Northern Ireland's Top 100 Companies 2020

NORTHERN IRELAND COMPANIES

2020 In association with

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

Contents

 INTRODUCTION 

4 Economy Minister Diane Dodds 6-7 Arthur Cox 8 - 11 John Simpson 12 Kevin Holland 14 Ann McGregor 16 Angela McGowan 18 - 21 Top 100 Tables 22 - 42 Entries 1-100 profiled 46 Glyn Roberts 52 - 53 Belfast Harbour 56 - 57 Neil McShane 58 - 59 Stephen Kelly PUBLISHED BY Belfast Telegraph, Clarendon House, Clarendon Dock BT1 3BH ADVERTISING Martin Elliman: Business sales executive Tel: 07985 887171 m.elliman@belfasttelegraph.co.uk EDITOR Margaret Canning mcanning@belfasttelegraph.co.uk TOP 100 Compiled and analysed by John Simpson With thanks to: Emma Deighan and Kevin Scott DESIGN Susan McClean & Helen Wright INM Design Studio, Belfast PRINTING INM, Newry

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elcome to the 2020 edition of the Belfast Telegraph Top 100 Companies in association with Arthur Cox. We are proud that the well-established legal firm is supporting our must-read guide to Northern Ireland’s most profitable companies for the sixth year in a row.

As well as being the year of Arthur Cox’s centenary, 2020 also marks the Belfast Telegraph’s 150th birthday - so it’s been a time of celebration for both.

Nonetheless, we have all had a rocky and distressing six months following the outbreak of Covid-19 and the devastating impact it’s had on

many lives and livelihoods.

None of us have been immune from the pandemic’s effects on our daily lives, and even if and when we can discard our face coverings, we’ll be reckoning with the economic effects in the form of high unemployment and reduced output for between three and five years.

While the financial data which informs this year’s publication is of necessity drawn from previous years, it serves as a useful indicator of the health of our biggest companies and their position entering into the pandemic and recession.

Our banks are in a fairly strong position, with one even laying claim to the number one spot (clue: it’s not their first time to top the chart).

Utilities companies are also a stellar performer,

with our natural climate lending plenty of volume to the accounts of windfarm businesses.

Many of our biggest manufacturers are also reporting a rise in profits though for one, an impressive profit figure masks sectoral problems which are leading to the closure of a plant.

As economist John Simpson points out after another year of poring over accounts of hundreds of Northern Ireland businesses, our largest profit earners have enjoyed a four-year period of improving results.

That should equip them well for the challenges they are facing at the moment.

Indeed, our conversations with businesses as we’ve been compiling the profiles of the 100 have educated us about how they’ve diversified during the pandemic.

Brett Martin has become involved in the manufacture of visors, SHS Group has redirected energy towards more spice blends and cooking pastes for home cooking after we were forced to stay at home and fend for ourselves during lockdown.

Huhtamaki in Lurgan upped production of its egg cartons due to the same rise in demand from growth in home cooking - not to mention home baking.

And EOS IT Holdings also pivoted to launch a service using collaborative technology to make it easier for people to work from home.

But unfortunately, regardless of how some of our biggest companies are doing, the impact of Covid-19 and the recession it’s exacerbated is going to take a heavy toll.

As many business leaders have pointed out, the worst impact is most likely to be on our smaller firms. Bigger businesses have the balance sheets and experience to cope and in some cases, pivot towards in-demand areas.

We are also facing the end of the Brexit transition period in just a few months. Most big firms had planned for a Brexit within the terms of the NI Protocol and Withdrawal Agreement. Instead, the proposed Internal Markets Bill has thrown the protocol into disarray - but let’s not give up hope just yet that a free trade agreement between the EU and UK can be concluded.

And hope is something we need to have a lot of as we face the effects of the pandemic and Brexit.

But it’s a virtue which is always rewarded, even it it does take time.

Look at our Executive - it successfully reformed in January after three years in abeyance and with exquisite timing, resumed government of Northern Ireland as it entered the pandemic, the most challenging period since The Troubles.

That timing can certainly give us hope for the future.

by Margaret Canning Belfast Telegraph Business Editor

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TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

 FOREWORD  Our companies have shown great resilience in recent months as they’ve worked to diversify

I WANTTO BUILD A MORE COMPETITIVE, INCLUSIVE AND GREENER ECONOMY THAT DELIVERS HIGHLY PAID JOBS

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here is much to celebrate among the Top 100 Companies listed here today including increases in pre-tax profits and the wide range of sectors represented in businesses based right across Northern Ireland.

It is very pleasing to see well-known names many of us will recognise sitting alongside those less well known and new entries to the list.

I am very conscious that the figures reported on today relate to a period before Covid-19.

As a result, this gives us a snapshot of some of our most successful businesses just before the pandemic descended. This was a time before lockdown, social distancing or the need to wear face coverings.

The success of companies highlighted today also serves as a stark reminder of what I and my Department have been working so hard to protect in recent months.

It is because we have such a strong business sector in Northern Ireland that we prioritised offering millions of pounds in business support grants which enabled 30,000 businesses to survive through lockdown and beyond.

The resilience of companies has been seen in recent months. Many adapted their workplaces to ensure the safety of employees and customers, some had to close temporarily and furlough their staff, while others were able to diversify into manufacturing essential personal protection equipment.

I am very proud of how businesses worked together and supported each other through a very difficult and unprecedented period and continue to do so. They faced adversity head on.

The volume of traffic on our roads, footfall and the number of businesses reopening are all increasing but we are still far from normality. It could be years before we see economic activity overall back to its pre-pandemic levels.

Despite the difficulties, some companies have been able to announce new jobs. This includes Chicago-headquartered company PEAK6 which is establishing a centre of excellence in Belfast with a target of creating 160 jobs over the next fouryears.

Belfast-based digital solutions company Neueda is also creating 230 jobs in a £20m investment.

It was great to see the Eat Out To Help Out Scheme giving a welcome boost to our restaurants in August. People holidaying close to home over the summer also helped tourism businesses.

We want to return to having a thriving tourism industry and that is why I established the Tourism Recovery Steering Group to lead on the planning

By Economy Minister Diane Dodds and preparations and prepare for regrowth of the sector. I would urge the public to continue to support the hospitality and tourism sector in the months and years ahead.

My Department is focused on economic recovery and it is important to stress that the rebuilding of our economy goes hand in hand with protecting people’s health.

We will be living alongside this virus for some time to come so we need to adapt, innovate and move forward with the safety of staff and customers at the forefront.

My economic recovery plan includes four key high growth areas – advanced manufacturing,

life and health sciences, digital and clean energy.

I am pleased to see all of these sectors represented among the companies listed today.

I want to build a more competitive, inclusive and greener economy that delivers highly paid jobs, a highly skilled workforce and a more regionally balanced economy.

We have already identified a range of measures to help vulnerable but viable businesses, with funding of around £25m already secured for 2020/21.

These measures will help businesses adapt to the challenges of Covid-19 and EU Exit by supporting digital/online selling, improvements to operational processes and supply chain resilience,

the use of new technologies, business financial/ recovery planning and the provision of loans and equity investment.

Developing the skills base of our young people and workforce is also central to our economic success going forward.

In recognition of this and the key role that apprentices will play in our economic recovery, £17.2m has been secured by my Department to deliver schemes which include supporting the return, retention and achievement of apprentices as well as growing and maintaining the supply of apprentice opportunities to ensure that employers have access to the skills needed to grow their businesses.

Young people in particular need high quality routes into careers so I would urge businesses throughout Northern Ireland to support apprentices. I am directing funding to incentivise employers to take on new apprentices and to enhance the supply of apprenticeship opportunities.

Our new skills strategy will cover all life stages and all levels of learning. It will encompass academic and vocational education and training in both the public and private sectors.

As EU negotiations continue, I and my Executive colleagues continue to press the UK Government to do all that is possible to facilitate our trade within the UK and with the EU, including the Republic of Ireland.

The UK Government’s Trader Support Service will provide guidance and practical support to all NI businesses and organisations that receive goods from GB or the rest of the world.

I would stress once again that it is vital that Northern Ireland businesses continue to enjoy unfettered access to the GB market and remain competitive within it.

My Department’s EU Exit Transition Readiness Programme was established to ensure that my Department, our arm’s length bodies and our businesses are as prepared as they can be for the end of the transition period.

While clarity is still required on some issues, there is much that businesses can do to ensure they are equipped to face the challenges and opportunities from January 1. Invest Northern Ireland and InterTradeIreland are available to provide valuable support and advice.

I would like to wish all of Northern Ireland’s businesses the very best for the times ahead.

I will continue to move our economy forward in a careful and considered way and with the best interests of the business community always at the centre of everything we do.

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TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

Arthur Cox: Top 100 reflects economy built on strength and resilience As Arthur Cox marks its 100th anniversary, its Chair in Northern Ireland Alan Taylor reflects on the leading law firm’s 24-year presence in Belfast, operating at the heart of the economy and as the natural legal adviser to the region’s most prominent organisations

Alan Taylor, Arthur Cox Chair in Northern Ireland

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stablished in 1996, Arthur Cox’s Belfast office opened its doors to a world that was very different to that of today. The internet was in its infancy (and absent from the vast majority of workplaces), the economywas still largely dominated by traditional industries, while the signing of the Agreement was another two years away.

It was a tough business landscape in manyways, but one that Alan Taylor believes illustrates a lega-

cy of challenging conditions that have spawned a local economy of “incredible strength”.

“Reading through this year’s Belfast Telegraph Top 100 Companies, I am struck by the sheer breadth of successful businesses operating in Northern Ireland,” he said.

“Working alongside many of those organisations included in the list, we are very aware of the incredible hard work and dedication that each executive team deliver to ensure their businesses remain at the leading edge of their respective sec-

tors. Set against a myriad of external challenges, it is that determination present in all organisations, from the smallest family firm to a major employer, that has formed an economy built on resilience and incredible strength.”

Optimism The global Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown that came with it, has undoubtedly had a major economic impact in 2020 that will endure for some time.

However, as one of Northern Ireland’s most experienced and highly regarded corporate lawyers, Alan remains optimistic having observed the growth and increasing diversification of the local business landscape over many years.

He said: “Northern Ireland has come through so much and yet, at every stage, the economy has emerged the stronger for it.

“In addition to sustaining decades of the Troubles, in more recent times, we - just like the rest of the world - have endured the financial crash of

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

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From left, Arthur Cox Head of Corporate and Commercial Lynsey Mallon, Chair Alan Taylor, Managing Partner Catriona Gibson and Stuart Mansfield, Head of Banking and Finance 2008 and subsequent recession, and this year’s global coronavirus pandemic.

“It hasn’t been easy but if the Top 100 does one thing more than anything else, it is to showcase the exceptional resilience of our local economy.

“This year’s publication, the sixth successive year that Arthur Cox has been associated with the Top 100, once again reflects an economy that in many respects, defies the gloomy headlines.

“For many businesses, 2020 has been difficult and that is clear to see in the economic data that is available.

Catriona Gibson, Arthur Cox Managing Partner and Head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution

“However, taking the long view there is much that gives rise to confidence.

“Even throughout the history of Arthur Cox’s office in Belfast, we have seen new industries and sectors appear that at one time, seemed impossible.

“Northern Ireland is now a centre of excellence for the emerging tech sector, creative industries, film and TV production, advanced engineering and manufacturing, R&D and more.

“Even in recent weeks, it is clear that the region’s global reputation as a good place to establish

and grow a business, continues to be enhanced with a number of foreign direct investment projects announced.”

Strength ForArthur Cox, it continues to be a story of growth with the recent promotions of experienced lawyers Lynsey Mallon and Stuart Mansfield to head the Corporate and Commercial, and Banking and Finance teams respectively a sign of the strength in depth of the senior Partner group.

With a diverse range of practice areas, Arthur

Cox’s specialist teams also include Litigation and Dispute Resolution, Employment Law, and Real Estate.

Alan said: “Our team of Partners, supported by a strong group of Associates continue to build on their reputation for being among the most dynamic and innovative in Northern Ireland, providing nuanced and pragmatic advice that matches the excellence of our wider client base.

“This year, it has been particularly pleasing to see the elevation of Lynsey Mallon and Stuart Mansfield to head their respective teams. Lynsey and Stuart have a great track record in leadership positions within the firm.

“Additionally, each of them has carved a reputation among the leading experts in their field and in a short space of time, against a challenging backdrop, they have already added significant value to our Corporate and Commercial, and Finance proposition.

“Advising on some of the most complex legal matters, the widerArthur Cox team plays a central role in many of the highest profile cases and corporate transactions in the local landscape.”

Providing a comprehensive service to clients both in Northern Ireland and internationally, Arthur Cox advises on a wide spectrum of law including mergers and acquisitions, projects and procurement, commercial property and construction, environment and planning, commercial and finance litigation, energy, licensing, and intellectual property.

With additional offices in Dublin, London, New York, and San Francisco the firm has a local face but a global focus.

Alan added: “Our worldwide footprint provides us with a unique opportunity to view the strength of the Northern Ireland marketplace from the inside, and objectively, and there is much to celebrate.

“On behalf of the entire team at Arthur Cox, sincere congratulations to all those companies named among the Top 100 in Northern Ireland and wishing them all every success long into the future.”

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TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

 ANALYSIS 

How companies were able to qualify for the Top 100 for 2020

By Economist John Simpson

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orthern Ireland is home to a large number of successful private sector businesses. Recent accounts, reflecting business in 2019 and early 2020, show a continuing rise in the profitability of key businesses. Before the onset of the current recession as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, the larger profit earners had enjoyed a four-year period of improving results.

The outstanding features of this update of the 100 most profitable businesses are: • The continued improvement in profitability until early 2020 • The emergence of new information on the profitability of investments in renewable electricity generation The evidence of the more profitable Northern Ireland businesses has been taken from accounts registered prior to August 15 this year. These accounts are lodged over the course of the year and within 10 months of the closing date of the

Where several companies, or subsidiaries, were owned by the same shareholder(s), the list of the Top 100 uses the consolidated group results. If practical, the editing process has added together the several businesses in a group.

The cut-off point to qualify for inclusion in the Top 100 is easily defined. When our records of the performance of local businesses are arranged in rank order of profitability, the 100 with the highest pre-tax profits are listed. Consequently, because a single performance indicator is used for selection, some well-known companies currentlywith more modest annual pre-tax profits fall just outside the lower limit.

Year by year, the minimum level of pre-tax profit for inclusion in the Top 100 has been rising 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

£2.3m £3.2m £4.2m £4.4m, £4.9m

up 39% up 31% up 5% up 11%

Businesses recording the largest pre-tax profits Pre-tax profits £’000

Pre-tax profits year ago £’000

Danske Bank

90,000

88,700

EB Gp: Kilroot + Ballylumford

86,919

(76,359) (b)

NI Water

84,466

80,670

Schrader Electronics

76,967

71,692

NIE Networks

72,900

68,000

SSE Renewables (a)

70,900

54,700

Moy Park (Europe)

67,832

49,696

Energia Gp. NI

61,200

65,700

Bank of Ireland

57,000

63,000

Terex GB

49,622

45,897

Almac Group

47,646

27,612

W&R Barnett

46,015

51,616

a. Two NI registered companies, results exclude exceptional profits b. Loss, after exceptional charges

Businesses making the largest contribution to incomes

accounts. Consequently, as the evidence for the Top 100 was collected in mid-2020, much of the latest financial evidence relates to trading years ending in 2019 or early 2020.

Companies have been placed in the Top 100 because they were one of the businesses earning the highest levels of pre-tax profit though other performance indicators are used elsewhere.

The pre-tax profit figures include any exceptional items specified in the profit and loss accounts.

The fact that the increase in the level of pre-tax profits to qualify for inclusion has been rising faster than inflation confirms that, for the more successful local companies, business has been improving, at least before the impact of the pandemic in 2020. There is a large number of businesses with results falling close to the cut-off point at £4.9m.

Another 13 businesses earned between £4.0m and £4.9m. Two of that group were part of the Top 100 last year when their profit results were marginally

Most recent year £’m

A year ago £’m

Moy Park

360

318

Almac

309

251

NI Water

153

158

Danske Bank

144

146

NIE Networks

143

147

First Derivatives

137

123

Schrader Electronics

129

100

Kainos

118

71

John Graham

117

114

W & R Barnett

115

108

Ulster Bank

109

132

EP: Kilroot & Ballylumford

109

n.a

John Henderson

108

85

Terex GB

101

91

Encirc

100

93

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

higher in 2018 than more recently.

The published pre-tax profits figures show that in the most recent trading year, typically, the average business in the Top 100 increased their profits by over 12%. They produced a wide divergence in the trading outcomes.

14 more than doubled their profits Three moved from loss making back to profit 18 gained an additional 0 – 9% 13 gaíned an additional 10 -19% 10 gained an additional 20 -39% 13 gained an additional 40 -99% 29 reported a profit reduction Names new to the Top 100 include energy-related firms EP, which is the new owner of Kilroot Power, GNI (UK), trading as Gas Northern Ireland, Greencoat, a UK-wide wind farm owner and NTR Energy, also a wind farm owner. EOS IT, specialising in video networks, and MRP Land, a property development company, are also new entries Other new arrivals include locally registered businesses whose results have improved, including timber processor Balcas, hotel group Beannchor, BSG Civil EngineerIng, Cooneen

by Design, Foyle Food Continued on page 10 

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TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

Group, Germinal Holdings and construction groups Northstone, PJ Conway and Gilbert Ash. And 24 names have disappeared from the Top 100 although they are still significant trading entities. Golden Vale, which trades across Ireland, did not publish (as far as we are aware) figures for their business in Northern Ireland. Nor are Northern Ireland figures available for the banking group AIB. Two businesses disappeared from the list as they now operate as part of the Breedon construction group after theywere sold by the former Lagan Group. And there are 14 of the 24 who are still trading profitably having recorded profit figures below the qualifying minimum of £4.9m.

For businesses which did not qualify this year, one feature is noteworthy. No business, included last year, has closed. Many have earned smaller profits, or profits which were below the new minimum qualifying figure, but there have been no closures.

Businesses coping with unusual conditions Compiling the evidence from the recent annual reports of many businesses has shown many similar cautionary statements on their expectations as they cope with Covid-19 and Brexit. The statements below are taken directly from typical annual reports but have a more general application for the anticipation of developments in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

A SUMMARY OF THE YEAR:

COVID-19

The headline grand totals

The 100 local businesses which recorded the highest pre-tax profits produced the following aggregate results: • Total pre-tax profits £1,802m • Total adjusted for 1 major exceptional result:

£1,715m.

• Total adjusted profits a year ago: £1,618m • Profit increase, after adjustment: 6.0% • Profit increase, without adjustment: 17.0% • Employment this year: 72,358 • Employment last year’s review: 80,190 • Employment change: 10%

[1] A manufacturing business “The group is acutely conscious of Covid-19 risks and is fully compliant with all HSE requirements and procedures for the workplace. In addition where possible any employee who is able to work from home does so. Risk assessments and policies are updated continuously to ensure that we pro-

vide the highest level of safety for our employees.

“The group has seen a downturn in demand across most sectors to which we initially responded by reducing output through utilisation of the Government’s Statutory Retention Pay Scheme.

The group has however been able to re-purpose equipment and resource to manufacture critically required PPE for the NHS. This has helped to bridge the shortfall in revenues and has also enabled the majority of the workforce to be re-engaged….

“The group secured a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan to ensure that cash reserves are available through this difficult period. It has not been necessary to use these funds as yet and they will be repaid in due course.”

[2] An engineering business “The financial statements of the entity have been prepared based on continuing activity. The activities started to be affected by COVID-19 in the first quarter of 2020. The entity has continued normal operations throughout this period, manufacturing products considered essential during the pandemic. This major crisis constitutes a post-closing event, with no impact on the value of the company’s assets and liabilities in the accounts at September 30 2019. However, given the recent nature of the epidemic and the

measures announced by the government to help businesses, the company is not able to assess the potential quantified impact. … management is not aware of any material uncertainties that call into question the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

BREXIT

[1] A manufacturing business “At the time of writing this report it is unclear how the future relationship with the EU will be structured or how the Northern Ireland Protocol will operate. Indeed, it also appears uncertain that the UK will leave at the end of the transition period at December 31 due to the Covid-19 crisis.

As a result, it is extremely difficult to plan for the implications of the new structures.

“Further contingency plans will be drafted to mitigate risks and challenges as the impact of Brexit becomes clearer.”

[2] A food processor “The current situation with regards to Brexit creates some uncertainty for the group and company, although with relatively low risk. The Group and company are in a strong position to react quickly at the appropriate time when the future UK/EU relationship becomes clear, in order to provide the highest level of services to our customers.”

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TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

 INVEST NI  The human cost of Covid-19 has been devastating and the economic shock has been severe

IN THIS WORLD OF CHANGE AND CHALLENGE THOUGH, NORTHERN IRELAND HAS MANY UNIQUE QUALITIES THAT WILL SEE IT THROUGH

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his is becoming quite a year for business, one of challenge and change.

This is particularly the case for UK businesses which face changing dynamics on all sides from the impact of Covid-19 to future arrangements

with the EU. For Northern Ireland businesses there is the additional consideration of the detailed operations of land and sea borders.

At the start of 2020 businesses were already endeavouring to plan for the practical aspects of Brexit as more details began to emerge from London and Brussels – both looking for opportunities and seeking to minimise risk.

For some businesses this has been a difficult and stressful period. Lack of “nuts and bolts” detail on operational issues such border checks, access to labour and import and export tariffs, have made planning difficult but businesses were clear thinking and forward sighted in their approach.

That was, until the Covid-19 pandemic swept from county to county. The human cost has been devastating and the economic shock severe.

