of over 2.6m. This would make 2013 one of our busiest years ever.”

X1 MARKS THE SPOT: Carol Lundy, Translink Brand Manager – Bus Services, and Sean Forde, Expressway Product Manager at Bus Eireann, announce a new ‘X1’ brand name for the popular cross-border coach service between Belfast and Dublin. Formerly operated by either a Goldline 200 or Bus Eireann 001 coach, the change aims to strengthen brand awareness amongst customers and reflect the joined-up service delivery along with timetable and vehicle enhancements. ‘X1’ provides an hourly coach service between 5am and 9pm with early bird departures also available at 11pm, 1am and 3am.

A stopping service*, it is supported by Translink’s ‘X2’ direct coach service between Belfast, Dublin Airport and Dublin City Centre.

APRIL 2013 109

SPORT

Ulster players tackle careers after rugby with Ernst & Young A

ccountancy firm, Ernst & Young has launched ‘Careers After Rugby’, a unique mentoring programme in collaboration with Ulster Rugby, at Ravenhill.

This initiative aims to support Ulster rugby players in considering a business career following their retirement from the game.

As part of the programme, professional athletes from Ulster Rugby, including Stephen Ferris, Paddy Wallace, Dan Tuohy and Callum Black, will be teamed up with EY’s senior leadership team and clients, based on their identified areas of interest and long term career aspirations. It will offer players one-to-one facilitated sessions with their mentors, which will aid personal and professional growth, by sharing specific industry knowledge and experience.

Michael Hall, Managing Partner Northern Ireland, said: “Our commitment to continue to build a successful business, and at the same time making the difference to our clients, our people, the wider economy and society, continues to underpin everything we do. This initiative compliments the firm’s long-term strategy in supporting entrepreneurship and education and making a difference in the communities which we operate in.”

In addition to this mentoring programme, EY has also signed an 18-month deal to sponsor Ulster Rugby, where the club will host the firm’s logo on the back of the management team’s laptops during matches.

Hall stressed the importance of forging such relationships between sports people and the business community. He said: “The talent and dedication that athletes possess including,

Attending the launch of ‘Careers After Rugby’ at Ravenhill were Adam D’Arcy, Mike McKerr, Managing Partner Ireland Ernst & Young, Michael Hall, Managing Partner, Northern Ireland, Ernst & Young, Tommy Bowe and Paddy McAllister.

teamwork, communication, leadership carries over into the professional workplace. Possessing these skills can be mutually beneficial and as such there is a natural overlap between the business community and players.”

The initial stages of the mentoring programme will provide a sounding board to players and assist them in developing their thoughts around specific business opportunities they are keen to explore. This support will be

provided through mentoring from either certain individuals within Ernst & Young or teaming a player up with a client. The extensive network which Ernst & Young has acquired over the years, allows them to put people from all sorts of backgrounds and industries in touch with players which complement their areas of interest. It is through these business relationships that Ernst & Young can facilitate openings and career options for players.

BANKING ON CUP SUCCESS: To mark what is traditionally the biggest day in the youth sports calendar in Northern Ireland, the St Patrick’s Day Bank Holiday, Danske Bank got together captains of the finalists of gaelic football’s MacLarnon Cup and MacRory Cup, as well as rugby’s Ulster Schools’ Cup. It was the first time the three finals have shared the same sponsor – Danske Bank. Managing Director for Retail & Private Banking Tony Wilcox is pictured with Methody captain Ross Kane, RBAI captain Joshua Atkinson, St Paul’s Bessbook captain Ciaran O’Hanlon, St Patrick’s Maghera captain Conor Carville, St Michael’s Lurgan joint captains Diarmuid O’Hagan and Shea Heffron, and St Louis Kilkeel captain Ronan McAlinden.

110 APRIL 2013

SPORT

GAA Congress 2013 is successfully hosted in Derry T

he deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness welcomed the GAA Congress to The Venue in Ebrington, Derry at the end of March.

Delegates from every county in Ireland attended and considered many issues including the use of technology, changes to the Hurling Championship and the opening up of GAA grounds for a Rugby World Cup bid.