We have seen many businesses furlough staff

IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19 WE HAVE BEEN ATTHE FRONT OF DELIVERING EMERGENCY SUPPORT, FUNDS AND INTELLIGENCE TO BUSINESSES

By Kevin Holland Chief Executive Invest NI or face the difficult decision to make employees redundant, and some may face an even more difficult decision to close completely. Others are either adapting or completely changing their business model in order to survive. This is just as true for the businesses listed in this Top 100 report as it is for the micro or SME business.

In this world of change and challenge though, Northern Ireland has many unique qualities that

will see it through.

I spent much of my time in the initial months as CEO at Invest NI meeting people and visiting businesses.

I was already familiar with the expertise of NI companies in the life and health sciences sector through my previous roles, but what my broader visits showed is that there is truly extensive expertise in many sectors here. This is married

with an (often quietly spoken) determination, entrepreneurial flair and passion of the business owners and their teams.

I am confident that this determination and passion will help many businesses overcome these current challenges. And Northern Ireland’s unique position and relationship with the US to the west, and Great Britain, Ireland and Europe to the east and south, even Asia only a time zone away will place us in a strong position to rebuild our post-Covid economy. Which is also where Invest Northern Ireland can play an important role.

Undoubtedly the impact of Covid-19 on businesses and the NI economy is shaping the focus of our work in 2020/2021.

So too the preparations for post EU global trade at the end of the year. This sits alongside closing out the final year of our 2017-2021 Business Strategy through “making business happen” activity helping companies innovate, embrace digitisation, seek new markets, and invest in staff so they can improve their overall competitiveness and be at the forefront of their industry.

Specifically, in response to COVID-19 we have been at the front of delivering emergency support, funds and intelligence to businesses and now will be introducing new support schemes to help companies to review their business strategies and address the specific challenges raised as a result of Covid-19. In broad terms there will be investment support, help with moving a business online, and assistance towards providing a safe working environment. I know businesses are seeking this help and we are doing everything we can to test and get the schemes operational as soon as possible…all while maintaining the good governance that use of public money requires.

In relation to post-EU preparations, we will build on the successful activity of last year with workshops and access to consultants for specific advice. And our Brexit Preparation Grant remains open to applications to help businesses towards some of the financial costs associated with preparing for Brexit. Rising to the challenges ahead of us will take a combined effort, and the Northern Ireland business community has proven itself united and capable of meeting challenges before.

Opportunities exist and it will be by embracing change and grasping these opportunities that we can ensure Northern Ireland is amongst the first and the strongest economies in the recovery.

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TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

 NI CHAMBER VIEW  A renewed emphasis on trade for Northern Ireland will help us weather the challenges ahead of us

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ne of the key unifying themes around many of the businesses listed in the Top 100 is the fact that they recognise the benefits of exporting and trading internationally.

External and export sales are part of their growth strategy and they recognise the significant benefits which this brings, not just in higher sales and profits but also increased productivity, improved competitiveness and the reduced vulnerability that comes with not relying on the local market alone.

Undoubtedly it is challenging for businesses here to compete globally. Quality and innovation is outstanding but there are challenges in business development - making the sale, gaining customer confidence and getting the product to market. Businesses that invest in establishing an international sales team, developing digital marketing strategies and using the international support available by Invest NI, DIT and accredited Chambers of Commerce are the most successful.

Northern Ireland businesses currently sell around £22bn of goods and services outside Northern Ireland annually - a great achievement given the size of our business base.

Exports to countries outside the UK make up around half of our sales. Our key trading partners include the Republic of Ireland, Germany and France in the EU and USA, Canada and Australia across the globe. The Top 100 firms are amongst the most successful in this area and are an excellent example to other firms of what can be achieved. Fortunately many of these businesses are also focussed on the development of the wider economy and are willing to share their experiences and support the international programmes that NI Chamber and others have developed to inspire and support other businesses to do the same.

Being on the periphery of the periphery has always been a challenge for Northern Ireland when doing business internationally and 2020 brings even more challenges. Despite having made gains in growing our international reputation, businesses are now experiencing new challenges as a result of Brexit and COVID-19. The uncertainty around Brexit and Northern Ireland’s unique position as a result, has already been creating concern before the additional and major setback of the Covid-19 pandemic.

OUTSIDE OF THE INTERNAL MARKET, NI CHAMBER IS POSITIVE THAT THERE WILL BE SIGNIFICANT OPPORTUNITIES FOR NORTHERN IRELAND BASED BUSINESSES

By Ann McGregor Chief Executive Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry In the first quarter of this year goods exported from Northern Ireland fell by 2.7%, largely driven by falling sales to EU countries including Ireland, Germany and France. This appears to confirm memberviews that EU customers were becoming more focused on using suppliers in ‘remaining EU’ countries. Our latest Quarterly Economic Survey with BDO showed that in the second quarter of 2020 export sales and orders in Northern Ireland had unsurprisingly collapsed to record lows, although we do hope to see some recovery in trade after the surreal initial impact of the effective lock down of the economy dissipates. The fact that businesses are still not clear in understanding what the final outcome of any agreement with the EU will be is also showing, with only two in five of our members say that they are making plans for Brexit. This isn’t surprising when they aren’t sure what they are preparing for. There is also the spectre of a ‘no deal’ scenario hovering

in the background, with implications around the introduction of World Trade Organsiation rules.

More worryingly, businesses are also in the strange position of not being clear on how our trading relationship with Great Britain, our largest trading partner, will work. NI Chamber members have expressed concerns about what the Withdrawal Agreement might mean in how they go about doing business with Great Britain. While the Ireland/NI Protocol has provided some clarity, more needs to done to help businesses understand how their trading relationship with Great Britain will change after December 31 when the transition period ends. Understanding the impact of the NI Protocol on the internal market arrangements and future trade deals are both important.

The Trader Support Service (TSS), announced by the UK government during Michael Gove’s visit to Northern Ireland in August, has been cautiously welcomed, as a free service for any company who

would like to bring in goods from Great Britain or the rest of the world. It is worth highlighting that whilst the service is technically free, it will still cost them significantly in time – filling in paperwork and providing instructions to intermediaries for example and in terms of just in time delivery. There is also more to be done including resolving SPS issues, VAT and legislating to protect Northern Ireland’s position in the UK’s internal market.

Outside of the internal market, NI Chamber is positive that there will be significant opportunities for Northern Ireland based businesses through any new trade deals that are struck. We look forward to seeing the outcome of UK negotiations with countries including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan and the United States. Developing new relationships with these trade partners will be key.

We will need to be agile to develop and nurture those new trading relationships. At the same time we will need to ensure that we protect and grow the strong trading relationships that we have already built. This has the potential to be an exciting time in opening up new opportunities and Northern Ireland’s business community needs to be ready to maximise those opportunities. Businesses want to come out of this period of huge uncertaintywith a stronger trade policy that works for all businesses here and continues to support the outward looking focus for our economy.

We do however urgently need to see progress.

We have limited time left to find a solution to the way we trade with the EU and negotiate how we trade across the world. We need clarity over a myriad of issues including customs, regulations, tariffs, legislation, standards and the practical out workings of how we trade.

In the meantime, NI Chamber is here to help.

Our Learn Grow Excel programme provides a free platform for firms to scale-up, start exporting, explore new markets and enhance cross-border sales.

Our International Division continues to provide advice to businesses on Brexit and we continue to provide customs training in advance of January 1. We are also here to support the government in making sure that all aspects of any new arrangements work for Northern Ireland.

With so many uncertainties remaining, businesses urgently need answers to all of their questions. Government must urgently provide this and with practical considerations, not politics, at the heart of future policy.

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TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

 CBI VIEW  A key feature of the pandemic has been the varied impact it’s had on different economic sectors

F

irms across Northern Ireland have over the years faced significant challenges and upheaval. You’ll have read all about them here in the Belfast Telegraph. I think it is fair to say that the impact of Covid-19 is right up there, weighing heavy on business leaders’ minds.

Northern Ireland’s Top 100 companies are feeling their way through this unprecedented period. But all good chief executives know that despite the challenges, it is important to look for the light at the end of the tunnel.

The CBI has never been busier. We’ve been helping members - providing them with information, insight and good practice on how to deal with Covid. And we’ve been collaborating with government to ensure there is enough support in the system for business during these uncertain times.

We’ve been helping businesses prepare for Brexit as best they can and relaying their key concerns to policy makers. And we have been keeping an eye on that light at the end of the tunnel - thinking about ways we can build our economy and society back better, make the transition to lower carbon, create green jobs and reduce inequality.

So how has Covid affected our economy?

After a historic contraction in the economy early in the second quarter, economic activity has been recovering as lockdown measures have been gradually relaxed. UK GDP fell by 25% over March and April, but since then we’ve seen a recovery from Maywith growth of 2.4 percent which picked up pace in June when growth of 8.7 percent was recorded, followed by 6.6% in July. Of course, this improvement needs to be put in context: the UK economy is still 12% smaller than it was before the pandemic, so there’s still a long way to go.

The picture has been similar in Northern Ireland and given the higher level of company shut downs in March and April relative to the rest of the UK, the Fraser of Allander Institute estimates that the impact of Covid on economic output locally is even greater in Northern Ireland.

The economic shock in Q2 has been felt differently across the economy. While many businesses have seen demand weaken, a key feature of the recession was its varied impact across the economy: on different sectors, on different businesses within the same sector, and for different groups of workers. Locally the hospitality and transport

NI BUSINESSES COULDN’T BE CLEARER - THEY NEED A GOOD TRADE DEAL WITH THE EU

Given all of this, the CBI has suggested that a short-time working scheme be set up by the UK Government and in place by 1 November, for those companies struggling most once the JRS ends.

By Angela McGowan, CBI Northern Ireland Director sectors have taken the largest hit in terms of economic output as these are sectors that rely on face-to-face interactions – and indeed they have made widespread use of the government’s furlough scheme.

Business closures, changing working patterns and a rise in economic uncertainty have had a less severe, but a still substantial impact across several other sectors such as business support services, property, construction manufacturing.

For the manufacturing sector, which accounts

for around 15 percent of Northern Ireland’s economy, there has been a very disparate performance across the sector. For example, food, packaging and pharmaceutical firms have fared much better than, say the production of heavy machinery or aerospace. Indeed, aerospace saw output collapse as 95% of aeroplanes sat idle on the runway.

Sectors that have been least affected include essential services like grocers and pharmacies, or those that can most effectively operate remotely such as financial services and tech sectors.

Shaping up for recovery The economic recovery will depend upon several things. In the first instance, how we cope with Covid-19 in the autumn/winter 2020 will be important. Second, getting a Brexit deal will be crucial and finally, support for business large and small in terms of cash flow, investment and job retention will make a huge difference to the shape of our recovery.

Coping with Covid in autumn/winter 2020 From the government’s perspective, getting good at implementing very targeted measures to deal with virus outbreaks will be an important aspect of our recovery. At a company level, it will be important not just to continue providing a Covid-safe work environment, but CEO thoughts are increasingly turning to other challenges beyond the physical barriers to work. For example, how do firms maintain productivity levels, ensure good team management when distancing or working from home and promote collaboration and innovation.

Getting a good Brexit deal NI businesses couldn’t be clearer - they need a good trade deal with the EU. For the Top 100 companies in Northern Ireland and indeed for firms operating right across the island of Ireland, a UK-EU free trade agreement would minimise the need for strict controls on a range of goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK. A deal is needed to make the Protocol work in a sustainable way, ultimately protecting the Good Friday Agreement.

Giving companies time to transition to any new arrangements is hugely important to economic stability. Unfortunately, the business calendar and the political calendar aren’t in sync. For example, local firms tell CBI that they need to order new labelling of their export product months in advance, to avoid disruption to their export business. Thus, the responsibility for government is not just to deliver a deal, but to deliver the deal with sufficient time built in for companies to make a transition to the new operating environment.

18

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

1-25 No.

Name

Sector

Year End

Pre-tax profits £’000

Pre-tax pr No. Pay bill year ago Employees £’000 £’000

1

Danske Bank

Bank

12.19

90,000

88,790

1,292

54,465

2

EP:Kilroot &B’l’ford

Utility

12.18

86,919

(76,359)

220

22,447

3

NI Water

Utility

3.20

84,466

80,670

1,307

68,623

4

Schrader Electronics

Engineering

12.18

76,967

71,692

1,198

52,114

5

NIE Networks

Utility

12.19

72,900

68,000

1,204

69,800

6

SSE Renewables (2)

Wind farms

3.19

70,900

54,700

none

none

7

Moy Park Hd(Europe)

Poultry processor

12.19

67,832

49,696

10,393

292,618

8

Energia Gp NI Hld

Utility

3.19

61,200

65,700

139

8,900

9

Bank of Ireland in NI

Bank

12.19

57,000

63,000

900e

n.a.

Engineering

12.18

49,622

45,897

1,558

51,784

Almac Group

Pharmaceuticals

9.19

47,646

27,612

5,150

260,816

12 W&R Barnett

Grain imports etc

7.19

46,015

51,616

1,613

68,948

Glass

12.18

40,635

36,613

1,271

58,852

14 MRP Land

Property

9.19

36,341

59,116

30

2,721

15 N.I.I.B. Group [BoI]

Finance

12.19

33,807

22,401

124

6,494

16 John Henderson

Distribution

12.18

33,279

20,040

3,570

74,835

17 Belfast Harbour

Port

12.19

31,648

38,623

212

n.a

18 Kainos Group plc

IT

3.20

23,150

21,125

1,424

94,456

Auctions

12.18

20,091

15,329

89

4,940

Bank

12.19

20,000

53,000

1,921

89,000

Gas distribution

12.19

19,835

21,069

Nil

Nil

22 LCC Group [Lissan]

Distribution

9.18

18,753

19,864

256

8,007

23 SHS Group

Distribution

12.18

18,395

24,449

1,108

42,111

24 FP McCann Gp

Construction

12.19

18,230

17,899

1,716

65,778

25 Greencoat in NI

Wind farms

12.19

17,876

n.a

None

None

10 Terex GB 11

13 Encirc (exQuinnglass)

19 Gardrum Hlds 20 Ulster Bank 21 GNI (UK)

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

26-50

19

Sector

Year End

Pre-tax profits £’000

Fit-out

12.18

17,447

7,832

272

9,652

IT

2.19

16,677

12,097

2,315

120,189

Steelwork

3.20

16,486

16,057

335

15,396

Engineering

12.18

16,109

11,848

233

15,674

Medical equipment

3.19

15,974

16,078

80

2,968

Utility

12.18

15,496

(99)

119

5,854

32 Isaac Agnew [7 cos]

Car sales

12.18

14,972

13,735

980

33,870

33 Andor Technology

Digital cameras

3.19

14,690

9,592

276

16,014

Utility

9.19

14,318

6,403

135

10,313

35 Montupet

Engineering

12.18

13,922

12,693

603

22,218

36 McAleer & Rushe

Construction

12.19

13,748

16,777

340

23,255

37 Seagate Tech

IT [£=$1.3]

6.19

12,780

11,814

1,372

62,567

38 Nelipak Healthcare

Packaging

12.18

12,644

10,752

282

9,203

39 Capita Managed IT

IT

12.18

12,577

12,103

561

23,448

40 EOS IT Holdings

IT

6.18

12,537

6,757

199

6,470

41 Breedon in NI (4 cos)

Construction

12.18

12,129

11,814

309

14,263

42 Tobermore Concrete

Manufacturing

4.19

11,902

9,138

242

9,485

Agriculture

9.18

11,578

8,967

n.s

n.s

Drinks

12.18

11,522

21,150

446

22,207

Construction

12.19

11,486

11,322

798

48,943

46 Mutual Energy

Utility

3.19

11,446

1,575

28

2,674

47 Irish Salt Mining

Mining

11.18

10,916

165

56

3,215

48 Beannchor Group

Hospitality

6.19

10,284

2,055

536

8,757

49 Dale Farm Co-op.

Dairy

3.20

9,772

12,007

1,172

43,733

Fast food & property

12.18

9,593

34,268

3,846

51,337

No.

Name

26 MJM Marine 27 First Derivatives 28 Severfield (NI) 29 GE Grid Solutions 30 TG Eakin 31 Phoenix Natural Gas

34 SONI

43 Fane Valley Co-op 44 Coca-Cola HBC 45 McLaughlin& Harvey

50 Herbert Corp. [KFC]

Pre-tax pr No. Pay bill year ago Employees £’000 £’000

20

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

51-75 Sector

Year End

Pre-tax profits £’000

51 Progressive Building Soc.

Finance services

12.18

9,000

10,700

182

8,000

52 Clearway Holdings

Waste recovery

12.18

8,732

268

3

372

Energy Fuel

3.19

8,532

4,846

39

2,087

Medical equipment

12.19

8,390

162

206

7,334

Construction

3.19

8,188

13,117

2,161

109,270

56 Ulster Carpet Mills

Textiles

3.19

8,156

10,702

664

25,697

57 NTR Green Energy

Wind farms

3.19

8,072

7,201

0

0

58 Norbrook Hlds

Veterinary

7.19

8,042

45,056

1,974

69,193

59 Lough Erne Invest.

Egg processing

12.18

8,007

7,135

171

4,442

60 Liberty Info.Tech.

IT

12.18

7,982

7,933

510

27,342

61 Kilwaughter Holdings

Chemicals

4.19

7,955

7,744

191

7,057

62 Golf Holdings [6 cos]

Drinks

12.18

7,940

6,888

1,685

25,058

63 Medwyn Hold [BHC]

Engineering

3.19

7,881

4,316

348

12,377

Property

12.18

7,662

(4,210)

84

3,523

Construction

12.18

7,662

2,125

177

11,107

Utility

12.18

7,526

8,594

98

4,335

67 Northstone (NI)

Construction

12.18

7,511

(232)

1,388

57,487

68 Multi Packaging

Packaging

9.18

6,987

7,894a

162

5,739

Construction [4 cos]

3.19

6,673

3,163

459

23,335

Car sales

12.18

6,659

7,028

951

28,308

71 Old Bushmills Distillery

Spirits

12.18

6,634

6,904

111

5,776

72 Belfast Int. Airport

Airport

12.18

6,525

6,243

212

11,155

73 Gordons Chemist

Distribution

4.19

6,508

3,417

840

15,899

74 PJ Conway Contractor

Construction

12.18

6,507

1,197

528

9,843

Drinks

6.19

6,502

6,109

243

14,504

No.

Name

53 DCC Energy 54 Heartsine Technol 55 John Graham

64 Moyallen Hlds 65 Gilbert-Ash 66 Deka Energy Assoc.

69 Lagan Specialist Group 70 Charles Hurst

75 Diageo [2 cos]

Pre-tax pr No. Pay bill year ago Employees £’000 £’000

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

76-100

21

Sector

Year End

Pre-tax profits £’000

76 Westland Hortic

Garden goods

8.18

6,205

5,011

606

20,493

77 BSG Civil Eng

Construction

12.18

6,190

2,904

79

3,378

78 CB SME Hlds

Construction

6.19

6,175

6,481

4

160

79 Tennent’s NI

Drinks

2.19

6,150

6,246

104

4,115

80 Omniplex Holdings

Cinemas

10.18

6,033

3,791

189

2,847

81 Brett Martin Hlds

Building materials

12.18

6,029

7,198

954

31,856

Cinemas

5.19

5,804

636

222

2,275

83 Premier Electrics

Construction

3.19

5,738

4,859

73

7,015

84 Mac-Interiors.

Construction

12.18

5,624

6,098

87

5,935

85 Heatons (NI)

Distribution

4.19

5,502

4,189

459

5,246

Paper products

12.18

5,493

5,238

232

8,551

Timber

12.18

5,468

2,295

367

13,589

88 Portview Holdings

Construction

11.19

5,457

10,250

98

6,628

89 Heron Bros

Construction

2.19

5,433

8,552

249

10,773

90 Germinal Holdings

Agriculture

6.19

5,247

3,054

81

5,276

91 Macnaughton Blair

Distribution

12.18

5,189

4,730

452

13,987

92 Foyle Food Gp Hld

Food processing

12.19

5,179

2,573

1,284

36,800

Hotels

4.19

5,149

6,998

347

6,693

94 RLC Langford Lodge

Engineering

6.19

5,141

4,987

276

10,770

95 CDE Global

Engineering

12.18

5,074

6,746

307

11,286

96 Kingspan Water & En

Engineering

12.18

5,070

4,435

779

28,426

Textiles

11.19

5,029

3,387

191

6,997

98 Lynn’s Cty Foods

Manufacturing

8.18

5,026

4,044

444

11,296

99 Haldane Shiells

Distribution

12.18

5,006

4,437

639

18,381

100 Quinn Cement (NI)

Distribution

12.18

4,887

4,217

Nil

Nil

No.

Name

82 Movie House Cinema

86 Huhtamaki (Lur) 87 Balcas Timber

93 Andras House

97 Cooneen by Design

Pre-tax pr No. Pay bill year ago Employees £’000 £’000

Footnote: a: denotes annualised results; b: excluding exceptional charges £143.3m in year to end March 2018; d: group not consolidated with subsidiaries; g: group of companies

22

1

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

Danske Bank Chief executive: Kevin Kingston Pre-tax profit: £90m Employment: 1,292 Pay bill: £54.5m Donegall Square West Belfast BT1 6JS Tel: 028 9024 5277 www.danskebank.co.uk

D

anske Bank is part of the Copenhagen-based Danske Bank Group and has a network of 40 branches and three regional business centres across Northern Ireland.

It employs around 1,400 people.

Danske Bank has increased lending volumes, delivered material customer experience improvements and was named Northern Ireland’s overall Responsible Company of the Year by Business in the Community.

Mortgages were the key driver of the bank’s lending in 2019, with Danske Bank’s total mortgage lending reaching its highest ever level. Business lending was more subdued than would be expect-

ed in a normal trading environment, as a result of Brexit uncertainty.

The bank continued to invest in improving its digital proposition and saw further adoption of its digital channels, with around 75 million digital logons by customers during 2019 and a 32% increase in digital transactions year-on-year.

In recent months however, income and profits at Danske Bank have reduced as an inevitable result of coronavirus impacts, subsequent provision for potential future loan impairments and historically low interest rates.

Profits to slump, but Danske promises to be a force for good Chief executive Kevin Kingston said: “We are extremely proud of the achievements of the bank in recent years. However the coronavirus disrup-

tion has had a serious impact on the economy and many of our customers. As Northern Ireland’s biggest bank, our business performance reflects the economy we serve.

“Throughout the coronavirus disruption I firmly believe that Danske Bank has been a force for good for both customers and society. In Corporate & Business Banking we have approved over £400m worth of coronavirus-related business support loans since the middle of March, with over £340m of this volume provided through the Government backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS).

“This assistance spans over 9,000 local business funding approvals and our volume of business lending during the crisis has been around treble the equivalent amount lent during the same period last year.

“In Personal Banking all of our branches have continued to remain open throughout the crisis to support our customers; offering greater branch availability, in terms of opening hours, than any other local bank. We arranged around 5,000 mortgage repayment holidays, with a further 675 personal loans and credit card repayment holidays.

“We set up a ‘Check in and Chat’ team, which has been proactively calling elderly customers during the coronavirus crisis to check on their general wellbeing and see if we can help in any way, for example connecting them with outreach organisations like Age NI. To date the team has made over 10,000 calls.”

Lending through CBILS has included a loan to travel agency, Oasis Travel (left) Helping Northern Ireland Grow Again Mr Kingston says: “The Northern Ireland economy will begin to grow again and I believe we are well positioned to continue to support our customers and wider society as we move forward, together.

It will not be an easy path, but I remain confident that our business leaders in Northern Ireland will rise to the challenges that lie ahead and that we will get through these troubled times.”

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

23

NORTHERN IRELAND’S TOP 100 COMPANIES IN PROFILE

2

EP UK Investments Commercial director: Ian Luney Pre-tax profit: £86.9m Employment: 220 Pay bill: £22m Kilroot Power Station Larne Road, Carrickfergus Co Antrim, BT38 7LX Tel: 028 9338 1100 www.epuki.co.uk

I

n June 2019, EP UK Investments (EPUKI) acquired the Kilroot and Ballylumford power stations from the AES Corporation, as part of a strategic move into Northern Ireland and the all island Single Electricity Market.

In July 2020, EP Kilroot launched their vision for an investment of up to £600m in the creation of a new energy park, at the Kilroot site in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. This included the replacement of existing coal fired generation at the site with flexible, lower carbon gas fired Open Cycle Gas Turbine technology providing essential security of supply for Northern Ireland and facilitating the further integration of renewable generation in Northern Ireland.

The plans which are at early concept stage, would represent the largest ever single invest-

ment in electricity generation in Northern Ireland and could include a range of renewable energy technologies and electricity generation solutions.

If taken forward in its entirety, the Kilroot Energy Park vision, would have the potential to generate at least 440MW of lower carbon and renewable energy, which is enough to power 500,000 homes. The investment in the site would also safeguard hundreds of jobs and mark an historic milestone in the decarbonisation of electricity generation in Northern Ireland.

EU UK Investments has announced what it says wiill be the biggest investment in energy infrastructure and generation in the history of Northern Ireland.

Alongside gas-fired units, Kilroot Energy Park

(pictured) would feature solar, battery storage, hydrogen and a multi fuel combined heat and power (CHP) facility.

Note on 2018 accounts: For convenience, the figures provided relate to the combined results of both Kilroot and Ballylumford power stations.

Each power station is an independent legal entity and the Directors have separate fiduciary responsibility for each legal entity. The results presented also relate to the calendar year 2018 when Kilroot and Ballylumford were under the ownership of the AES Corporation. Pre-tax figures include technical adjustments relating to accounting impairments and in the case of Kilroot £71m of technical impairment was reversed by AES in 2018 inflating the 2018 pre-tax profit figures.

24

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

NORTHERN IRELAND’S TOP 100 COMPANIES IN PROFILE

3 E

NI Water Chief executive: Sara Venning Pre-tax profit: £84.5m Employment: 1,307 Pay bill: £68.6m Westland House Old Westland Road Belfast BT14 6TE Tel: 08457 440088 www.niwater.com

very aspect of life in Northern Ireland depends on NI Water’s vital infrastructure. It says its business is essential to support a healthy and thriving population, a growing economy and a flourishing natural environment. NI Water describes its focus as “to consistently deliver high quality drinking water and recycle used water safely to the environment”.

NI Water delivers 585 million litres of clean, safe drinking water to 883,000 households and businesses and treats and recycles 355 million litres of wastewater, returning it safely back into the environment. It costs around £460m each year to deliver water and wastewater services in Northern Ireland. Thousands of assets at a value of around £3bn have to be operated and maintained including over 40,000km of water mains and sewers - one and a half times longer than Northern Ireland’s entire road network and long enough to circle planet earth.

Since NI Water’s formation as a government-owned company in 2007, it says it has “transformed the delivery of water services, delivering record levels of service for our customers while reducing our cost base through sustainable efficiencies”.

However, while NI Water says that while it has successfully delivered private sector levels of performance and efficiency, this cannot continue given the sustained and significant underfunding.

Northern Ireland’s failing wastewater infrastructure is unable to take connections from new houses and businesses in major parts of cities and over 100 towns - and NI Water says that is leading to inadequate environmental protection through increased sewer flooding and pollution.

Over £2bn of capital investment is required in for NI Water’s next business plan period PC21

4

NIE Networks Managing director: Paul Stapleton Pre-tax profit: £72.9m Employment: 1,204 Pay bill: £69.8m

Belfast Road Antrim Tel: 028 94 461300 www.schraderinternational.com

H

But the company added that “the solution cannot come from one Government Department; this is a health, economic and environmental crisis, which is impacting on all of society”.

NI Water adds: “The Covid-19 crisis has shone a light directly on how vital clean water and sanitation are to everyone. We simply cannot maintain a modern day economy and a healthy and thriving population without a properly funded water and wastewater service. We need the drains and the cranes for economic recovery and a flourishing natural environment.”

5

Schrader Electronics Vice President: Eric Sorret Pre-tax profit: £77m Employment: 1,198 Pay bill: £52.1m

eadquartered in Antrim, Sensata Technologies, formerly known as Schrader is a market leader in the design and manufacturing of tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS).

The brand is a globally acclaimed name in innovation and a pioneer in TPMS for international original equipment manufacturing (OEMs) and a revolutionary, patented programmable sensor for the aftermarket.

TPMS is a standard safety feature in all cars across North America and growing globally in Europe and Asian-Pacific countries.

More than half of all global vehicle platforms utilise Schrader/Sensata direct TPMS technology.

This includes car marques such as Ford, Audi, Volkswagen, GM, BMW, Hyundai, Subaru, BYD, Great Wall and Mercedes.

When TPMS is used in a vechicle, it accurately

(2021-27), including £0.5bn for the Living with Water Programme to start to address strategic drainage in Belfast. NI Water says it “continues to work with stakeholders to identify a means to fund this vital investment but a solution for Northern Ireland has not yet been identified”.

The company says that failure to find a solution will lead to a funding crisis with widespread detrimental impacts for our local economy and natural environment, adding that the Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon continues to make the case to the Executive.

120 Malone Road Belfast, BT9 7HT Tel: 03457 643643 www.nienetworks.co.uk

monitors tyre pressure, helping drivers avoid serious accidents and reducing environmental impact which helps save money at the pump.

Today Schrader/Sensata delivers customer-driven innovation to not just the consumer automotive sector but a diverse spectrum of industries and applications. Earlier this year the company blamed a downturn in the European market for a decision to wind down its Carrickfergus plant and close it in 2021 with the loss of 270 jobs.

Schrader Electronics was acquired in 2014

by Sensata Technologies, the world’s leading supplier of sensors and controls. Sensata is a primary innovator in mission-critical sensors and electrical protection across a broad range of markets and applications.

N

IE Networks is the owner of the electricity transmission and distribution network in NI and the distribution network operator, transporting electricity to over 880,000 customers including homes, businesses and farms.

Through the employment of approximately 1,200 employees and payments to local businesses and authorities, the company contributed £144m to the economy in 2019.

Last year the company picked up accolades including Best Apprenticeship Scheme at the national CIPD People Management Awards UK, the Bronze Diversity Charter Mark for a focus on gender diversity, as well as becoming an accredited JAM Card friendly organisation.

In line with the current RP6 price control period, the company continues to invest in the electricity network with significant upgrade and asset replacement projects taking place. By 2024

the company will invest £277m in upgrade and maintenance of the network.

NIE Networks also provides electricity meters and metering data to suppliers and market operators, key in enabling wholesale and retail market competition. Their investment programme will include the replacement of approximately 45,000 meters per annum over the next three years under the meter recertification programme.

The Strategic Energy Framework 2010-2020 set a 40% target for Renewable Energy Sources for Electricity (RES-E). It has already been exceeded with over 45% from local renewable sources. NIE Networks has played a critical role in meeting the RES-E target by providing the network connections for the renewable sources and investing £365m in the network to facilitate the generation.

26

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

NORTHERN IRELAND’S TOP 100 COMPANIES IN PROFILE

6

7

8

Millennium House 19 to 25 Great Victoria Street Belfast Tel: 0345 8508940 www.sse.com

39 Seagoe Industrial Estate Craigavon BT35 5QE Tel: 028 3835 3223 www.moypark.com

Greenwood House 64 Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5NF Tel: 028 90383757 www.energiagroup.com

S

M

T

9

10

11

1 Donegall Square South Belfast BT1 5LR Tel: 028 9043 3420 www.bankofirelanduk.com

Drumquin Road Omagh BT78 5PM Tel: 0845 0305200 www.terex.com

Almac House Seagoe Industrial Estate BT63 5QD Tel: 028 3833 5815 www.almacgroup.com

B

T

A

SSE Renewables Managing director: Jim Smith Pre-tax profit: £70.9m Employment: n/a Pay bill: n/a

SE Renewables is a leading developer, owner and operator of renewable energy across the UK and Ireland, with a portfolio of around 4GW of installed onshore wind, offshore wind and hydro energy capacity, making it the largest renewables company operating across the UK and Ireland.

SSE Renewables owns nearly 2GW of operational onshore wind capacity across the UK and Ireland with over 1GW under development in both markets. Its 1,459MW hydro portfolio includes 300MW of pumped storage and 750MW of flexible hydro. SSE Renewables has the largest offshore wind development pipeline in the UK and Ireland at over 6GW. SSE Renewables employs almost 1,000 people across the UK and Ireland, including employees in Northern Ireland, involved in developing and operating onshore and offshore wind farms, flexible hydro power stations, and pumped storage facilities. SSE Renewables is Northern Ireland’s leading renewable energy generator, with over £0.5bn invested in the development of its onshore wind farms here since 2008. Its assets here include the 73-megawatt Slieve Kirk Wind Park near Limavady, Co Londonderry, and the 14 megawatt Bessy Bell Wind Farm in Co Tyrone, Phase 1 of which dates back to 1995, making it one of NI’s original commercial wind farms.

Bank of Ireland UK Managing director NI: Ian Sheppard Pre-tax profit: £57m Employment: 900 Pay bill: n/a

ank of Ireland UK says its immediate priority is to continue to provide support to its customers in Northern Ireland as they weather the storm of the Covid-19 crisis. The bank’s localoperations include 28 branches and six business centres, servicing around 300,000 customers.

The bank says that since the middle of March, it has provided financial support to more than 8,300 local business funding requests.

As an accredited lender for the UK Government Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) for small business loans up to £50,000 and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) which allows companies to borrow up to £5m, the bank prioritised these funding requests and saw a very high demand in the market from small local businesses, with over 78% of applications relating to the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.

The bank’s support for local businesses during the pandemic has included providing emergency working capital, foreign currency and treasury products to support sourcing products from new suppliers internationally, and payment flexibility on loan facilities.

Bank of Ireland UK has also set up a range of supports for personal banking customers, including payment breaks for mortgages, loans and credit cards, and interest free overdraft facilities.

Moy Park Chief executive: Chris Kirke Pre-tax profit: £67.8m Employment: 10,393 Pay bill: £292.6m

oy Park is a top 15 UK food company and one of Europe’s leading poultry producers, supplying branded and own label chicken products to retailers and foodservice providers throughout the UK, Ireland and continental Europe. Building on over 75 years of agricultural heritage, Moy Park is headquartered in Craigavon and is NI’s largest private sector business.

With 12 processing and manufacturing units across NI, England, France and the Netherlands, Moy Park processes over 280 million birds per year, as well as around 200,000 tonnes of prepared foods annually. The company employs over 12,000 people across facilities in the UK, Holland and France and is the European division of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation.

Working with over 800 poultry farmers across NI and Great Britain, Moy Park has 35 million birds on the ground at any one time and now supplies almost a third of the total UK poultry market.

It is also a major producer of beef products, vegetarian products such as spring rolls and onion rings, as well as desserts including donuts and apple pies.

Following a strong performance in 2019, in the face of challenging global market conditions, the company’s strategic growth programme saw it invest across its facilities.

Terex GB President of Terex MP: Kieran Hegarty Pre-tax profit: £49.6m Employment: 1,558 Pay bill: £51.8m

erex GB operates within the Terex Materials Processing (MP) segment of Terex Corporation, an American-owned, NYSE-listed global manufacturer. Terex GB Ltd is a global manufacturer of lifting and material processing products serving a broad range of industries, including construction, infrastructure, manufacturing, shipping, transportation, refining, energy, utilities, quarrying and mining.

The company’s NI-based businesses (crushing and screening, environmental, washing and conveying) include brand names Powerscreen and Finlay, both of which had been in business in their own right for 50 to 60 years before being acquired byTerex in 1999.

Through growth over the years Terex GB has expanded to include Terex Ecotec, Terex Washing Systems, EvoQuip and the newly launched brand ProStack. Terex currently operates from several sites in Northern Ireland including Dungannon, Omagh, Ballymoney, Lurgan and Campsie employing almost 1,800 people.

In 2019 Terex announced a new facility in Campsie, as part of a £12m investment. The facility manufactures product lines for its Terex Ecotec business. Terex has made a further significant investment in manufacturing with the completion of the second stage of the Campsie facility, with another 30,000 sq ft added.

Energia Group Chief executive: Ian Thom Pre-tax profit: £61.2m Employment: 139 Pay bill: £8.9m

he Energia Group, formerly Viridian Grop Investments, is a major integrated Irish energy business with substantial businesses in the Republic and Northern Ireland. The group operates through three business units - renewables, flexible generation and customer solutions.

The renewables business owns and operates 277MW of wind assets and purchases electricity from 1,268MW of renewable generation capacity throughout Ireland. In addition, the renewables business is currently commissioning a 32 MW wind farm in Co Sligo and a 4.0MW bioenergy plant in Dublin.

The flexible generation business owns and operates 747MW of conventional generation assets in the RoI and procures power under contract with 600MW of conventional generation assets in Northern Ireland.

The customer solutions business supplies electricity and gas to 264,900 customer sites in the RoI and 497,900 customer sites in Northern Ireland through its two retail brands, Energia and Power NI. The company says that each of its businesses has an important role to play in the energy transition the island of Ireland must go through in the next decade.

Almac Group Chief executive: Alan Armstrong Pre-tax profit: £47.6m Employment: 5,150 Pay bill: £260.8m

lmac Group is a contract development and manufacturing organisation providing services to the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors globally.

Almac’s global headquarters are based in Craigavon and the privately owned firm has grown to 18 facilities globally.

The group says 2018/19 was an exceptional year as its annual report for year ending 30 September 2019 recorded an £85.4m rise in turnover from £548.9m to £634.3m. Pre-tax profits were £47.6m, up from £27.6m for the same period the previous year. Higher exchange gains on financial activities in the year also contributed to this profit level improvement.

Average employee figures increased from 4,798 to 5,150 during the same period.

The group continued to invest heavily in its existing facilities across UK, Europe, North America and Asia throughout 2018 and 2019. It says it also launched new solutions for clients to improve efficiency in diagnostic, clinical trial and pharmaceutical development arenas. In 2017 it announced a facility in Dundalk, Co Louth as part of Brexit-proofing measures. The company said the site will enable it to maintain “seamless” access to the single market and complement the work done in Craigavon.

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Clarendon House Belfast BT1 3BG Tel: 028 9032 5465 www.wrbarnett.com

11 Gortahurk Road Derrylin BT92 9DD Tel: 028 6774 8888 www.encirc360.com

Cookstown Co Tyrone BT80 8TL Tel: 028 8676 3741 www.mcaleer-rushe.co.uk

W&R Barnett Chief executive: William Barnett Pre-tax profit: £46m Employment: 1,613 Pay bill: £68.9m

Encirc Managing director: Adrian Curry Pre-tax profit: £40.6m Employment: 1,271 Pay bill: £58.9m

MRP Land Managing director: Stephen Surphlis Pre-tax profit: £36.3m Employment: 30 Pay bill: £2.7m

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1 Donegall Square South Belfast BT1 5LR Tel: 028 9072 4464 www.northridgefinance.com

Hightown Road Mallusk Tel: 028 9034 2733 www.henderson-group.com

Corporation Square Belfast BT1 3AL Tel: 028 9055 4403 www.belfast-harbour.co.uk

&R Barnett is the holding company of a diversified group of international commodity trading, storage, agribusiness and industrial companies.

The company is a global trader of molasses and related liquid commodities, and the leading trader of grain and non-grain animal feed commodities in Ireland. The company is also a prominent independent supplier of bulk liquid storage facilities to the UK food, feed, industrial and energy sectors with over 300,000 cubic meters of storage assets located on the Mersey, Humber and Avonmouth. Through its subsidiary, John Thompson & Sons, the company is the largest manufacturer of animal feed in Northern Ireland. The company entered the corrugated packaging market in 2015 with the acquisition of Logson Holdings Limited and this activity now accounts for a significant proportion of its turnover, profitability and employees.

Turnover rose by 10% in the year reflecting both the addition of The Cardboard Box Company Limited and the weather-related increase in both the volume and value of feed ingredient sales.

Although the size of the group increased, profits before tax fell following weaker performance and the absence of one-off profits on the sale of assets in the prior year.

NIIB Group Managing director: James McGee Pre-tax profit: £33.8m Employment: 124 Pay bill: £6.5m

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orthridge Finance (Northridge) has said it’s had another year of strong growth, with £1.3bn of new lending for 2019, up 26% on 2018.

Northridge, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Ireland UK, is a motor and asset finance, vehicle leasing and fleet management business. It provides asset finance solutions, helping businesses and individuals access finance across the UK, strengthening its position as an established prime motor finance lender.

In 2019, Northridge won the Best Independent Lender (Bank Owned) at the Car Finance Awards. The business also signed its first Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) partnership, an exclusive agreement with SsangYong Motor UK to provide motor finance products to customers across SsangYong’s dealer network in the UK. Acquired by Northridge in 2017, Marshall Leasing is currently positioned as the 26th largest fleet leasing company in the UK. Northridge says that it continues to invest in digital innovation.

However, the business says that in recent months its main focus has been to help customers, partners and intermediaries weather the storm of the Covid-19 crisis. Measures have included payment breaks for borrowers who have been experiencing financial difficulties during the pandemic.

ncirc, formally known as Quinn Glass, has grown into one of the world’s leading container glass manufacturers and beverage filling companies.

Bought by Spanish glass company Vidrala in 2015, the company has invested around €275m in the business over the last five years. It employs 1,500 people across its sites in Derrylin in Co Fermanagh, Elton in England and Corsico in Italy, producing up to 4 billion glass bottles annually.

Encirc is the only company globally to offer a full 360 delivery service for all of its products. It specialises in glass container design, the manufacturing, filling and the delivery of beverages to brand owners and retailers. The company says that offering a combination of manufacturing, filling and logistics to its customers makes it unique in its field.

The company says it held firm during Covid-19 and did not make redundancies or place staff on furlough.

Octoberwill see Encirc’s Elton plant in Cheshire UK introduce the largest container glass furnace in the world, capable of processing producing 900 tonnes of glass each day. A further furnace rebuild will take place in the Derrylin plant from October.

John Henderson Holdings Managing directors: Geoffrey and Martin Agnew Pre-tax profit: £33.3m Employment: 3,570 Pay bill: £74.8m

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enderson Group has posted sales of over £918m for 2019 and increased its workforce by 8%, and while the longterm impact of the coronavirus pandemic is yet to be seen, the group says that it has managed to continue to open new stores and complete refurbishments in recent months.

The COVID-19 lockdown impacted the group’s new store development plans, as all construction throughout NI ceased. However, as restrictions were lifted, Henderson Retail opened a new store in Carnmoney Hill, Newtownabbey, bringing 21 new jobs to the local community. The project represents an investment of over £0.5m with all new safety measures as part of the store design.

Two more community supermarkets are planned to open this year; EUROSPAR Millisle in Co Down and VIVOXTRA Newry Road, Banbridge, both of which are currently at advanced stages of construction.

Henderson Foodservice continued to diversify under challenging circumstances in 2020. The integration of subsidiary companies, BD Foods and Foodco, enabled the business models to be streamlined.

At the start of the year, the group completed phase one of its new £16.5m warehousing facilities in Mallusk, providing the biggest wholesale and retail logistics capability in Northern Ireland.

RP Land is the property development and investment division of Northern Ireland-based construction company, McAleer & Rushe. Its headquarters are in Cookstown with offices in London, Belfast and Dublin.