The deputy First Minister said: “I thank the GAA for choosing Derry to host their annual congress. It is fitting that as Derry GAA celebrates 125 years we are hosting our first GAA Annual Congress.”

Commenting on the role the GAA plays at both a local and international level the deputy First Minister added: “The GAA connects people not only within our local communities, but across the world and has a presence on all five continents. The local GAA community, regardless of whether it is in Stockholm, Sydney or San Francisco, offers a warm welcome and a taste of home to our family and friends, footballers, hurlers and camogs who have had to seek employment far from home.

“Although dedicated to promoting the games of hurling, football, handball, rounders and camogie, the Association also supports activities that enrich the culture of our nation and further gaelic ideals, including the Irish language, Irish music and dance. In February Derry hosted the Scór finals and in August this city will host Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann. This was a historic decision, with the All-Ireland Fleadh coming to the north for the first time. I’m sure this will not only be an historic Fleadh but also the best one ever.”

Martin McGuinness together with John Keenan, chairman of Derry GAA and Pauric Duffy, GAA director general, with the new specially designed Derry 125th anniversary shirt at the GAA Annual Congress Banquet in Derry.

Speaking about the significant contribution the GAA makes to society the Minister said: “The impact of the GAA extends beyond the aims of promoting gaelic games. It is the cornerstone of the community, strengthening community development, promoting inclusion and cohesion, providing structured support for volunteers at club and county levels and maintaining and expanding its focus on health, well-being and lifestyle.

The GAA generates and fosters pride in the community it both serves and enriches. It is for

the unique and invaluable contribution that you make to our community that we as an Executive consider it right to support GAA activities and the development of Casement Park is an example of our support.”

The deputy First Minister added: “I thank each and every volunteer for the important role they play in making the GAA what it is. Not just the office bearers but the people who do the vital unseen work in every club. The greatest asset of the GAA is its people and your contribution is greatly appreciated.”

OFF THE SUBS BENCH: SUBWAY has announced a partnership with TWSports.Org to deliver nine football camps throughout Northern Ireland designed to seek out and develop local soccer talent in the province. The camps will roll out to seven other locations throughout the six counties of Northern Ireland during July and August and culminate in an elite Halloween Soccer Camp with 100 scholarship places available for the top talent uncovered. The initiative which represents an investment by SUBWAY of £35,000 over a twelve month period and benefitting 900 local children is the latest community initiative demonstrating the brand’s commitment to a healthier and more active lifestyle. Chris Barr, SUBWAY Franchisee, joined Tim Wareing, Director of TWSports.Org, at the launch of the soccer camps which commenced on 2 April at the Belfast Boys’ Model School.

APRIL 2013 111

CLASSIFIEDS

TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED ADVERT CONTACT ULSTER BUSINESS ON 028 9078 3200

112 APRIL 2013

Business Diary May 2013 DATE

EVENT

VENUE

CONTACT

15 May 17.30 - 18.30

IoD NI Leadership Lecture

The MAC Theatre, Exchange Street, Belfast BT1 1NJ Cost: Member £10.00 +VAT Cost: Non-Member £15.00 +VAT

Lorraine Corry on 028 9068 3224 or visit www.iodni.com

16 May 17.30 - 20.00

In Camera: Department of the Environment: A chance to put your questions directly to the Minister

Europa Hoel, Belfast Speaker: Minister Alex Attwood Cost: Member £40.00 +VAT

For more information and booking details visit www.northernirelandchamber.com

17 May 13.00 – 18.00

IoD NI Annual Young Leaders NI Conference

The MAC Theatre, Exchange Street, Belfast BT1 1NJ Cost: £45.00 +VAT

Lorraine Corry on 028 9068 3224 or visit www.iod.com

22 May 08.15 – 11.30

Raising Finance Workshop Organiser: Invest NI

Ramada Hotel, Shaw’s Bridge, Belfast

Anne Jamison on 028 9043 4320 or email: anne@event-ful.co.uk

23 May 09.00

Women In Business Conference and Exhibition 2013

Hilton Hotel, Belfast

Laura Dowie on 08456 076041 or email: Laura@womeninbusinessni.com

23 May

Competition Law: Why is it relevant to you?