The company has grown its footprint across the UK and Ireland over the last 10 years, and MRP Land says it delivered a strong performance in 2019 with turnover of £73m and pre-tax profit of £36.3m.

Current projects include the £85m, 213,000 sq ft development at Bedford Square in Belfast city centre, and the £100m ‘Onyx’ 1025 bedroom student accommodation in Birmingham, developed in partnership with AIG Global Real Estate.

The company says that its financial results and project pipeline places it on a strong footing to maintain a profitable performance in the years ahead. MRP Land has also announced plans to open Grade A office building The Vantage on Belfast’s Great Victoria Street in the second quarter of 2021.

MRP has said that the £25m development will create the next generation of working environment for the future hybrid workforce.

The project involves extensive refurbishment and a two floor vertical extension, to result in 67,500 sq ft of premium city centre office space.

Belfast Harbour Chief executive: Joe O’Neill Pre-tax profit: £31.6m Employment: 212 Pay bill: n/a

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elfast Harbour is Northern Ireland’s leading gateway for trade, tradeable services and tourism, handling more than 70% of the region’s seaborne imports and exports.

The 2,000-acre Belfast Harbour Estate is a key economic hub and home to 760 businesses employing 27,000 people in activities including logistics, financial and IT services, tourism & leisure, retail, aircraft manufacturing, ship repair and film making.

Belfast Harbour’s vision is to be the world’s best regional port.

In 2019 it handled over 24 million tonnes of cargo and generated operating profits of £30.6m. Over the past decade it has invested £290m in port infrastructure and estate regeneration, including £44m last year. Investments included projects to automate container handling and enhance container storage capacity by 30%, new quay-side infrastructure and facilities to support the introduction of larger ships by Stena Line on the Belfast-Liverpool route and the continued development of City Quays.

The existing Grade A office space in City Quays is fully tenanted and work on City Quays 3, Northern Ireland’s largest Grade A office, is due to complete in 2021.

Planning permission has also been granted to extend the existing Belfast Harbour Film Studios.

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

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4-6 Upper Crescent Belfast BT7 INT Tel: 028 9057 1100 www.kainos.com

72 - 74 Omagh Road Dromore BT78 3AJ Tel: 028 8289 8262 www.euroauctions.com

11 - 16 Donegall Square East Belfast BT1 5UB Tel: 0345 948 2222 www.ulsterbank.co.uk

Kainos Group plc Chief executive: Brendan Mooney Pre-tax profit: £23.2m Employment: 1,424 Pay bill: £94.5m

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ainos, headquartered in Belfast, is a major provider of digital services and digital platforms and the only NI company listed on the main London Stock Exchange.

Kainos works with over 300 public and private sector clients across the globe.

Kainos employs over 1,400 people across 12 offices in Europe and the US, with over 650 people in NI. It says it has been mindful of the economic disruption caused by Covid-19 and the potential impact on customers and partners. Around 130 staff were furloughed in the early days of the crisis though the company has since said it will repay furlough money to the government.

In April, the company said its three top bosses will go without salary and bonuses for six months as it seeks to cut costs in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. It also said it’s now delaying capital investment in new offices at the former Movie House Cinema in Belfast.

Digital services include full lifecycle development and support for government and commercial customers. Kainos is a major supplier to the UK Government, and is also the leading European partner forWorkday. Its digital platforms are Smart, an automated testing platform forWorkday customers, Evolve Electronic Medical Records, for the digitisation of patient notes.

Gardrum Holdings Managing director: Derek Keys Pre-tax profit: £20.1m Employment: 89 Pay bill: £4.9m

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ardrum Holding’s main business is conducting off-site and onsite machinery auction sales and valuations throughout Europe, trading as Euro Auctions. Due to Covid-19, the majority of its auctions are now taking place online.

It’s the biggest auctioneer of construction machinery in the UK. Some group companies hold properties for use within the group or for development and resale.

Its first auction took place in Dromore, Co Tyrone in 1998, before holding its first auction outside the province in Wetherby, Yorkshire in 2000.

It branched out into holding auctions outside the British Isles in 2006 with an event in Dormagen, Germany. It now has 10 permanent sites around the world, including Brisbane in Australia and Florida and Ohio in the US. According to the company’s website, last year it sold over $500m worth of equipment for customers. According to a strategic report filed with its accounts, the directors of the business regard the results for 2018 as satisfactory, anticipating that the company will remain profitable.

The report also reveals that the company held 49 auctions in 2018, down from 55 in 2017.

Ulster Bank Head of Northern Ireland: Mark Crimmins Pre-tax profit: £20m Employment: 1,921 Pay bill: £89m

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lster Bank has continued to provide significant support to its customers in Northern Ireland. Despite a challenging external environment and subdued borrowing appetite from businesses, it increased corporate lending last year by 12% and saw a 8% increase in small business drawdowns.

More recently, Ulster Bank has lent to thousands of Northern Ireland companies though the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) and Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

Companies who have borrowed through the CBILS include hospitality business Dorman’s in Magherafelt and haulage company WS Dennison.

Supporting customers to own their own home also continues to be a strong priority for Ulster Bank, and in 2019, for instance, the bank opened more than 10,000 Help to Buy Isas to help customers save for a deposit.

Ulster Bank is continuing its commitment to financial capability and financial education through its financial education programme, MoneySense, and through Financial Health Checks, Ulster Bank also provides support to entrepreneurs through its highly regarded Ulster Bank EntrepreneurAccelerator and to female-led businesses through initiatives such as Back her Business.

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P.O. Box 51 Gasworks Road Cork Ireland www.gasnetworks.ie

18 Churchtown Road Cookstown Tel: 028 8676 5588 www.lcccoal.com

199 Airport Road West Belfast BT3 9ED Tel: 028 9045 4647 www.shs-group.com

3 Drumard Road Magherafelt BT45 8QA Tel: 028 7964 2558 www.fpmccann.co.uk

GNI (UK) MD: Denis O’Sullivan Pre-tax profit: £19.8m Employment: n/a Pay bill: n/a

LCC Group Director: Michael Loughran Pre-tax profit: £18.8m Employment: 256 Pay bill: £8m

SHS Group Chief executive: Elaine Birchall Pre-tax profit: £18.4m Employment: 1,108 Pay bill: £42.1m

FP McCann Group Chief executive: Eoin McCann Pre-tax profit: £18.2m Employment: 1,716 Pay bill: £65.8m

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51A Dawson Street Dublin 2 Tel: 020 7832 9400 www.greencoat-renewables.com

Carnbane Business Park Newry BT35 6QH Tel: 028 3025 8450 www.mjm-group.com

3 Canal Quay Newry BT35 6BP Tel: 028 3025 2242 www.firstderivatives.com

Ballinamallard Co Fermanagh BT94 2f7 Tel: 028 6638 8521 www.severfield.com

NI (UK) Ltd is a subsidiary of Gas Networks Ireland (GNI), which delivers natural gas to nearly 705,000 natural gas customers on the island of Ireland.

It operates and part-owns the high pressure pipelines running from Moffat, in Scotland, to Ireland and the Isle of Man, via subsea pipelines which supply the Republic, Northern Ireland and Isle of Man. It also owns and operates two pipelines in NI, the South North pipeline running from Gormanston, Co Meath to Co Antrim and the North West pipeline running from Carrickfergus to the Coolkeeragh power station.

GNI (UK) works with the other gas transmission operator in NI, Mutual Energy Limited (MEL), to deliver a secure supply of natural gas for customers in NI. In 2019, GNI (UK)’s work at the Derryhale above-ground installation facilitated the commissioning of the MEL ‘Gas to the West’ pipeline project. This brought gas to Dungannon, Coalisland, Omagh and Enniskillen.

Greencoat Renewables Non-executive chairman: Rónán Murphy Pre-tax profit: £17.9m Employment: n/a Pay bill: n/a

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he Greencoat financial figures are the consolidation of eight NI registered subsidiaries of Greencoat-UK Wind plc, registered at Eastcastle Street in London.

The eight are Bin Mountain, Brockaghboy, Church Hill, Crighshane, Screggagh, Slieve Divena and Tappaghan. All are making pre-tax profits, with the largest profits at Brockaghboy £6.7m.

In February this year, Greencoat acquired the Slieve Divena II wind farm, around 10 miles south of Omagh in Co Tyrone, for £51m from UK energy giant SSE. Greencoat Capital is the investment manager to Greencoat Renewables plc. The company has invested in wind farms in Northern Ireland and in the the Republic of Ireland, and listed on the Euronext Growth Market of Euronext Dublin and the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

CC Group is made up of LCC Coal, LCC Oil, Go Power and a number of other companies.Profits are largely derived from overseas bulk trading activities as far afield as South Africa, Columbia and across Europe.

In 2017, the group bought Cloghan Point Oil Terminal near Carrickfergus from AES Power in a multimillion pound deal.

But residents in the area have protested against a proposal to turn the terminal into a large-scale distribution hub, citing concerns about the potential impact of a large number of tankers leaving the site.

In October 2016, LCC also bought out its joint venture partner, Norwegian oil giant Statoil ASA, to acquire full ownership of the Maydown oil terminal in Co Londonderry.

Go Power also supplies electricity in the business market, with government and council contracts to supply electricity.

MJM Marine Chief executive: Gary Annett Pre-tax profit: £17.4m Employment: 272 Pay bill: £9.7m

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JM’s core business is in marine fitout. It combines design services, specialist joinery and manufacturing with project management. It also provides fit-out services to high-end land-based clients. In 2018 it completed the fit-out of cruise ship the Azamara Pursuit at Harland & Wolff, Belfast. Last year it was involved in a takeover bid for Harland & Wolff before the shipyard was sold out of administration to Infrastrata plc.

The company has taken a major hit from Covid-19 and its devastating impact on the cruise sector, and was one of the first Northern Ireland businesses to announce large-scale job losses. The company said: “Despite taking the highest level of precautions, decisions across the world led to all but one of our drydock projects being postponed indefinitely due to Covid- 19. This is not something we ever expected to have to do but unfortunately with the situation in the cruise sector we have been left with no alternative.”

ounded in 1975, the SHS Group has evolved from being a family-run sales and marketing company into a multinational operation with over 1,000 people and turnover in excess of £548m.

Operating in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector in the UK, Ireland and internationally, SHS Group owns brands such as, WKD, Shloer, Bottlegreen, Merrydown Cider, Meridian nut butters, Rocks squash drinks, Crucial Sauces, Zip firelighters and Maguire & Paterson matches.

It also distributes a portfolio of well-known brands including, Jordans, Ryvita, Pot Noodle, Finish, Mars Drinks and Colgate. In addition, the group is a market leader in the supply of own label herbs and spices in Great Britain and manufactures a range of branded and private label condiments and sauces. The Group’s results reflected a full year of progress since the investment in 3V Meridian and the international expansion of the Standard Brands acquisition.

First Derivatives Chief executive: Seamus Keating Pre-tax profit: £16.7m Employment: 2,315 Pay bill: £120.2m

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ounded by the late Brian Conlon in 1996, First Derivatives plc (FD) in Newry has grown into an AIM-listed international technology provider working with some of the world’s largest finance, technology, manufacturing and energy institutions.

It is a software and services company combining world-leading intellectual property in ultra-high-performance analytics (Kx) and extensive domain expertise and capabilities in capital markets systems and technology through its managed services and consulting arm. With revenues of more than £237m, it now employs more than 2500 people globally with offices in 15 locations across four continents.

For FY20 the Group posted 9% annual growth with its Kx software division posting 13% growth.

Additionally, the company recently issued a trading statement showing 6% growth over the four months March to June despite the challenging market conditions presented by coronavirus.

agherafelt-based civil engineering and precast concrete manufacturing business FP McCann has demonstrated a strong ability to grow the business both organically and through acquisition.

Recent acquisitions include Patrick Bradley Ltd in Kilrea, Cootes Concrete Products, Armagh, P. Clarke and Sons Ltd in Lisnaskea, Buchan Concrete in Byley and Glasgow-based Bison Flooring Manufacturing Ltd. As a result, the company is now the largest precast concrete product manufacturer in the UK. It also has a a residential developments division (FP McCann Homes) as well as being a major supplier of quarry products and ready-mix concrete products to the construction industry.

Now with 17 offices/facilities throughout the UK, employment in the firm was recorded at 1,716 in the most recent year, which was an increase from 1,592 the year before.

Severfield (NI) Managing director: Adrian McCoy Pre-tax profit: £16.5m Employment: 335 Pay bill: £15.4m

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everfield (NI) Ltd. formerly known as Fisher Engineering Ltd, is a market leader in the provision of structural steelwork to the construction industry across Ireland, UK and Europe.

The steelwork manufactured at the company’s premises in Ballinamallard just outside Enniskillen now features in buildings such as the V&A Museum, Dundee, the Leadenhall Building, London and Kings College Hospital, London.

Its work spans datacentres, commercial offices, energy for waste facilities and sports stadiums.

Severfield (NI) says it invests in innovative engineering techniques, with design, fabrication, painting and fireproofing all undertaken in Northern Ireland. The erection of steelwork is also undertaken by Severfield NI Ltd. employees.

Severfield says it maintains a strong core of repeat clients as well as growing its market share.

The company says: “Severfield (NI) is one of the true success stories of Northern Ireland.”

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Lissue Industrial Estate Lisburn BT28 2RE Tel: 028 9262 2915 www.gegridsolutions.com

15 Ballystockart Road Comber Co Down Tel: 028 9187 1000 www.eakin.eu

197 Airport Road West Belfast, BT3 9ED Tel: 028 9055 5541 www.phoenixnaturalgas.com

18 Boucher Way Belfast, BT12 6RE Tel: 028 9038 0300 www.agnewcars.com

GE Grid Solutions Director: Graham McGuigan Pre-tax profit: £16.1m Employment: 233 Pay bill: £15.7m

TG Eakin Managing director: Jeremy Eakin Pre-tax profit: £16m Employment: 80 Pay bill: £3m

Phoenix Natural Gas Chief executive: Michael McKinstry Pre-tax profit: £15.5m Employment: 119 Pay bill: £5.9m

Isaac Agnew Group managing director: Yuile Magee Pre-tax profit: £15m Employment: 980 Pay bill: £33.9m

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Springvale Business Park Belfast BT12 7AL Tel: 028 9023 7126 www.andor.oxinst.com

12 Manse Road Belfast BT6 9RT Tel: 028 90794336 www.soni.ltd.uk

Dunmurry Co Antrim BT17 9HN Tel: 028 9030 1049 www.linamar.com

17 to 19 Dungannon Road Cookstown Tel: 028 8676 3741 www.mcaleer-rushe.co.uk

E Grid Solutions (UK) Limited, a global technology business headquartered in Lisburn, is a subsidiary of US multinational General Electric (GE).

Leveraging manufacturing and core product expertise out of Lisburn supported by global direct and indirect sales networks, GE is a leading vendor in condition monitoring hardware, software and services for Asset Performance Management (APM) of electrical grid and substation equipment such as power transformers and circuit breakers.

General Electric operates across aviation, healthcare, capital, transportation, power, oil and gas and digital solutions. It says its global teams work on “powering, curing and moving the world”.

In a strategic report filed with the most recent accounts, the company directors said they expect the market would remain challenging. But they added that they expected Brexit would not have a major impact on the operation of the business.

Andor Technology Managing director: Kristian Laskey Pre-tax profit: £14.7m Employment: 276 Pay bill: £16m

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ndor Technology is a global leader in the development and manufacturing of high-performance scientific cameras, spectographs, microscopy systems and image analysis software for academic, industrial and government applications.

It is among the world’s most innovative companies in the photonics industry and boasts over 70 unique product solutions, 10,000 customers in 55 countries, and 15 offices worldwide including in China, Japan and the USA. Notably, in the past year, Andor’s Balor sCMOS cameras were used to capture the highest resolution images ever captured of the sun. The company has now secured funding from the UK Space Agency to further development the camera.

Most recently, the company has supplied cameras and laser systems for a broad range of coronavirus research, as well as Covid-19 diagnostic equipment and vaccine development.

s part of the Eakin Healthcare Group, TG Eakin Ltd continues with its ambitious international growth plans in the ostomy or stoma care industry. With subsidiaries now in Japan and The Netherlands as well as dedicated direct sales teams in Ireland, France and Germany the company has continued to develop its international presence. Significantly, the business has also invested heavily in skilled resource, particularly in research and development.

The company sells directly to distributors, wholesalers, hospitals and pharmacies internationally and in the UK but its customer is the patient or end user who has undergone surgery to create a stoma (such as a colostomy, ileostomy or urostomy). These are usually created as a result of bowel surgery arising from Crohn’s disease, colitis, cancer etc. TG Eakin specialises in a skin-friendly medical adhesive which helps adhere the bag or pouch to the skin.

SONI Managing director: Jo Aston Pre-tax profit: £14.3m Employment: 135 Pay bill: £10.3m

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he Electricity System Operator for Northern Ireland operates and plans the electricity grid. This includes interconnection with neighbouring grids and the wholesale electricity market. The electricity grid brings power from its source to the distribution network that supplies every home, farm and small business. It was recently granted planning permission by the Infrastructure Minister for the NI element of the North-South Interconnector.

SONI says that it works to ensure that electricity is always available, at the most economical price possible. It says its corporate strategy 2020-25 is focused on delivering a clean energy system for Northern Ireland, as a direct response to climate change. This includes managing renewable energy. SONI is funded through a five-year regulatory price control model. The pre-tax profit listed here includes a regulatory over-recovery which will be returned to the NI consumer in SONI’s tariffs for the financial year starting October 1 2020.

hoenix Natural Gas is the largest gas distribution business in Northern Ireland. The company operates a distribution network across the Greater Belfast, Larne and East Down areas, extending to over 3,750km of pipeline.

After 24 years in Northern Ireland, Phoenix Natural Gas has successfully developed the market and built its network, connecting 225,000 customers and establishing natural gas as the fuel of choice for customers in the licence area.

Since 1996, customers switching to natural gas has resulted in 12.5m tonnes of CO2 being removed from the atmosphere. Each year householders using natural gas continue to save on CO2 emissions, equating to the removal of 675,000 cars from the road each year.

Phoenix Natural Gas also embraces its corporate responsibility and connects with the local community in its outreach programmes.

Linamar (Montupet) General manager: John McMichael Pre-tax profit: £14m Employment: 603 Pay bill: £22.2m

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ontupet has been operating in Northern Ireland since 1989 since 2016 it is part of the Canadian industrial Group Linamar, based in Guelph,

Ontario.

The Dunmurry plant designs and manufactures complex aluminium casting for the automotive OEMs Ford, Peugeot, Citroen, VW , Jaguar Land Rover. The plant manufactures 1.5million cylinder heads annually with a range casting processes and is diversifying into aluminium structural components and electric drive unit housings in response to the changing automotive market as powertrains transition to hybrid and electric.

Linamar consists of 61 manufacturing plants worldwide with a total workforce of 27,000 employees and total turnover of CAN $ 7.4bn.

Linamar Corporation is a diversified global manufacturing company of highly engineered products powering vehicles, motion, work and lives.

he Agnew Group, Northern Ireland’s leading motorvehicle retailer group, was established in 1931 by the Agnew Family.

In January 2012, the Agnew Group became part of the Sytner Group of companies, the UK’s largest motor retailerwhose parent company is Penske Automotive Group Inc, listed on NYSE. The business represents nine manufacturer brands across 14 dealership locations and five additional business entities including a standalone Used Car Outlet, Contract Leasing, Trade Parts, Body Shop and Trade Auction.

Following a strong performance in 2019 where the business accounted for 20% of registrations in Northern Ireland and 66% of all premium branded vehicles registered in 2019, the market changed considerably in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first quarter of 2020 the business was affected by lockdown. But dealerships’ aftersales departments remained open to provide much needed support to key workers.

McAleer & Rushe Managing director: Martin Magee Pre-tax profit: £13.7m Employment: 340 Pay bill: £23.3m

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cAleer and Rushe Contracts UK is the Northern Ireland and London based design and build construction company.

The company’s strong performance in 2019 saw it achieve a turnover of £340m and pre-tax profit of £13.7m. It has a range of active projects across the UK and Ireland, including sites in Greater London and the SE England, Birmingham, Glasgow and Belfast.

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, productivity levels are very strong across all current projects, with a positive outlook across its core sectors of residential, student accommodation and select office developments.

Current year projects include a landmark 35-storey £86m residential and hotel project with Nikal in Birmingham city centre and a £55m residential project in Brighton with L&G Investments.

Other partnerships see the business working with Quintain at Wembley Park.

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Springtown Industrial Estate Londonderry BT38 0LY Tel: 028 7127 4000 www.seagate.com

Campsie Industrial Estate Londonderry BT47 3GQ Tel: 028 7181 4008 www.nelipak.com

61 Church Road, Newtownabbey BT36 7LQ Tel: 028 9085 9085 www.capita-it.co.uk

53 Moss Road Banbridge, BT32 3NZ Tel: 028 4065 1006 www.eosits.com

Seagate Tech Senior director: Fergus O’Donnell Pre-tax profit: £12.8m Employment: 1,372 Pay bill: £62.6m

Nelipak Healthcare Director: Paul Millar Pre-tax profit: £12.6m Employment: 282 Pay bill: £9.2m

Capita Managed IT Managing director Ireland: Ed Brown Pre-tax profit: £12.58m Employment: 561 Pay bill: £23.4m

EOS IT Holdings Chief operating officer: Brendan Strain Pre-tax profit: £12.54m Employment: 199 Pay bill: £6.5m

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Whitemountain, 5 Blackwater Road BT36 4TZ Tel: 028 9026 1000 www.whitemountain. breedongroup.com/

2 Lisnamuck Road Tobermore BT45 5QF Tel: 028 7964 2411 www.tobermore.co.uk

Glenavy Road Business Park Moira BT67 0LT Tel: 028 9261 9620 www.fanevalley.com

12 Lissue Road Lisburn, BT28 2SZ Tel: 028 9262 0520 www.coca-colahellenic.com

eagate Technology is a world leader in data storage and management solutions. The company crafts the datasphere, helping to maximize humanity’s potential by innovating world-class, precision-engineered data management solutions with a focus on sustainable partnerships.

The Springtown facility has been operating for over 25 years. It was one of the first major US companies to commit to an inward investment project in Northern Ireland.

Seagate’s in Derry is recognised as one of the foremost 200mm wafer fabrication plants in the world. The site has grown from an initial charter of world class manufacturing in the first decade of operations to adding development and product launch capabilities in the last ten years. The facility employs over 1,400 staff and continues to develop leading community and academic partnerships.

Breedon in NI MD: Aidan Mullan Pre-tax profit: £12.1m Employment: 309 Pay bill: £14.3m

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reedon Group, which operates in Northern Ireland as Whitemountain, acquired the majority of the Lagan Group for £455m in 2018.

Whitemountain accounts for all Breedon’s construction materials and contracting services businesses (aggregates, asphalt, ready mixed concrete, bitumen, highway maintenance, civil engineering and airfield construction) in Northern Ireland, including project delivery in Great Britain.

Whitemountain also ships specialist minerals to Great Britain.

Its customer base includes leading airport operations, principal contractors in the highways, civil engineering and construction sectors, and public sector roads authorities. It undertakes works as a product supplier, a main contractor, a sub-contractor or a joint venture partner.

elipak Healthcare Packaging, formerly Bemis, provides high-quality packaging for the protection of medical devices, sensitive drugs and sophisticated diagnostic systems. It specialises in the manufacture of co-extruded, laminated and flexible films, foil barrier laminations, pouches, bags, thermoformed trays, lids, labels, heat seal coated DuPont Tyvek and medical grades of paper.

In August, 2019 Bemis Healthcare Europe became part of the Nelipak group with 10 international facilities including its Derry site. Nelipak in Derry said the merger leverages the unique capabilities of both organisations with innovative designs, world class quality, and excellent service across the globe. The company adds: “This combination provides attractive opportunities for revenue growth from cross-selling and geographic expansion serving the company’s customers as a comprehensive partner for their packaging needs.”

Tobermore Concrete MD: David Henderson Pre-tax profit: £11.9m Employment: 242 Pay bill: £9.5m

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obermore is one of the major paving and walling manufacturers and suppliers in the UK and Ireland. It provides products to the commercial and domestic markets.

The company recently announced that it’s investing £30m and creating 95 jobs in ambitious plans to rapidly grow its business over the next four years. Managing director David Henderson said: “This investment will put us in a unique position to exploit multiple markets in the coming years, with UK and Ireland our main priority markets.

We are excited by the next stage of our growth plans, which requires the major expansion of our current facilities and significant investment in recruitment and marketing.” He said the company has been picking up a number of large commercial projects in Great Britain. It will be manufacturing a product which will be used towards construction of a new promenade in Douglas in the Isle of Man in a £250,000 project. The company started out in 1942 as a sand and gravel business.

ewtownabbey based Capita IT and Networks is an IT services and solutions organisation, delivering end to end IT solutions, private cloud and IT managed services to education, energy and utilities, health, public and private sector organisations.

Working with over 3,000 customers across the UK and Ireland, Capita helps customers to achieve cost efficiencies and service excellence through the delivery of outstanding IT services in an ever changing business landscape.

With over 1,200 employees in Northern Ireland, Capita supports local and national customers, including: The Education Authority (NI), the Department of Justice and Equality (ROI), An Garda Síochána, Viridian, Norbrook, Balfour Beatty and Transport for London.

Fane Valley Co-op Chief executive: Trevor Lockhart Pre-tax profit: £11.6m Employment: n/a Pay bill: n/a

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gri-co-op Fane Valley is made up of subsidiaries including Fane Valley Feeds, Fane Valley Stores, Forestview Trading, White’s Oats, Duncrue Food Processors, Hilton Food Products, Belgium lamb business A Lonhienne and Agricolor. In recent years it has also made a number of acquisitions. In March last year it announced the purchase of Silver Hill Foods in Emyvale, Co Monaghan. Fane Valley had supplied feed to the company for around 10 years. Some months later it also acquired Donegal company Robert Smyth & Sons Ltd, which trades as Smyths Daleside Animal Feeds.

Smyths Daleside Feeds specialises in animal feed products and nutrition from its base in Ballindrait, Co Donegal, just across the border from Strabane.

In 2018, it bought agri supplies company Morton’s in Banbridge from Germinal Holdings, a company also listed in this year’s Top 100.

OS IT Solutions is a global organisation providing IT supply chain solutions that optimise cost and reduce risk. The family run company is headquartered in Banbridge with offices globally and currently operates in over 175 countries worldwide.

EOS have grown to become a market leader in IT supply chain, AV Collaboration and Logistics.

EOS continue to expand their service offerings into the security, data center, enterprise networking and service provider technology marketplace.

The company works with some of the world’s largest industry leaders.

EOS says it has has continued to scale hurdles to provide global IT excellence for a multitude of customers. During the pandemic EOS launched a service which provided a solution for global remote workers referred to as ‘Remote Excellence’.

The new initiative facilitates large organisations by providing their employees with the best workfrom-home experience.

Coca-Cola HBC NI General manager: Miles Karemacher Pre-tax profit: £11.5m Employment: 446 Pay bill: £22.2m

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s part of a 28-country group, Coca-Cola HBC is the bottling partner to The Coca-Cola Company in Northern Ireland and has operated across the island for more than 80 years.

The bottling company produces global brands Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Appletiser and Schweppes, as well as locally owned brands Deep RiverRock and Fruice.

The business has held its market-leading position through creating and sharing value throughout its supply chain, employing more than 500 people at its all-island manufacturing facility in Knockmore Hill, Lisburn. Coca-Cola HBC is a significant contributor to the Northern Ireland economy, delivering £36m in wages along its value chain and £70m in Gross Value Added.

Coca-Cola HBC is committed to growing sustainably and signed its second ProsperityAgreement with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in 2020.

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15 Trench Road Mallusk Newtownabbey Tel: 028 9034 2777 www.mclh.co.uk

85 Ormeau Rd Belfast BT7 1SH Tel: 028 9043 7580 www.mutual-energy.com

10 Fort Road Kilroot, Carrickfergus Tel: 028 9335 1151 www.irishsaltmining.com

3 Hill Street Belfast BT1 2LA Tel: 028 9023 8619 www.beannchor.com

McLaughlin & Harvey Director: Philip Cheevers Pre-tax profit: £11.49m Employment: 798 Pay bill: £48.9m

Mutual Energy Chief executive: Paddy Larkin Pre-tax profit: £11.4m Employment: 28 Pay bill: £2.7m

Irish Salt Mining Directors: Shelagh and Kathleen Mahony Pre-tax profit: £10.9m Employment: 56 Pay bill: £3.2m

Beannchor Group Chairman: Bill Wolsey Pre-tax profit: £10.3m Employment: 536 Pay bill: £8.8m

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15 Dargan Road Belfast BT3 9LS Tel: 028 9037 2200 www.dalefarm.co.uk

605 Lisburn Road Belfast BT9 7GS Tel: 028 9066 9300 www.lesleygrange.com

33-37 Wellington Place Belfast, BT1 6HH Tel: 028 9024 4926 www.theprogressive.com

41 Dobbin Road Portadown BT62 4EY Tel: 028 38337333 www.clearway-group.co.uk

cLaughlin & Harvey is a major construction firm working on a wide range of contracts.

During the year turnover increased by over 20% with increases across all divisions.

The company says that its construction division has been finishing work at Liverpool FC Training Ground, One Braham in central London and BMW in Swindon. Work continues at Bushmills Distillery, the V&A museum in London and Buchanan Wharf in Glasgow. And the civil engineering team has also been very busy with port infrastructure work at Liverpool and Felixstowe. A number of flood alleviation works have also been awarded.

The non-construction entities also performed strongly, giving diversity to the group. McLaughlin & Harvey said: “Despite Covid-19 our order book remains very strong with good progress being made on a transition to government frameworks.”

The company also received an award from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

Dale Farm Co-op Chief executive: Nick Whelan Pre-tax profit: £9.8m Employment: 1,172 Pay bill: £43.7m

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ale Farm is the largest UK farmer-owned dairy co-operative. Headquartered in Belfast, with bases across the UK, Dale Farm is owned by and supplied with milk from the members of its cooperative, a network of 1,300 dairy farmers. Dale Farm manufactures an extensive range of dairy products for the retail, foodservice and food ingredients sectors in the domestic and international markets, spanning milk, butter, cheese, yogurts, ice creams and desserts. Dale Farm also collects members’ milk and supplies animal feed to farmers.

Dale Farm recently reported a solid year’s performance for the financial year ending March 2020. Group operating profit was reported at £12.2m, group profit before tax £9.8m, EBITDA £19.3m and overall group turnover £504.5m.

Dale Farm’s award-winning Dromona cheddar cheese continues to perform particularly well within the own brand, foodservice and branded sectors in the domestic market and worldwide.

utual Energy is a major player in the NI energy sector, managing critically important gas and electricity assets including the Scotland to Northern Ireland gas pipeline and the Moyle Interconnector.

A company limited by guarantee, Mutual Energy’s governance model is unique within the industry. Under the ‘mutual’ model, the organisation does not have shareholders and so reinvests the money it earns for the long-term benefit of NI energy consumers.

Earlier this year, Mutual Energy in partnership with SGN Natural Gas, marked the completion of the main construction phase of the ‘Gas to the West’ pipeline. The project is an investment of over £250m with the potential to meet the energy needs of up to 40,000 homes and businesses across counties Fermanagh, Tyrone and Londonderry.

Mutual Energy says it’s focused on delivering peak performance across its assets in the interests of consumers.

Herbert Corporation Directors: Michael and Lesley Herbert Pre-tax profit: £9.6m Employment: 3,846 Pay bill: £51.3m

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ichael Herbert and his wife Lesley Herberts’ business is made up of 34 trading subsidiaries, 14 of which are in the fast food trade.

This year’s placing in the Top 100 relates to performance in 2018, before the couple sold their franchises in fast-food giant, KFC. That deal, which was announced in March this year, involved the sale of 146 KFCs, one Pizza Hut venue and some development sites to the EG Group, a British retailer which owns petrol stations and fast food outlets. The restaurants were spread around Northern Ireland and the UK. Mr Herbert opened his first KFC in Glengormley in the 1980s.

The businessman also operates a residential property business, Lesley Residential. Recent developments include Lesley Grange off the Hawthornden Road in Ballyhackamore, east Belfast.

He is known for building a string of office blocks also named after his wife Lesley.

rish Salt Mining & Exploration in Carrickfergus has capacity to produce up to 0.5m tonnes of de-icing rock salt every year - much of which makes its way onto Northern Ireland’s roads during the winter. The company’s directors include Shelagh and Kathleen Mahoney, both of whom live in America.

Shelagh’s late father Leo was one of the founders of the company, along with his brothers Dave and Dan. They started out in business with their family’s business Mahoney Coal, Coke & Ice, in Lowell, Massachusetts.

With brothers Dave and Dan, he founded Eastern Minerals, which became one of the biggest suppliers of road salt in the US. Leo Mahoney travelled extensively - and in the 1960s, he and his brothers revived a collapsed salt mine in Northern Ireland, which became the Irish Salt Mining & Exploration Company Ltd.

Progressive Building Society Chief executive: Darina Armstrong Pre-tax profit: £9m Employment: 182 Pay bill: £8m

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rogressive Building Society is Northern Ireland’s largest locally owned financial institution and its only locally-owned mortgage and savings provider.

The society says that it understands the importance of saving and the need to make its members’ money work for them. It says that it recognises that everyone’s needs are different and therefore, offers a wide range of savings accounts.

The company says that last year, it delivered another strong performance, with pre-tax profits of £7.2m. The society says that it has maintained sustainable loan and savings books in a competitive environment, through a combination of value-for-money products and excellent customer service.

Progressive says that it has a strong presence in towns and cities across Northern Ireland and is an integral part of the economy supporting local savings and mortgage members and funding home ownership for local people.

he Beannchor Group is Northern Ireland’s largest hospitality group.

The company was founded over 30 years ago by managing director, Bill

Wolsey.

Beannchor’s diverse portfolio of hotels and eateries make up some of Northern Ireland’s best known venues, which include Belfast’s five star hotel, The Merchant, Bullitt, Little Wing Pizzeria, The Dirty Onion and The National. The group has recently opened a £4m, 45 bedroom hotel, Haslem at Lisburn Square.

With an 80-seat open plan lobby and bar area, a 68-seat restaurant, residents’ gym and conference room, it’s hoped the new premises will attract business travellers from the Republic and UK. With Northern Ireland’s hospitality sector struggling to recover from the pandemic, Beannchor director Conall Wolsey said it was a much-needed boost for the economy.

Clearway Holdings Chief executive: Paul Murphy Pre-tax profit: £8.7m Employment: 3 Pay bill: £372,000

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learway was established in the mid1960s when John Murphy started in the waste management and scrap recycling business.

Clearway operates from modern processing and exporting facilities located at Portadown (head office), as well as export divisions in Dublin, Belfast, Londonderry, Cork and Sligo. There are also premises in Westmeath, Letterkenny and in Clondalkin in Dublin.

Each facility accepts and processes all grades of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metals. A landfill site at Aughrim Quarrywas acquired by Clearway in 2006. The site has a capacity to receive up to 250,000 tonnes per annum — which Clearway said provides “long-term solutions to the waste disposal of Northern Ireland”. The company describes itself as Ireland’s largest scrap metal exporter.

As well as scrap metal collection, it also offers mobile baling and shearing and demolition and site clearance.

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40 to 48 Airport Road West Belfast BT9 3ED Tel: 0871 716 9877 www.dcc.ie

Ballygowan Road 203 Airport Rd West, Belfast, BT3 9ED Hillsborough, Co Down Tel: 028 9093 9400 Tel: 028 9268 9500 www.heartsine.com www.graham.co.uk

DCC Energy Chief executive: Donal Murphy Pre-tax profit: £8.5m Employment: 39 Pay bill: £2.1m

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il products and LPG company DCC Energy has increased pre-tax profits by 77% from £4.8m to £8.5m after the disposal of assets.

The climb in pre-tax profits came despite a 62% slump in turnover from just under £170m to £64m at the firm based at Airport Road West in Belfast.

Its parent company is DCC, a Dublin-based FTSE100 business with interests across fuel and energy, technology and healthcare.

During the year to the end of March 2019, DCC Energy made just under £4.8m on two major disposals.

At the end of April 2018, it sold some of the trade assets of the oil distribution division of the business to Co Londonderry company Nicholl Oils.

Also in April 2018, it sold its petrol products storage terminal in Belfast to Valero Logistics UK Ltd. The net gains of the sales were £9.6m.

Staff numbers at DCC Energy also fell during the year, from 152 to 39.

Heartsine Technologies /Stryker Corporation Chairman and chief executive: Kevin A Lobo Pre-tax profit: £8.4m Employment: 206 Pay bill: £7.3m

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eartSine is the Belfast company behind the device which helped save the life of footballer Fabrice Muamba in 2012.

It has created one of the smallest and most portable automated external defibrillators in the world. During 2019 the company’s pre-tax profit increased from £162,380 to £8.4m. In 2015 it was taken over byWashington-based Physio-Control, the world’s leading provider of professional emergency medical response solutions. Soon after, Stryker Corporation in the US took over Physio-Control.

The Belfast business was founded in 1998

by Professor John Anderson. Prof Anderson worked with the pioneer of out-of-hospital, mobile coronary care, Dr Frank Pantridge, in Belfast. The process emergency departments still use to treat out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is known as The Belfast Protocol, as the world’s first portable, out-of-hospital defibrillator was developed in the city in the 1960s.

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John Graham Executive chairman: Michael Graham Pre-tax profit: £8.2m Employment: 2,161 Pay bill: £109m

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RAHAM is a privately-owned company specialising in building, civil engineering, interior fit-out, facilities management and investment projects.

It operates throughout the UK and Ireland.

It is a trusted delivery partner to clients across a broad spectrum of sectors including education and healthcare, highways and rail, and commercial and residential.

Its engineering prowess on a London bridge, Carpenter’s Land Bridge, was recently recognised at the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) Awards 2020, when it won the Fosroc Engineering Award, before then being named as the Overall Winner.

In Northern Ireland, its work includes the recent upgrade to the A6 and Portrush Train Station, delivery of the Royal Victoria Hospital’s new maternity unit, the Ulster Hospital’s Acute Services and General Ward Blocks, as well as the recent HMRC office fit-out at Erskine House in Belfast.

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Ulster Carpet Mills Managing director: Nick Coburn Pre-tax profit: £8.2m Employment: 664 Pay bill: £25.7m Garvaghy Road Portadown BT62 1EE Tel: 028 3833 4433 www.ulstercarpets.com

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lster Carpets is of Northern Ireland’s best-known family companies and specialises in luxury carpets for clients such as hotels and cruise ships.

But the firm has said it has suffered a hit during the Covid-19 pandemic from a fall-off in international travel, formerly important sources of business for its products.

The company has now entered a formal consultation period with employees and their trade union. It said up to 70 roles at all levels across the group were at risk. The company started a major capital investment programme in recent years.

The major development is at the company’s Portadown site but larger scale investments are also underway at Ulster’s two manufacturing divisions in the North of England. In recent years, the company has taken over two businesses, Roger Oates Design and Griffiths Textile Machines. Its long-serving chairman Edward Wilson, son of the firm’s founders, retired from the firm last year.

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Burton Court, Burton Hall Drive Sandyford, Dublin, D18 Y2T8 Tel: 00353 1 206 3700 www.ntrplc.com

Norbrook Laboratories Newry BT35 6QQ Tel: 028 3026 4435 www.norbrook.com eterinary pharma firm Norbrook Holdings reported an 82% slump in pre-tax profits to £8m in a “challenging year” following an equipment breakdown.

The company, led by chief executive, Liam Nagle, reported a 14% fall in sales to £237m for the year to August 2019. It comes as the company continues to plan for hard Brexit, including spending £5m over the last few years, including large sums to expand a site in Monaghan.

In interviews last year, Mr Nagle said the failure of manufacturing equipment at its site on Armagh Road in Newry had followed some “under investment”.

The equipment failure affected production of sterile injectables and some antibiotics.

Products for large farm animals account for 78% of the firm’s turnover and “companion” animals 22%. But companion animals are regarded as a high-margin business, with more growth than farm animals.

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Adelaide Exchange, Belfast, BT2 8GD Tel: 028 9044 5500 www.liberty-it.co.uk

TR Green Energy is owned by investors based in the Republic of Ireland.

Amongst its subsidiaries there are three Northern Ireland-registered firms.

Assets in Northern Ireland include Castlecraig Wind Farm.

The company was first established in 1978 to build Ireland’s first toll bridge. It began investing in sustainable infrastructure in 1999, when it made its first investment in wind.

The business says that with decades of experience in investing in and managing infrastructure assets, NTR now applies that expertise on behalf of investors who wish to avail of the attractive, reliable cash flows that quality sustainable infrastructure assets can provide. NTR has through its associated companies, constructed and operated c.2GW of wind projects and 630MW of solar projects across Europe and the US. Since 2015, NTR has acquired and managed renewable energy investments on behalf of third party investors.

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116 Crom Road, Enniskillen BT92 0BN Tel: 028 6772 1345 www.readyeggproducts.com

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9 Starbog Road, Larne, Co Antrim BT40 2TJ Tel: 028 2826 2144 www.kilwaughter.com

3 Duncrue Place Belfast BT3 9BU Tel: 999 9999 9999 www.winemark.com

Medwyn Park, Edinburgh Road, Carnwath, South Lanarkshire Tel: 01555 840006 bhc.ltd.uk

Unit 4, Granville Industrial Estate, Dungannon, Co Tyrone BT70 1NJ www.rushmereshopping.com

NTR plc Chief executive: Rosheen McGuckian Pre-tax profit: £8.1m Employment: n/a Pay bill: n/a

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Kilwaughter Holdings Chief executive: Gary Wilmot Pre-tax profit: £7.95m Employment: 191 Pay bill: £7.1m

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ilwaughter Minerals Ltd works across the agriculture and construction industries in UK & Ireland under its market brands K Rend, K Systems and Kilwaughter

Lime.

The company has grown organically and through acquisition and are building for the future with innovative solutions to inspire and transform markets along with exceptional customer service.

They have a 75 acre manufacturing facility and Head Office in Kilwaughter with office and distribution facilities in St Helens, Glasgow and Cork.

In late 2018, Kilwaughter acquired Alumasc Facades from Alumasc Exterior Building Products Limited. Alumasc Facades supplies external wall insulation systems and render products.

Kilwaughter has said that Alumasc offers “a premium and diverse range of tested and certified systems suitable for all types of construction in new build and refurbishment schemes”. It currently employs around 190 people.

Norbrook Holdings Chief executive: Liam Nagle Pre-tax profit: £8m Employment: 1,974 Pay bill: £69.2m

Golf Holdings Director: Patrick Hunt Pre-tax profit: £7.94m Employment: 1,685 Pay bill: £25.1m

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olf Holdings is the holding company for a group of businesses in the hospitality sector.

It’s best-known for Wine Inns, which owns pubs and restaurants such as south Belfast’s Chelsea Wine Bar, and off-licence chain Winemark. Winemark is made up of 84 stores around the province.