Organiser: CBI Northern Ireland

James St South, Belfast Host: Carson McDowell

Mavis Black or Kirsty McManus on email: mavis.black@cbi.org.uk or kirsty.mcmanus@cbi.org.uk

22 - 31 May

22nd EBN Congress Key Speaker: Steve Wozniak, Co-founder of Apple

Various in Derry-Londonderry Cost: Various

For more information visit www.ebncongress.eu

30 May 09.30

Online Marketing Masterclass Organiser: Women In Business NI

Ulster Bank, Belfast Cost: £30 per person

Laura Dowie on 08456 076041 or email: Laura@womeninbusinessni.com

If you would like to promote an event or conference please contact Stuart Hackney (stuarthackney@greerpublications.com)

People in Business economic, social and environmental challenges they face, to produce high quality produce and maintain the character and landscape of our rural areas.

Do you have any “golden rules”?

Building trust and being straight with people.

What would you regard as a “cardinal sin” for anyone doing business with you?

Time wasting.

What is your most hated business expression or cliché?

Let’s park that until later.

If you hadn’t been in business what would you have liked to have done?

I enjoyed my time working in the poultry sector and had I owned a piece of land in a suitable location I would have liked to have established and run my own poultry unit.

How important is money to you?

I think it is important to work to live rather than live to work. I am not driven solely by monetary reward but I think it is essential for any employer that they offer fair and appropriate remuneration for a job being performed.

FACTFILE NAME:

Ian Stevenson, CEO, Livestock & Meat Commissioners for N.I.

BORN:

Ballymoney, Co. Antrim

What are you currently reading?

Alan Sugar’s autobiography ‘What You See Is What You Get’.

CAREER: 20 years spent working in the Northern Ireland agri-food industry.

What has been your toughest challenge?

Joined the Livestock & Meat Commission (LMC) as Industry Development Manager in 2009 and became Chief Executive in 2011.

Taking on the role of LMC Chief executive during a major reorganisation of LMC functions and structures.

What was your first paying job?

rugby game on a Friday night at Ravenhill.

I started my post university career with North Antrim Turkeys Limited as a Turkey Farm Operative.

Has your personal life suffered because of your career?

What do you like most about your current role?

The variety of the role and the chance to work with a tremendous team of dedicated staff in LMC fully committed to supporting the Northern Ireland beef and sheep meat industry.

What’s the worst job you’ve ever done?

I have been quite fortunate to have thoroughly enjoyed all the roles that I have carried out in the agri-food industry.

Are you switched on 24 hours or is there a time when you switch your phone off?

When you work in a 24/7 industry like agrifood it’s hard to switch off completely but it might be a struggle to get an answer on my phone when I’m watching an Ulster

What do you worry about?

How quickly time seems to be passing as I get older.

It’s important to strike the right balance between work and life outside work although I probably do tend to spend a bit too much time looking at how beef and lamb is displayed and labelled at point of sale when doing the weekly shopping!

What advice would you give to the 18-yearold you?

What do you consider your best business decision or idea?

On holiday one year I had the chance to go to Robben Island off Cape Town in South Africa where Nelson Mandela had been imprisoned for 18 years. He has provided inspiration to millions of people and would have some amazing insights on life.

When I was appointed CEO of LMC in 2011 I decided to immediately set about securing the future ownership and management of the Northern Ireland Beef and Lamb Farm Quality Assurance Scheme as a key pillar of LMC activity.

Who has been your biggest inspiration?

I am always inspired by the dedication and commitment of the farming industry in Northern Ireland, despite the tough

Never sell yourself short. If you have a goal you want to achieve then go for it.

Which person, living or dead, would you like to have met, and why?

How do you want to be remembered?

I don’t seek recognition or to be remembered for any of my achievements but if during my short time on this earth I make a positive impact on someone or something then that’s good enough for me.

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