The group also includes wholesale wine company James E McCabe. Philip Russell Ltd - a wholesale and retail distributor of wines, spirits, drinks and pet food products — is another subsidiary.

Golf Holdings is also behind the Russell’s Food and Drink chain of convenience stores.

Wine Inns’ Belfast bars also include The Doyen, formerly the King’s Head, Alibi, Cutters Wharf, The Parlour, the Four Winds and Robinsons.

Lough Erne Investments Managing director: Charles Crawford Pre-tax profit: £8m Employment: 171 Pay bill: £4.4m

harles Crawford established the company in 1975 as a producer of eggs for the wholesale market.

Diversification into egg products such as whites for meringues began in 2002 with the acquisition of liquid egg processing facility, Gracey’s.

Ready Egg Products, part of Lough Erne Investments, now produces and processes a range of high quality pasteurised liquid egg products, egg mayonnaise, scrambled egg products and hard boiled eggs in sizes to suit all requirements within the food service and manufacturing sectors throughout the UK and Ireland.

In 2014 a new liquid egg processing facilitywas opened by the company Chesterfield, England.

Two years ago, a second hard-boiled egg production line was installed at its premises in Enniskillen to increase capacity for hardboiled egg orders.

Medwyn Holdings (BHC) Directors: Brian and Marjorie Hewitt Pre-tax profit: £7.88m Employment: 348 Pay bill: £12.4m

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edwyn Holding is a family-owned engineering companywith its registered offices in Enniskillen. It is the parent company of BHC, formerly known as Brian Hewitt Construction.

Its activities are described as the design, fabrication and erection of structural steelwork. It employs over 410 people.

BHC Ltd. was formed in 1992 with the capacity to fabricate 30 tonnes of structural steel per week.

The company says that since then, “we have grown in strength and stature and can now process 800 tonnes of structural steel per week to service the agricultural, commercial, education, gas and oil, health, industrial and power sectors”.

The company is owned and operated by husband and wife Brian and Marjorie Hewitt.

It has a major production facility in Lanarkshire in Scotland.Recent projects include a project to manufacture over 8,000 tonnes of structural steelwork which will travel in containers to Ghana.

Liberty Information Technology Managing director: William Hamilton Pre-tax profit: £7.98m Employment: 510 Pay bill: £27.3m

iberty IT employs over 550 people across Ireland who develop a wide range of both specialist and enterprise scale software exclusively for its parent company, Fortune-100’s Liberty Mutual Insurance.

The team has grown year on year, which the company says has enhanced expertise and diversity of work, reinforced by fantastic teamwork and a strong portfolio of products and services.

Liberty IT says that its expertise in designing and implementing innovative solutions using both existing and emerging technologies, combined with the commitment to providing a great place to work for employees, is unwavering.

The company has received many accolades for workplace excellence. Since 2014, Liberty IT have been ranked among the top UK and Ireland Workplaces by the Great Place to Work® Institute, most recently being awarded ‘Excellence in Wellbeing’ in 2019 and 2020 and recognised by the Diversity Charter Mark NI.

Moyallen Holdings Director: Peter Robinson Pre-tax profit: £7.66m Employment: 84 Pay bill: £3.5m

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oyallen Holdings is the property investment firm behind the Rushmere Shopping Centre in Craigavon, and is owned by brothers John and Peter

Robinson.

Other business interests include Granville Food Care in Dungannon,a cold storage and freezing company. And in England, the brothers operate property development and management projects, including shopping centres in Woking.

Pre-tax profits of £7.66m in the latest accounts for Moyallen Holdings are a reversal of fortune on the previous year, when the company made a pre-tax loss of £4.2m.

Central Craigavon Ltd is the company which contains the group’s interest in Rushmere Shopping Centre. That company reported pre-tax profits of £8.6m during 2018, turning around a loss of £1.8m the year before. The shopping centre remained open during the recent Covid-19 lockdown as it has a series of key retailers.

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47 Boucher Rd, Belfast BT12 6HR Tel: 028 9066 4334 www.gilbert-ash.com

Kilbegs Business Park, Antrim, BT41 4LZ Tel: 028 9442 7809 www.firmusenergy.co.uk

9 Kingsway, Dunmurry, Belfast, BT17 9NU Tel: 028 9055 1300 www.northstone-ni.co.uk

Enterprise Way, Hightown Industrial Estate, Newtownabbey BT36 4EW Tel: 028 9080 4033 www.westrock.com

Gilbert-Ash Managing director: Ray Hutchinson Pre-tax profit: £7.66m Employment: 177 Pay bill: £11.1m

Deka Energy Assoc.

Managing director: Michael Scott Pre-tax profit: £7.53m Employment: 98 Pay bill: £4.3m

Northstone NI Chief executive: Eamonn Sweeney Pre-tax profit: £7.51m Employment: 1,388 Pay bill: £57.5m

Multi Packaging General manager: Chris Dears Pre-tax profit: £6.99m Employment: 162 Pay bill: £5.7m

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Rosemount House, 21 – 23 Sydenham Road, Belfast, BT3 9HA Tel: 028 9045 5531 www.laganscg.com

62 Boucher Road, Belfast, BT12 6LR Tel: 028 9517 0268 www.charleshurstgroup.co.uk

2 Distillery Road, Bushmills, BT57 8XH Tel: 028 2073 3218 www.bushmills.com

Airport Road, Belfast, BT29 4AB Tel: 028 9448 4848 www.belfastairport.com

ilbert-Ash is an award-winning construction and fit out contractor with over 180 employees and offices in London and Belfast.

In June, the company moved into its new £5m headquarters at Boucher Place, Belfast.

Gilbert-Ash works throughout the UK and has undertaken numerous projects worldwide in a total of 41 countries from Poland and Bahrain to China, Japan and Australia, many on behalf of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

At home, it has worked on projects including Belfast’s AC Marriott Hotel, Victoria Square, the Lyric Theatre, the SSE Arena, Ulster Rugby’s Kingspan Stadium and the Causeway Visitor Centre.

Over the past 12 months the team has worked on landmark buildings like The Royal College of Music, 1-5 Cromwell Place, South Kensington, The Mayhew Theatre in London, St Edward’s School, Oxford, Moxy Hotel in Manchester and the prestigious Ambassador’s Residence in Paris.

Lagan Specialist Contracting Group Chief executive: Kevin A Lagan Pre-tax profit: £6.67m Employment: 459 Pay bill: £23.3m

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agan Specialist Contracting Group is a private family owned construction business dating back to 1962. The company has grown from its quarrying activity origins to be the major international specialist contractor Company divisions include Lagan Aviation and Intrastructure, H&J Martin, FK Lowry, Charles Brand, Clonrose Developments, Rosemount Homes and Lagan Operations and Maintenance.

Charles Brand has secured a contract to deliver highways work to support the delivery of HS2 Phase One, a new high speed railway line from Euston to North of Birmingham, where it will rejoin the existing West Coast Mainline.

A Lagan company has also been working on the Dublin Airport North Apron Project as a subcontractor to Clare Civil. And H&J Martin Construction Ltd - which was acquired by Lagan five years ago - recently completed nine family homes at the group’s old construction yard in Ormonde Gardens, Belfast.

irmus energy was initially awarded a licence to develop a ‘Ten Towns’ natural gas network in 2005 and has invested more than £150m in the NI economy, making natural gas available to over 120,000 homes and businesses.

Firmus energy has laid over 1.3 million metres of natural gas network connecting over 43,000 customers in over 30 cities towns and villages. In addition to its network business firmus supplies natural gas to more than 93,000 business and domestic customers in its own network area along with the Greater Belfast and Gas To The West network.

Firmus recently announced that its 50,000 gas customers in the Ten Towns network in Northern Ireland will have lower bills after a 12.5% price cut.

It has said the latest reduction means it is charging the lowest price for gas since 2011, with customers now saving £63 per year.

Charles Hurst Group operations director: Colin McNab Pre-tax profit: £6.66m Employment: 951 Pay bill: £28.3m

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harles Hurst Group is Northern Ireland’s largest new and used car dealer group, combining 22 vehicle manufacturers, dedicated aftersales services and specialist tyre operations.

Part of the UK car retail and aftercare giant Lookers plc, Charles Hurst is headquartered in Belfast where it runs Europe’s largest automotive retail operation on a 30-acre site on Boucher Road.

The dealer group operates six regional outlets in Northern Ireland and two in the Republic of Ireland A major local employer and investor for almost 110 years, Charles Hurst has powered almost £12m into projects in the last 18 months, including the opening of a new Jaguar Land Rover luxury showroom and a new 80-seat café and restaurant, Bolt, catering for visitors and staff.

In the last two years, it has also invested heavily in its dealership portfolio, including Nissan in Newtownabbey and Hyundai in Dundonald.

ased in Dunmurry, Northstone has three divisions - Northstone Materials, Farrans Construction and Cubis Systems.

The business is a subsidiary of the Republic’s biggest trading company, CRH plc, and is one of Northern Ireland’s best-known construction groups. Cubis Industries is a leader in pre-formed access chamber systems.

Farrans works in the education, healthcare, utility and infrastructure sectors of the industry, among others. Last year Farrans won the £50m contract to build Northern Ireland’s tallest office building at City Quays 3. When completed next year, the 16-storey towerwill bring another 250,000 square foot of grade A office space to Belfast Harbour’s waterfront City Quays scheme, which already houses 1,100 office workers.

Cubis, which is based in Lurgan, won the award for Excellence in Exporting at this year’s Belfast Telegraph Business Awards in partnership with Ulster Bank.

Old Bushmills Distillery Master distiller: Colum Egan Pre-tax profit: £6.63m Employment: 111 Pay bill: £5.8m

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ushmills Irish whiskey is one of Northern Ireland’s most famous products.

It’s made at the The Old Bushmills Distillery on the north coast, where more than 400 years of whiskey-making heritage make it the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery.

The company has is now progressing expansion plans to support its long-term growth. The business is building additional distilling capacity and warehousing, including annual capital investments. It’s part of a £60m plan to double production capacity over five years. The additional distilling capacity is due to be complete in 2021.

The company adds: “Innovation is at the heart of Bushmills Irish Whiskey and this year we are focusing on new product development with some very exciting news coming later this year – watch this space.” Bushmills is part of the Proximo portfolio of spirits, along with Jose Cuervo, the world’s biggest-selling tequila and The Kraken Black Spiced Rum.

estRock’s MPS site in Belfast is a specialist manufacturer of printed folding cartons for the healthcare and pharmaceutical market. The site produces packaging for some of world’s best known healthcare companies and their brands and employs 165 people.

Over the past few years, the site has benefited from a significant investment programme including the installation of new printing presses as well as other ancillary equipment.

The Belfast site is part of a major network of manufacturing operations that includes four sister locations in the Republic of Ireland and other operations throughout Europe, Americas and Asia.

The company’s history in Northern Ireland goes back more than 150 years. It began in the centre of Belfast in 1865 as WW Cleland.

Belfast International Airport Managing director: Graham Keddie Pre-tax profit: £6.53m Employment: 212 Pay bill: £11.2m

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he airport says that it put in a strong showing pre-Covid with an impressive increase in both passengers and revenue.

However, the entire aviation sector has been hit hard by Covid-19. Although Belfast International suspended its passenger flights for nearly three months during lockdown, they kept the airport open for cargo flights. Managing director Graham Keddie says staying open cost Belfast International up to £60,000 a day but that it was “essential to keep NI open and supplied throughout the Covid-19 pandemic”.

Staying open facilitated medical supplies and medical emergency flights, as well as all military, Royal Mail and cargo flights. Since the lifting of restrictions in June, the airport has welcomed more passengers. With its owners Vinci, it has ambitious plans for future growth that have had to have been temporarily put on hold as the airport navigates its way through the impact of Covid-19, keeping Northern Ireland connected and supplied.

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

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74 Scarva Road Banbridge BT32 3QD Tel: 028 4066 9000 www.gordonsdirect.com

58 Moneymore Road Magherafelt BT45 6HG Tel: 028 7963 2001 www.conwaygroup.co.uk

3 Capital House, 3 Upper Queen Street, Belfast, BT1 6FB Tel: 928 9068 2021 www.diageo.com

90 Granville Road Dungannon BT70 1NJ Tel: 028 8772 7500 www.gardenhealth.com

Gordons Chemist Chief executive: Robert Gordon Pre-tax profit: £6.51m Employment: 840 Pay bill: £15.9m

Conway Group Chief executive: PJ Conway Pre-tax profit: £6.51m Employment: 528 Pay bill: £9.8m

Diageo Country director: James Davies Pre-tax profit: £6.5m Employment: 243 Pay bill: £14.5m

Westland Horticulture Chief executive: Edward Conroy Pre-tax profit: £6.2m Employment: 606 Pay bill: £20.5m

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6 Bank Square Maghera BT46 5AZ Tel: 028 7964 3610 www.bsgcivilengineering.co.uk

23 Sunwich Street Belfast, BT6 8HR Tel: 028 9045 0821 www.stothersm-e.co.uk

Culcavy, Hillsborough Co Down, BT26 6JJ Tel: 028 9595 2100 www.candcgroupplc.com

The Lisburn Omniplex Lisburn BT28 1LP Tel: 028 4031 0112 www.omniplex.ie

Shannon Stewart Ltd is the registered company which trades as Gordons Chemists. The group operates across Northern Ireland and Scotland, with more than 60 dispensing chemist outlets. It started out with a single shop in Donaghadee in 1980. The group has been growing steadily in recent years. Turnover in the most recent year was just over £89m - up 3% on the previous year.

However, in the last five years, business turnover has increased by 19%.

Capital investment increased in 2017-18 to £2.4m. At the outset of the trading year to April 2018, the group expanded through the purchase of the Donaghadee Partnership in a £7.4m deal.

Employment in the group has been increasing and during 2018-19 averaged 840 people.

The company also has an online store, Gordons Direct.

BSG Civil Engineering Chief executive: Seamus Gillan Pre-tax profit: £6.19m Employment: 79 Pay bill: £3.4m

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SG Civil Engineering Ltd in Maghera has developed from a civil engineering contractor into a construction company with a large turnover. NI Water and Irish Water are among its main customers.

The company has also acquired and developed property. As well as its work for NI Water, it has also carried out multi-million pound contracts for clients such as the Belfast Harbour Commission and Donegal County Council. In 1987 Seamus Gillan Civil Engineering diversified into sheet pile driving, which led to the formation of BSG Piling Ltd. Around 16 years ago, Seamus Gillan Civil Engineering and BSG Piling Ltd amalgamated to form BSG Civil Engineering Limited. It has also carried out work in flood alleviation, anaerobic digester plants, environmental improvement/public realm, marine and industrial/commercial sectors.

onway Group was founded in 1974 by PJ and Tillie Conway and has grown into a multi-disciplined organisation, specialising in property development, investment, asset management, construction and healthcare. It also carries out fit-out and renewables work. It has carried out work for Premier Inns ownerWhitbread Group. It has also carried out work on major office projects such as Charles House and Centrepoint in Belfast.

The company is headquartered in Magherafelt and has over 700 staff.

Conway Group says that it has a “progressive, forward-thinking approach to business development, diversification and expansion along with an impressive track record of successfully delivering major projects that redefine the benchmark for quality”.

CB SME Holdings Director: Donald Monaghan Pre-tax profit: £6.18m Employment: 4 Pay bill: £160,000

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B SME is the holding company behind Belfast-based building engineering services contractor, Stothers (M&E). The 60-year-old company also has premises in Glasgow and Warrington.

Its offices support project delivery across the UK and ROI, with work stretching from Scottish Highlands to the south coast of England and across the border in Dublin.

The firm has grown from a small-scale maintenance provider to a national market leader in the provision of mechanical and electrical building services and contract maintenance, carrying out contracts for the NHS, Hastings Hotels, Maybourne Group and many blue-chip main contractors.

Recent projects include a large-scale office refurbishment in Reading. It’s also on site for a project in the famous University of St Andrews in Scotland.

iageo employs over 320 people across three sites in Northern Ireland. These include the company’s beer bottling, canning and packaging plant in east Belfast, corporate headquarters in Belfast city centre and the Baileys Global Supply facility at Mallusk which produces and exports over 70% of the world’s Baileys. James Davies was announced as country director for Diageo Northern Ireland earlier this year.

In March, Guinness established a €1.5m fund providing support to communities affected by COVID-19 across the island of Ireland. The fund saw €1.2m go to support bar staff, alongside a further €300,000 to elderly vulnerable people through a partnership with ALONE. This was followed in June with Guinness a new €14m fund, Raising the Bar, to support the recovery of pubs in Northern Ireland and the Republic.

It’s part of a Diageo global programme to support pubs and bars to welcome customers back.

Tennent’s NI Managing director: Tom McCusker Pre-tax profit: £6.15m Employment: 104 Pay bill: £4.1m

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ennent’s NI is part of C&C Group plc, a premium drinks company which manufactures, markets and distributes branded beer, cider, wine, spirits and soft drinks across the UK and Ireland.

The portfolio of beer and cider brands includes Tennent’s, Heverlee, Clonmel, Five Lamps, Magners Irish Cider, Magners Dark Fruit, Magners Rosé, and Outcider alongside brands such as the Whitewater Craft Range and Estrella. In July, Tennent’s NI announced the strengthening of its portfolio with the exclusive distribution of Budweiser, the world’s biggest alcohol brand.

C&C then announced exclusive distribution of Budweiser Brewing Group’s (part of AB InBev) complete beer brand portfolio across Ireland and its collaboration on the marketing of the unified portfolio, which also includes Stella Artois, Beck’s, Bass, Corona, Leffe and Hoegaarden.

Tennent’s NI also added Bibendum in Northern Ireland to its portfolio last year.

estland Horticulture is one of the leading horticultural companies across the UK and Europe, specialising in growing media, plant foods, plant protection, wild bird care, garden tools and watering products.

Established in 1990, Westland Horticulture has grown in size and scale and now has over 750 employees, offering a broad portfolio of branded goods to consumers across the UK, Republic of Ireland and Europe.

As well as being a market leader in garden compost under the Westland brand, the company has developed the Aftercut, Resolva, Peckish, Unwins and Seramis brands, which are now household names. The company says that it has has revolutionised the garden sector with creative solutions to enhance the whole garden environment. It says its ethos centres around garden health - making the gardening experience relevant, enjoyable and sustainable.

Omniplex Holdings Director: Paul John Anderson Pre-tax profit: £6.03m Employment: 189 Pay bill: £2.8m

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mniplex Cinema Group is a major leisure and entertainment company.

A typical Omniplex cinema location ranges from four - 14 screens and are located in most major cities and towns in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

There are 11 Omniplex cinemas in Northern Ireland including in Antrim, Armagh, Banbridge and Bangor.

There are also two in the Belfast area - one in Dundonald and another in the Kennedy Centre in west Belfast. There are others in Carrickfergus, Craigavon, Derry, Dungannon and Downpatrick.

As well as an increase in pre-tax profits from £3.8m to £6m in its accounts for 2018, the company also reported growth in turnover from £16.7m to £20m.

Like all leisure companies and destinations, the Omniplex network of cinemas was badly hit by lockdown. But in August, director Paul John Anderson welcomed the intervention of an extension of 100% rates relief to 12 months.

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24 Roughfort Road, Mallusk BT36 4RB Tel: 028 90 849999 www.brettmartin.com

100-150 York Street Belfast Tel: 028 9074 1404 www.moviehouse.co.uk

Bellaghy Magherafelt BT45 8JQ Tel: 028 7938 6849 www.premierelectrics.com

4 Downshire Close Downshire Road Newry, BT34 1FD Tel: 028 3083 3533 www.mac-group.com

Brett Martin Managing director: Laurence Martin Pre-tax profit: £6.03m Employment: 954 Pay bill: £31.9m

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rett Martin is Northern Ireland’s largest thermoplastics manufacturer with sales of £171m in 2018. At £6m, pre-tax profits were down from £7.2m in 2017.

Established in 1958 the company has grown in significance to become one of the largest manufacturers of polycarbonate in Europe. Privately owned and managed, it has operations at seven separate UK sites with export activities extending to over 70 global markets.

Brett Martin’s competencies include plastics extrusion, injection moulding and rotational moulding. Output consists of flat, corrugated and structured plastic sheet in polycarbonate, GRP, PVC, foam PVC, PET and acrylic, pipe extrusions, profile extrusions, and, moulded parts and fittings.

Principal market sectors include construction, fabrication, print and display. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it has worked with Bangor manufacturer Denroy in the production of plastic visors.

Movie House Cinema Managing director: Michael McAdam Pre-tax profit: £5.8m Employment: 222 Pay bill: £2.3m

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he Movie House chain of cinemas is Northern Ireland’s best-known homegrown cinema group. It has venues in Glengormley, Belfast’s Cityside, Maghera and Coleraine.

Ahead of full lockdown in March, the company announced it would be reducing seating capacity at its screenings to ensure social distancing.

But managing director Michael McAdam also said the business was facing a further hit as big studio releases were being delayed.

Its most famous branch was on Belfast’s Dublin Road. However, that site has been vacated as the site was to be demolished, with a new office block built in its place.

In 2019, IT company Kainos plc sealed a £7m deal to buy the site for its new flagship headquarters. But as part of Covid-19 cutbacks, Kainos has now said it’s delaying capital investment relating to the proposed new office.

Premier Electrics Managing director: Tony Shivers Pre-tax profit: £5.7m Employment: 73 Pay bill: £7m

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remier Electrics says it has experienced growth last year, both in profit and employment with employee numbers increasing by 20% to 73. Head-quartered in Mid-Ulster with offices in Belfast and Dublin, Premier Electrics says it’s working on a range of exciting projects across a number of sectors and geographies. In addition Premier Electrics has further expanded its export reach working in Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia for the first time.

Tony Shivers said: “As a business we have continued to perform in line with expectations, although like many other businesses 2020 has presented us with a significant challenge with regards to Covid-19.

“However, our strategy of placing our people, clients and community at the centre of everything we do has served us well as we continue our investment in health and wellbeing as well as working to ensure our offices, sites and travel logistics operate in a compliant manner.

Mac Interiors Chief executive: Paul McKenna Pre-tax profit: £5.6m Employment: 87 Pay bill: £5.9m

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he Newry-headquartered construction and fit-out company reported turnover of £82.6m and pre-tax profits of £5.6m during 2018. Turnover of £82.6m was down after some projects were delayed into 2019.

New contracts in 2018 include the construction of a 110,000 sq ft commercial office building for Ryanair in Dublin, a 120,000 sq. ft. logistics hub for Green REIT and a mixed use office development in Newmarket Dublin 8 for Valorem Investment Partners. In the Republic, the company has also successfully delivered over £75m of fast track fitout projects through its mac-interiors brand for companies like Microsoft, KPMG, EY and Hewlett Packard.

It has also worked on a major project at Ardmore Studios in Co Wicklow, involving the construction of a 21,500 sq. ft. film studio along with a 24,000 sq. ft. support space. Mac-Interiors also worked on an interior fit-out and office upgrade of the new corporate EMEA HQ for Abbvie Inc in Dublin 24.

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

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C/0 Kennedys River House Belfast, BT1 2BE Tel: 028 6634 2801 www.heatonsstores.com

41 Inn Road Dollingstown Co Armagh , BT66 7JN Tel: 028 38327711 www.huhtamaki.com

Killadeas Road Enniskillen BT94 2FN Tel: 028 6641 1001 www.balcasenergy.com

46 Florenceville Av Belfast, BT7 3GZ Tel: 028 9064 4765 www.portview.co.uk

Heatons NI Owner: Mike Ashley Pre-tax profit: £5.5m Employment: 459 Pay bill: £5.2m

Huhtamaki (Lurgan) General manager: Richard Smith Pre-tax profit: £5.49m Employment: 232 Pay bill: £8.6m

Balcas Chief executive: Brian Murphy Pre-tax profit: £5.47m Employment: 367 Pay bill: £13.6m

Portview Holdings Managing director: Simon Campbell Pre-tax profit: £5.46m Employment: 98 Pay bill: £6.6m

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2 St Patrick’s Street Draperstown, BT45 7AL Tel: 028 796 28505 www.heronbros.com

Germinal NI Ltd, Commercial Road, Banbridge, BT32 3ES Tel: 028 4066 2277 www.germinalni.com

10 Falcon Road Belfast BT12 GRD Tel: 028 9038 5363 www.macblair.com

52 Doogary Road Omagh, BT79 0BQ Tel: 028 8224 3201 www.foylefoodgroup.com

eatons (NI) is the trading name for a clothing business with branches all over Ireland. The Irish department store Heatons was set up around 70 years ago and stocks men, women and children’s fashions, home wares, home textiles and toiletries. It has a chain of 18 stores in the Republic.

The company is owned by UK retail giant Frasers Group, formerly Sports Direct. Many former Heatons stores have been rebranded as Sports Direct. In a strategic report filed with its latest results in February this year, Heatons (NI) Ltd said its focus is to offer quality affordable products to customers in a friendly and welcoming environment. The company says that it sources all its goods from its UK-based parent company via imports into Northern Ireland. It warns that “it is not yet known how this supply chain will be affected by Brexit and there is a risk we may need to alter the supply chain, which could have knock-on implications for tax requirements”.

Heron Bros Managing director: Damian Heron Pre-tax profit: £5.43m Employment: 249 Pay bill: £10.8m

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eron Bros is an award winning construction and property development company which operates throughout the UK, Ireland and Europe. The business operates in the public, private and third sector clients delivering education, leisure and stadia, commercial retail and office space, industrial, health, pharmaceutical, community and regeneration projects. It employs over 250 people and in the year to the end of February 2019, had a turnover of over £100m - which was an increase of over 25% on the previous year.

A strategic report filed with the company accounts states that a restructuring of the Heron family shareholdings was carried out, so that Heron Bros Ltd now controls and manages a property portfolio which provides sustainable annual profit for the company. It adds: “With continued uncertainty at a local and national level and to avoid spending troughs, the company will have a renewed focus on the UK market.”

uhtamaki Lurgan, part of the Finnish-owned Huhtamaki group, is the largest manufacturer of egg cartons and cup carriers in UK and Ireland, and the largest recycler of paper in Northern Ireland.

Strong demand for eggs during the lockdown period translated into strong demand for egg cartons which ensured the factory operated through the pandemic, with a streamlined product range of ensure social distancing. The business has started installing a new egg carton line which will increase carton output by 25%.

The site employs 250 staff and is currently recruiting to fill the positions to support the new carton line. The Lurgan site also opened a pilot plant to manufacture re-cyclable paper-based trays for the ready meal sector and starts supplying a major UK retailer in September.

Sister business Huhtamaki in west Belfast has recently diversified into the manufacture of visors with Bloc Blinds in Magherafelt.

Germinal Holdings Managing director: William Gilbert Pre-tax profit: £5.25m Employment: 81 Pay bill: £5.3m

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erminal Holdings was founded in Belfast in 1825. Since then, the company has carried out groundbreaking work in seed development and has led the way in major contributions to the farming and amenity industries. It is now the largest family owned British and Irish forage and amenity seed company.

Direct descendants of the original founder Samuel McCausland still work in managing Germinal today. In March, at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the company said that with the seed production sector part of the essential supply chain to the food production industry, it expected to remain operational through the crisis.

Two years ago the company sold agricultural supply company Morton’s in Banbridge to Fane Valley. The Gilbert and McCausland families had controlled Morton’s through Germinal Holdings.

At the time, William Gilbert of Germinal Group, said Morton’s was a “highly trusted and respected agricultural merchant”.

alcas operates in the sustainable use of timber in a range of products, including in renewable heat generation. Balcas has a direct workforce of around 380.

The firm’s sawmills in Enniskillen and combined plants in Enniskillen and Invergordon in Scotland are energy efficient and self sufficient.

It has a 72 acre site in Enniskillen, with an annual capacity of 268,000 cubic metres of sawn timber, while its Invergordon base includes a 34MW boiler alongside a pellet plant producing 100,000 tonnes of pellets each year and 8.6MW of electricity. Balcas Timber makes a wide range of durable and environmentally responsible timber products for the domestic and agricultural markets Its product range includes kiln-dried graded structural timber, unseasoned and preservative pre-treated fencing timbers, pallet wood components, and sleepers – increasingly being used for landscaping projects.

Macnaughton Blair Chief executive: Peter Kearney Pre-tax profit: £5.19m Employment: 452 Pay bill: £14m

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acnaughton Blair is one of the leading builders merchants in Northern Ireland supplying to both the construction and DIY markets. In 2016 the company undertook a major rebrand and now trades under three main brands - Macblair for building materials, Watershed for bathrooms and tiles and Doorways for specialist doors and ironmongery.

The company was formed in 1973 as a result of a merger between Norman Macnaughton & Son’s Ltd and Joseph Blair Ltd before being subsequently acquired by Grafton Group plc in 1989. Since then the company has grown both organically and through acquisition, now having 16 branches in Northern Ireland and one in the Isle of Man. Other brands owned by Grafton Group plc include Woodie’s DIY and Garden Centres, Chadwicks, Lloyd Worrall and The Timber Group.

elfast-based interior fit-out specialist, Portview, is forecasting a strong rise in revenues next year as it looks to move away from the impact of the pandemic with its biggest contract win to date.

Portview has built a strong reputation in the fit-out industry with clients includes Tiffany & Co., Samsung, Rosewood London, Arsenal F.C. and Harvey Nichols.

Following a mix of work across the high-end residential, hotel, office, restaurant, retail and stadia sectors last year, the business has reported a turnover of £49.4m. Despite some project delays as a knock-on effect of Covid-19, it remains positive about the future with a healthy order book already lined up for 2021, including a multimillion pound project that is the company’s largest contract - both in size and value - on record. Managing director Simon Campbell said: “I think during the year to November 2021 we could be looking at an uplift to around £60m, so we’re fairly optimistic.”

Foyle Food Group Holdings Chief executive: Terry Acheson Pre-tax profit: £5.18m Employment: 1,284 Pay bill: £36.8m

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oyle is the largest dedicated beef processor in the UK and Ireland. It specialises in the slaughter, deboning and further processing of premium beef products, which are exported around the world.

The company says all its beef comes from a closed supply chain supported by experienced farmers in its producer clubs. The company says: “From primal cuts to portions, joints and retail packs, Foyle has invested in technology to enable agility and responsiveness to our customers’ needs, as well as ultimate accountability and confidence in our products.”

Along with WD Meats, Foyle’s site in Campsie has now been listed as meat plants eligible to export meat to the United States - a move which is expected to beomce a lucrative trade. The US market had been shut to British beef exports following the BSE outbreak of the 1990s.

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60 Great Victoria Street Belfast BT2 7BB Tel: 028 9087 8787 www.andrashouse.co.uk

97 Largy Road Crumlin BT29 4RT Tel: 028 9445 1400 www.rlc-group.com

Sandholes Road Cookstown BT80 9HJ Tel: 028 8676 7900 www.cdeglobalcom

180 Gilford Road Portadown Tel: 028 3836 4401 www.kingspan.com

Andras House Chief executive: Rajesh Rana Pre-tax profit: £5.15m Employment: 347 Pay bill: £6.7m

RLC Langford Lodge Chief executive: Gary Nutter Pre-tax profit: £5.14m Employment: 276 Pay bill: £10.8m

CDE Global Chairman: Tony Convery Pre-tax profit: £5.07m Employment: 307 Pay bill: £11.3m

Kingspan Water & Energy Divisional MD: Pat Freeman Pre-tax profit: £5.07m Employment: 779 Pay bill: £28.4m

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23 Cooneen Road Fivemiletown BT75 0NE Tel: 028 8952 1401 www.cooneengroup.com

46 Belfast Road Downpatrick BT30 9UP Tel: 028 4461 9300 www.finnebrogue.com

Shepherd’s Way Newry BT35 6QQ Tel: 028 3026 3201 www.haldane-fisher.com

ndras House Ltd is a leading property development and hospitality company in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

It was set up in 1981 by Lord Diljit Rana and is now led by his son Rajesh.

The company has grown into a multi-million pound organisation with an extensive portfolio of office, hotel and leisure developments.

Its portfolio in Belfast is made up of six hotels and serviced apartments on the city’s Lisburn Road.

The hotels include the four-star Crowne Plaza in Shaws Bridge, which has 133 rooms, as well as the four-star Holiday Inn in the city centre, with 250 rooms. It added the Hampton by Hilton in 2018 in a new opening in the city centre.

The company recently finished a full lobby upgrade at its Holiday Inn Express in Belfast’s Queen’s Quarter, in the culmination of a three-year, £5m investment programme. The investment included a 60-bedroom extension to the hotel.

Cooneen by Design Director: John B McGuckian Pre-tax profit: £5.03m Employment: 191 Pay bill: £7m

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o Tyrone textile firm Cooneen By Design, whose directors include Northern Ireland industrialist John B McGuckian, reported an increase in pre-tax profits to £5m from £3.4m, with revenues also up from £64m to £70m.

The company added 20 staff, leaving its workforce at 191. The firm’s products range from military clothing to work uniforms and childrenswear featuring cartoon characters like Peppa Pig. In the run-up to last year’s general election, the company was featured in a BBC Breakfast broadcast in which it aired its concerns over Brexit.

Commercial manager Ryan McClintock discussed the company’s new clothing brand 5M, which is being sold online through www.fivemile.com and Amazon, and already has customers in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. He detailed the challenges that Cooneen faced in the venture due to Brexit, and how removing this uncertainty would allow Cooneen to move forward.

LC specialises in technology optimisation and the development and delivery of products for the aerospace industry.

It also works on design for manufacture, prototypes, early product development, volume ramp, full rate production, spares and aftermarke in the civil and military markets.

It has operating facilities in the UK, Isle of Man and Singapore.Products include engines, ejection seats and airframes. A strategic report filed with the company accounts says it has a clear strategy to create long-term value and sustainable shareholder return. It said that overall sales had been in line with the previous year, with the board positive about the future of the company.

But it added that the business faced risks such as cyber-attacks and Brexit. It added: “Uncertainty over Brexit is being mitigated via a robust and dyanmic scenario-based plan that will address timings, critical paths, responsibilities, resource requirements and interdependencies.”

Lynn’s Cty Foods Managing director: Dennis Lynn Pre-tax profit: £5.03m Employment: 444 Pay bill: £11.3m

L

ynn’s CountryFoods is the parent company of meat processor Finnebrogue Artisan in Downpatrick. It was first known for its venison products before diversifying into other meats, and more recently, plant-based products. Weekly production surged during lockdown from 800,000 packs of sausages and burgers a week t around 1.5 million.

It recently emerged that the business is planning a massive 300,000 sq ft factory, which the first phase will include a 200,000 sq ft development, as part of a £32.9m investment.

The company says it is “accelerating plans to expand the production of next generation plantbased products”.

Finnebrogue has a wide range of meat products and sells into many of the major supermarkets here with Marks & Spencer one of its biggest customers.

Last year it secured a deal to supply Asda with 10 products in its ‘extra special’ ranges.

DE is a global leader in wet processing technology, and designs and manufactures equipment for applications in the sand & aggregates, mining, C&D waste recycling, and industrial sands sectors.

Since 1992, the Cookstown-headquartered firm has designed, manufactured, and commissioned more turnkeywet processing plants than any other company in the world. Its global headquarters is the world’s largest campus dedicated to the wet processing of materials. CDE wet processing technology is designed to improve materials processing capabilities. Building upon its track record in innovation, the company launched its latest plant, the Combo X900, at CONEXPO-CON/ AGG, North America’s largest construction trade show, in Las Vegas earlier this year. The successful launch resulted in the first sale of the new model, which was acquired by the Maryland-based Harford Minerals. The business operates across five sectors and five regions.

Haldane Shiells Managing director: Ian Haldane Pre-tax profit: £5.01m Employment: 639 Pay bill: £18.4m

T

he Haldane Shiells Group is one of the leading independent suppliers to the construction industry in the UK and Ireland, serving trade customers and the public. The company trades under Haldane Fisher in Ireland, Haldane Fisher Isle of Man, and GE Robinson in England bringing the total number of branches within the group to 17.

The business has grown organically and through acquisition since it was founded over 70 years ago, but says that it still retains the high levels of personal service of a family run business. The group is predominantly a chain of timber importers, builders and plumbers merchants supplying a huge range of products – everything from timber and building materials to plumbing and heating, home improvement products to internal finish such as kitchens, bathrooms and doors.

ingspan Water & Energy — formerly Kingspan Environmental — says that it has been creating sustainable solutions to preserve and protect water and energy for over 50 years.

The company says its products span two areas – water management solutions, including wastewater, surface water and rainwater harvesting, and energy management solutions, including diesel, oil, agri storage, renewables and hot water cylinders.

The business says that service and maintenance solutions is “a linchpin across both portfolios, allowing us to bring our customers an exclusive support package”. “We also offer intelligent monitoring, utilising the Internet of Things to provide our customers with enhanced insight and greater control over their water and energy assets.”

Quinn Cement Director: Liam McCaffrey Pre-tax profit: £4.89m Employment: n/a Derrylin BT92 9GP Tel: 08000 322 122 www.quinn-buildingproducts. com

Q

uinn Group was founded in 1973 in Derrylin by Sean Quinn and traded in quarry aggregates then developed its product range to include readymixed concrete and the production of its own concrete blocks.

Following the collapse of the empire founded

by Sean Quinn, Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited was formed to control two of the key divisions within the Group - Quinn Building Products Limited and Quinn Packaging Limited.

High quality bulk cement from Quinn Cement is supplied to site in specialist Quinn Tankers.

CEM I grade of bulk cement is available for delivery across the UK and Ireland. CEM II is only available for delivery in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In 2017, Quinn Cement and Warrenpoint Harbour Authority announced the opening of a new £2.5m cement export hub at Warrenpoint Harbour, Co Down. It has an operational capacity of 7,500 tonnes, and will be dedicated to the export of bulk cement.

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TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

 ECONOMY 

Is our rebound losing its early momentum?

J

uly’s GDP figure signalled a sustained expansion for the UK economy. And high-frequency indicators show this is likely to have continued through August.

However, that was the easier leg of the recovery journey. And the labour market, in particular, is delicately placed.

The UK’s economic recovery looked robust through the summer. GDP expanded by 6.6% during July, following a 8.7% rise in June.

We’ve climbed back about half-way off the Covid-19 induced economic hole. But the sectoral disparities remain pronounced.

Finance and insurance were off a mere 1.4%, while hotels and restaurants were still down 60%.

The good news is recent data shows the recovery continued through August. And school returns will give a decent lift from the education sector.

The bad news is much of the low-hanging fruit has been plucked. It gets harder from here.

Hopes of a ‘V-shaped’ recovery remain intact for some UK regions, according to the latest purchasing managers index (PMI) surveys. The North East (66.0), South East (64.9) and Yorkshire & Humber (64.6) all notched up record increases in business activity in August. The West Midlands (61.9) also exceeded ‘60’ last month. These 60-something readings are certainly ‘V-shaped’ recovery material. But can these rapid growth rates be maintained?

At the other end of the regional growth (business activity) table are NI (51.7) & Wales (51.5). The output recovery may be ongoing but the jobs recovery hasn’t even started. All UK regions reduced their headcount last month with five regions posting scores in the ‘30s’. Even the most optimistic aren’t betting on a ‘V-shaped’ jobs recovery.

In August, Northern Ireland’s private sector posted its second successive month of output growth. The only snag was the pace of expansion slowed from an encouraging 54.5 in July to 51.7 forAugust. That broadly mirrors the deceleration witnessed with the eurozone’s composite PMI. Local services firms finally moved above the 50.0 expansion/contraction threshold for the first time since the pandemic. But at 51.2 the rebound was rather underwhelming.

NI’s service sector recovery is lagging well behind that of the UK (58.8). Instead it is more on a par with the Republic of Ireland’s (52.4) lacklustre performance. With local firms posting a significant fall in new orders in August it doesn’t look like NI’s recovery will be moving up a gear anytime soon.

Excluding those permanently closed, 99% of the UK’s businesses have reopened. Road traffic and shipping volume is close to pre-lockdown levels.

For the third month running, more companies showed revenue increasing than decreasing.

Fast indicators tracked by ONS reiterate that the rebound from the lockdown abyss has been strong.

But this was the easy part. 11% of the workers are still furloughed. Online job adverts declined in early September and footfall in high-streets and shopping centres remain 25% below pre-lockdown levels. In addition to the epidemiology, labour market dynamics and consumer behaviour will determine the pace and extent of the recovery.

Annual rates of UK CPI inflation has been below 2% for the last 12 months. However, the public still

In his latest blog, Ulster Bank chief economist Richard Ramsey wonders whether the low-hanging fruit of our post-lockdown recovery has already been plucked believes prices are running well above that figure.

In the Bank of England’s latest quarterly survey of public attitudes to inflation, one-in-four people thought that consumer prices had risen by over 4% y/y with the median for all respondents 2.6% y/y. The latter is more than two-and-a-half times the latest figure for July. Looking ahead, the expectation is for prices to rise by a perky 2.8% over the next 12 months and at that pace for the next five years.

The pandemic has turned many parts of life on its head. One of those is our trading relationship with the rest of the world. The UK has run a trade deficit for decades, meaning that we’ve imported more goods and services from other countries than we’ve sold to them. That’s been true every year since 1998. But Covid caused the mother of all shocks to global supply chains, hugely disrupting trade. Now things are flowing again but imports are more depressed than exports, leading to a surplus of £1.2bn in July. As attention turns to the EU-UK trade negotiations, there could yet be

some more swings in this story.

Actually not. So, it’s April, the plane-free skies are blindingly blue, and the streets so empty a dear runs down the Morningside road, a well-todo Edinburgh suburb. Would UK-based investors think this an apt time to increase their acquisition of foreign companies? Yes theywould. The acquisition value of foreign firms by UK ones increased in Q2 to £4.3bn, from £4.1bn in Q1. But statistics fail here. Because the number of transactions fell from 88 to just 20, while the value of acquisitions of UK based firms dropped by 58%. So unsurprisingly, lockdown didn’t raise investors’ animal spirits.

On hold. The European Central Bank (ECB) left policy on hold at its September Council meeting, as expected. The ECB maintained purchases under the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) with a total envelope of €1,350 billion.

The ECB staff nudged higher its medium-term inflation projections from June, despite a disappointing inflation print in August. ECB president Lagarde acknowledged the euro’s recent rise but

signalled no early policy response, providing the green light for further potential gains. Ongoing disinflation pressures and increased signs from latest monthly business surveys that the Euro area recovery is stalling point to scope for further ECB action in coming months.

Standstill: US economy has already recovered 48% of the jobs lost due to Covid-19 and the unemployment rate dropped to 8.4% in August. However, the recovery is losing its pace as initial jobless claims remained unchanged last week at 884k with Pandemic unemployment assistance (PUA) increasing by 91K. The fourth straight increase in PUA could be due to further job losses triggered by the end of the payroll protection program and the end of the enhanced employment benefits.

The new fiscal stimulus which still hangs in the congress, could make or break the path of further recovery.

Read more from Richard Ramsey on www.ulstereconomix.com

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TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

 ANALYSIS  Our retailers have responded well to the challenges of Covid yet we must brace ourselves for what’s next

W

hat a year. Who would have thought it as we celebrated the Top 100 this time last year, we would now be in the midst of a world-wide pandemic, destroying lives and livelihoods in every part of the planet?

It has been said many times, but the world will never be the same again, particularly the economy.

Now more than ever, our Top 100 companies will have an indispensable role in supporting jobs, investment and most important of all, leading the way forward toward the revival and recovery of our battered economy. The reality is that until a vaccine is produced, ourTop 100 and the business community as a whole will have to find creative ways to safely work around this virus and protect as many jobs as possible to avoid the high levels of povertywhich will only exacerbate the mental and physical health problems within our communities.

The rules of the economy have been completely rewritten, as has the role of Government intervention, but could Covid-19 be the driving force of our time to transform economic thinking and create a new paradigm for business? Will it mean many new and different companies making next year’s Top 100?

Getting back to the role of Government, in our discussions with UK Cabinet ministers and Executive ministers, Retail NI has outlined the need for an intensive one-year recovery plan and stimulus package to address the immediate challenges facing our local economy. We also need to give some thought on what a longer-term post pandemic economic plan would look like. Before this crisis, Retail NI, as part of Trade NI, published its Vision 2030 plan, setting out how to create 65,000 new jobs and transform Northern Ireland’s economy into an eco-system of innovation. Our plan is even more relevant now than before.

It’s fair to say that Covid-19 is also the biggest ever challenge to our retail sector and high streets to date, resulting in the fall of newsagent and bookseller Eason and many other well-known businesses. With the furlough scheme tapering off and as the recession deepens, sadly we are going to see many more high street casualties. Let’s be clear - we are not facing a high streets crisis any longer but a high streets emergency. That is why Retail NI successfully lobbied the Executive to establish a High Streets Taskforce, to ensure

WE NEED TO MOVE BEYOND FOCUSING ON THE ECONOMIC PROBLEMS OF COVID-19 AND STARTTO FOCUS ON THE SOLUTIONS

By Glyn Roberts Chief Executive Retail NI a co-ordinated approach across Government, councils and business to identify solutions and start the long road to build back better.

Part of the solution to this challenge lies in fully developing and implementing the concept of ‘localism’ to repurpose our town and city centres as unique hubs at the heart of our community. As Mary Portas said in her groundbreaking report, it’s a matter of to reimaginging them as “destinations for socialising, culture, health, wellbeing, creativity and learning”.

Some interesting trends emerged from our recent Independent Retail Awards online vote, showing that in our rural towns, people have been supporting local independent retailers in greater numbers and staying local to shop and socialise in a way they didn’t do before the pandemic. It will be interesting to see the impact that home and remote working will have on how and where people spend their money, and will the traditional concept of the ‘office’ change forever as a result of Covid-19? Could many of our rural towns and

villages make a serious economic comeback?

It is also absolutelyvital that the Executive now works with many of the Top 100 and business on a strategy for the safe return of office workers to their place of work. This is crucial, not just for Belfast city centre, but for the economic future of all our major towns and cities in Northern Ireland.

Office workers provide a large amount of footfall and trade for the retail and hospitality sectors in many of our high streets. Given that both sectors are facing severe difficulties at the minute, the return of office workers is vital for their viability.

Retail NI members have always championed localism, priding themselves in supporting local suppliers, producers and manufacturers, many of which make up the Top 100. In fact, 70p in every pound spent with an independent retailer is recycled around this supply chain and other local businesses. This is why we want to see localism ‘on steroids’ along with the reimaging of our high streets as destinations where residents and visitors can dwell as theywork, rest and play as the central policy priorities of the Executive’s recovery plan to drive future post-pandemic prosperity.

Localism is not just about supporting independent retailers; it is also about empowering people and communities to reshape and repurpose their local villages, towns and cities and above else, reinvigorate the leadership model. Our 11 councils have a key role in the localism agenda and the Executive needs to devolve regeneration and other powers to them so they can play a fuller role in the recovery process.

We need to move beyond focusing on the economic problems of Covid-19 and start to focus on the solutions and ask ourselves - what does success look like for the post pandemic high street? Undeniably we need to further develop the concept of the experience economy in 21st century towns and cities as we build back better. While it will get worse before it gets better for our high streets, the important thing to remember is that it will get better and this is what government and business need to plan for.

In conclusion, the post Covid-19 economy must be an environment where business can thrive and growwhich means investing in our infrastructure, developing skills and increasing our productivity.

OurTop 100 must be the thought leaders shaping this bold new future and define the new normal for economy and society in Northern Ireland.

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TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

Covid-19 has changed how we live including how we use technology

I

t’s fair to say our digital habits have been evolving rapidly over the past 10 years, from the explosion of social media to the increased use of things we now take for granted, such as video calling.

We’ve seen over the past six months how reliant on technology the world has become and it’s doubtful that a lot of businesses (and families) could have functioned at all without it.

The long months of lockdown has accelerated some digital trends that were already on the way, such as the continued rise of entertainment streaming, but have also introduced some unexpected ones – for example who knew quite so many sensible adults would be so keen to embrace quirky, co-ordinated dance moves and make themselves TikTok famous.

According to Deloitte’s Digital Consumer Trends 2020 report, one in five UK adults (21%) – the equivalent of 10.3 million consumers - purchased at least one new digital device as a result of spending more time at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The mandatory ‘working from home’ conditions most people found themselves in undoubtedly caused a spike in first instance as people prepared for the long-term transition to the home office.

Up to 21.2 million digital devices were purchased during the first two months of the lockdown period, including two million printers and monitors. However, not all devices have seen an uptick in usage, with ownership of desktop or tower computers falling from 45% to 40% in 2020.

So, although our dependency on technology increased significantly this year, the trends show that not all forms of technology we consider standard household items will be part of our furniture in the future. The new generation of lifestyle technology on the other hand, seems set to continue to play an ever increasing role in our day to day lives.

Deloitte’s research, carried out in the midst of lockdown in May and surveying the digital habits of 4,150 respondents between the ages of 16 and 75, found that UK adults used 170.3 million devices daily during the first two months of lockdown, equating to 3.5 devices on average per person.

Games consoles, laptops, smart speakers and e- readers saw the highest uptick in usage.

Among those who own the devices, daily usage of games consoles rose by 10 percentage-points, with 44% of owners using their console daily, up from 34% in 2019.

Meanwhile, daily smart speaker usage rose from 59% to 66%, laptop usage rose from 67% to 73% and e-reader usage rose from 30% to 34%.

When it comes to the most popular digital device in the market, the smartphone, it’s clear we really couldn’t have survived lockdown without them. Some 91% of UK consumers now own a smartphone, with 62% agreeing that they used their phone a lot more during the lockdown. The same proportion (62%) say that their smartphone has helped them to feel less isolated from family and friends while social distancing restrictions have been in place.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, fitness bands and smart watches both experienced a decline in

By Danny McConnell, technology partner at Deloitte in Belfast

usage as consumers spent more time at home as a result of the pandemic.

But the shift wasn’t huge, with 60% of fitness band owners using their device daily during the lockdown period, down from 64% in 2019, while daily smart watch usage declined from 64% to 62%.

This comes despite an overall increase in the

adoption of wearables, from 27% to 31% in the last year.

But the pandemic has also prompted some people who were once hesitant or passive to the idea of smart speakers or fitness bands, to purchase these kinds of technologies given the increased amount of time they’re spending at home.

Much like smartphones, computers and tablets we anticipate that household and health devices will see a surge in popularity. Health devices in particular are likely to increase in popularity as a result of COVID-19, with many more willing to invest in this technology to track their fitness levels and even detect symptoms of illness early on.

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TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

Our biggest employers

1-25

Name

Main Activity

No. employees

Change on previous year

Retailing

9,871

247

Poultry processor

4,918

325

Retailing

4,111

200

Aerospace

4,069

-709

Nursing Homes

3,440

-399

1

Tesco

2

Moy Park

3

Asda

4

Bombardier Shorts

5

Four Seasons

6

John Henderson

Retailing

3,035

262

7

Teleperformance

Call Centres

2,873

46

8

Noonan services

Support Services

2,839

-761

9

BT(NI)

Telecoms

2,701

172

10 Marks and Spencer

Retailing

2,667

200

11

Retailing

2,468

-109

Pharmaceuticals

2,411

262

Retailing

2,207

50

14 Convergys

Call Centre

2,184

-85

15 Allstate NI

ICT

2,157

-3

16 CitiGroup

Financial services

2,146

299

Bank

2,036

-266

Financial services

1,937

74

Call centre

1,804

198

20 Norbrook Labs

Pharmaceuticals

1,662

-104

21 Wrights Group

Bus Assembly

1,560

-95

22 Golf Holdings

Drinks distributor

1,518

10

23 Danske Bank

Bank

1,515

26

24 G4S (3 cos.)

Support services

1,450

89

Engineering

1,431

26

J.Sainsbury

12 Almac (7 cos.)

13 Boots

17 Ulster bank 18 Lloyds banking 19 First Source

25 Schrader Electronics

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

26-50 Main Activity

No. employees

Engineering

1,366

-300

Financial services

1,364

38

IT equipment

1,336

15

Electricity supply

1,288

35

Engineering

1,264

57

Financial services

1,245

-32

Retailing

1,182

249

Support services

1,160

-71

Call centre

1,151

-396

Construction

1,112

12

36 Primark

Retailing

1,094

30

37 Dunnes Stores

Retailing

1.057

-66

38 Next

Retailing

1,005

-246

Vehicle Distributor

976

16

Retailing

975

87

Distribution

969

-40

42 Iceland Foods

Retailing

950

70

43 McDonalds

Fast Food

938

131

Bank

937

-59

45 Randox

Pharmaceuticals

934

95

46 Dunbia

Meat processor

931

-436

47 Karro Food

Meat processor

926

32

Catering services

892

-114

Construction

874

-34

Food processor

811

36

Name 26 Caterpillar (NI) 27 PWC 28 Seagate Technology 29 N.I.E.Networks 30 Terex (2 cos.)

31 Santander 32 Musgrave Gp (2 cos.)

33 Robinson services 34 Concentrix 35 Graham Holdings

39 Charles Hurst 40 B&M 41 Morris TJ

44 Bank of Ireland

48 Mount Charles 49 Northstone 50 Linden Foods

51

Change on previous year

52

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

 ECONOMY 

Belfast Harbour ready to play its part in getting NI’s economy back on track

By Joe O’Neill, Chief Executive of Belfast Harbour

C

ovid-19 has made this a year like no other for both families and businesses and Belfast Harbour has not been immune to the disruption it has caused. The pandemic has tested the resilience of the port industry and that of our customers and their supply chains.

I believe that the sector has collectively risen to these challenges and it has been fantastic to see the determination of the wider port and transport community to successfully adjust and adapt.

Before the lock-down took effect in March, Belfast Harbourwas reviewing a very strong year for trade.

Tonnage handled through the port was above 24 million for the second year running, with very positive figures for containers, roll-on roll-off traffic and exports of a number of key products, including aggregates.

Based on these strong trading figures we reported a sound financial performance for the year, with turnover at £65.9m and operating profits at

£30.6m, in line with our expectations.

We didn’t know at the start of the year just how important this strong financial footing would be, but it has enabled us to react quickly and step forward to play our part in helping to get the local economy back on track.

For over 400 years, Belfast Harbour has been the engine room of the local economy, playing a key role in keeping daily life in Northern Ireland moving and our critical role in keeping essential goods and supply chains flowing smoothly during the coronavirus crisis provides clear evidence that is still the beating heart of the City. The Port has continued to operate safely and effectively throughout the crisis and has remained open for business every day.

It was vital that we did remain open for business.

More than two thirds of what comes in and out of Northern Ireland by sea comes through Belfast Harbour – from the food in our weekly shop, to the materials for household improvements, to the wide variety of products sold by our businesses

TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

and shipped around the world.

Trade dropped significantly during the early months of the lockdown but has now recovered in most sectors and we expect it will be down somewhere between 10% and 20% for the year. The worst impacts have been to our cruise, tourist and leisure activities which all but ceased operation with only one cruise ship calling in Belfast this year when we were expecting to receive 130. We are confident this business will return, but it may take some time.

OurTrust Port status requires us to reinvest all profits back into developing the port and harbour estate for the benefit of customers and wider economy. In the past 10 years we have invested over £290m in port infrastructure and wider estate regeneration and we have currently committed £115m in investment to strategically significant marine and estate projects in the next few years.

During 2019, just under £50m was invested in the port’s facilities, including upgrades the container terminal at Victoria Terminal 3, the ramp and facilities at the Belfast -Liverpool ferry terminal and

53

the modernisation of our crane facilities, including a commitment to purchase two new £6.6m shipto-shore cranes, which have now been delivered.

Our major construction contract for what will be the City’s largest Grade A office building , City Quays 3, is on schedule for completion at the end2021 and construction is underway at Olympic House, our co-development project with Titanic Quarter Limited. Both projects will be important assets in the pursuit of Foreign Direct Investment opportunities as part of the post Covid recovery.

Discussions with prospective tenants lead us to believe there will be continued demand for office space despite the pandemic. Many current City Quays tenants already work a ‘hybrid’ workspace model which has an office at its core supported byvarying levels of home working. They continue to see value in having high quality offices where their people can collaborate, share ideas and interact safely.

Filming at Belfast Harbour Studios also started up again over the summer and we received planning permission for our extension to the studio

complex. While productions have been disrupted we still expect the demand for high quality original film and television content, driven by streaming services like Netflix, Disney +, Amazon Prime and Apple, will lead to increased demand for studio space.

Belfast Harbour’s long-term strategy to 2035 – A Port for Everyone –remains our blueprint for future growth. Our ambition is that Belfast becomes the best regional port in the world, augmenting our role as a gateway to the world for our importers and exporters, and a key hub for economic growth. This will include further developing Belfast Harbour as a key economic hub for the region by investing in marine infrastructure, smart technologies and green initiatives.

The strategy was developed with a number of risks and challenges in mind. We’ve added Covid-19 into the mix, alongside the other big issue of the moment - the impact of Brexit on trade into and from Northern Ireland.

As discussions continue between the UK government and Europe over the outworking of the NI Protocol, we remain ready to play our part in the implementation of new arrangements.

Belfast Harbour’s immediate goal is to work with other Top 100 companies to help get Northern Ireland’s economy back on track. 2021 will be challenging, but our sound finances, ambitious investment plans and our commitment to work with others for mutual success, provides a good platform from which to start.

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TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

 LOOKING AHEAD 

THE SPEED OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION HAS ALSO BEEN ASTONISHING IN MANY CASES, WITH COMPANIES ACHIEVING IN WEEKS WHAT WOULD NORMALLY HAVE TAKEN YEARS Around Noon’s Gareth Chambers and Howard Farquhar.

The company secured CBILS lending through Barclays

Thoughts on what we need to do As many businesses return to more normal trading in the wake of lockdown, thoughts turn towards the economic recovery. But it’s clear the next 12 months will not be plain sailing, writes Adrian Doran, head of corporate banking, Barclays Northern Ireland

F

or some businesses this is likely to be a time of continued fire-fighting, as they grapple with subdued customer demand and financial pressures, whilst for others it will be hopefully a return to something close to ‘business as usual’.

Here, we look at some of the top considerations for directors, accountants and company decision-makers, as we prepare for the road ahead.

‘Cash is king’ First and foremost, chief financial officers (CFOs) will want to ensure their businesses have enough cash to see them through to an eventual recovery.

Many companies have availed of government sup-

port such as the Job Retention Scheme or access to one of the various government loan schemes, all of which have helped bolster liquidity at this critical time. It is important that businesses have robust management information and the ability to forecast their cashflow over the next few uncertain quarters.

Building back better On a more optimistic front, the old adage ‘never waste a crisis’ has never been more apt. The past few months have seen many businesses adapt extremely quickly to facilitate working from home. The speed of digital transformation has also been astonishing in many cases, with companies achieving in weeks what would normally

have taken years. In our own business, Barclays completed over 200,000 Bounce Back Loans across the UK, with many customers getting funds into their accounts within just 48 hours of completing their online application. This level of demand was unprecedented and showed the advantages of being a digitally enabled bank.

The question for all businesses now is, can this new-found agility and these more flexible working practices can be carried forward to drive productivity improvements, or do we allow ourselves to slip back into old habits?

Sustainability Corporate responsibility, sustainability and the environmental agenda were huge before Covid, and

with economic challenges on the near horizon, it could be easy to see them pushed them back down the list of priorities. But from the conversations we’re having with clients and business leaders, it is likely these will be even more important going forward. For instance, we have recently seen a significant rise in firms placing ‘Green Deposits’ – funds which are only used by the bank to support projects that enhance the transition to a low carbon economy.

Those companies that are seen to have built strong social, environmental and ethical reputations, particularly during the crisis, will be rewarded. Many businesses flexed production to respond quickly to the government’s urgent request for PPE for health workers. The absence of commuting has made people think about our future office and transport needs, and the positive impact we can all make on climate control.

So in spite of, or perhaps because of, the crisis, I’m confident some long-lasting positive social change will result.

Skills Over the last four or five months, many people (this one included) have taken the opportunity for some additional training and development.

There is a multitude of online learning available and the crisis has shown that we don’t need to be in a classroom to study, and we don’t need to hop on a plane to network with international peers and industry thinkers. The concept of lifelong learning is something that all of us need to consider going forward.

While the past few months have presented many challenges, it has also opened our minds to many new ways of working.

The smart businesses will be those that don’t just hope for a return back to their old ‘normal’, they are the firms that have learned from the crisis and adapt quickest to our new reality.

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 COMMERCIAL PROPERTY 

e Custom House, Belfast

‘Deals are happening despite the uncertainty’

By Neil McShane, founder of commercial property investment consultancy InPrio

I

have been tasked with providing a review of the commercial property market for 2020.

This should be relatively straightforward - it has been brutal. Covid-19, and the necessary but challenging lockdown, has resulted in the toughest market I have experienced in my 20 years in the industry. This was to be expected and hence I have not been shocked by some of the headlines on conditions in the wider economy such as “car sales down 97%” - though I was more surprised that 3% even happened.

“Retail sales suffer worst decline on record”; well, that was inevitable. “Global stock markets experience worst crash since 1987” - of course they did. The world practically ground to a halt, so the stark economic graphs and stats didn’t alarm me. We have all just been through an incredibly tough time, going beyond financial concerns and damaging our livelihoods. Indeed, this pandemic is not going away overnight, so we will need to learn to live with it.

Whilst the headlines didn’t shock, I am concerned about what is to come. I don’t like uncertainty but I fear it will take some time for the fog to lift. What can we expect as we start to slowly crawl out from our abodes and back into a world we can barely recognise? I think it’s fair to say, we are in for a tough time. And, aside from the fact that we don’t know how long this will be with us, we also now have to deal with the recently-entered

recession, perhaps accelerated by the lockdown, and also the continued and perhaps worsening turmoil coming with Brexit.

What about the local property investment market? I am frequently asked: are there any deals happening in NI at all? Well, I am pleased to be able to sayyes, and some substantial deals at that. In the middle of lockdown, Savills brought to the market the new Amazon warehouse and

Balloo Retail Park

distribution facility in Titanic Quarter. With 10 years secured to such an attractive covenant in the go-to industrial/distribution sector, strong interest was to be expected. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that it has generated considerable interest and is expected to sell in excess of the £24.5m guide price. This is not the only big deal happening.

The investment market in NI has long been

dominated by retail transactions and this year will be no different. We have seen three substantial retail investments come to the market including Balloo Retail Park, Bangor (105,000 sq ft), Lisnagelvin Retail Park, Londonderry (62,000 sq ft) and the Currys PC World Megastore at Sprucefield (53,000 sq ft). Another prominent retail park in greater Belfast has been agreed for sale in an off-market transaction, providing further evidence that there is demand for retail warehousing, in contrast to the challenges being felt on the high street. We have seen our fair share of Company Voluntary Arrangements (CVAs) in 2020 but also suffered the loss of a long-established brand in Eason who decided to pull the shutters on Northern Ireland.

The bakery chain, Greggs, closed various stores across the province and the DW Sports collapse into administration saw seven stores close. The high street was already in a tough spot, but the global pandemic introduced a new low.

The iconic Custom House is now under offer having been marketed throughout lockdown and drawing considerable interest from across the UK. The marketing particulars suggest the Grade B+ listed building could lend itself to a range of potential uses including apartments, hotel, restaurant, event space or offices.

Much has been said about changes to the office sector in a month when we saw Castlebrooke secure outline planning for their office-led Tribeca

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Tribeca Belfast urban regeneration scheme

Artist impression of the view from North Street looking north to Tribeca The Scottish Provident building in Belfast city centre scheme and Google decided against 200,000 sq ft of offices in Dublin, which would have housed some 2,000 workers. Less has been said about the significant footprint that Google retains having 1.1m sq ft for some 11,000 workers. However, suffice to say, change is here and we are likely to see a new way-of-life for workers, with many businesses offering a hybrid of working-from-home and coming to work. Perhaps this could cause some short to medium-term pain for traditional office landlords but it would be a good result for employees who want flexibility and businesses who could potentially drive down their occupational costs with a smaller footprint. Working-from-home has become a new norm but offices are here to stay.

Some office developers may well be revisiting their plans but perhaps it will be to decide on scale and timing as opposed to total abandonment; many businesses have been equipped to facilitate working-from-home for years but with limited avail because of how offices provide a valued hub for staff. Castlebrooke may decide to scale back on their ambitious office plans but Belfast will still need a supply pipeline and the Tribeca scheme could prove critical to achieving that.

It will be interesting to see what role the flexible office market plays in the next few years, as companies may be reluctant to commit to new leases without considering all options available.

Belfast has a healthy spread of choice in what is

Amazon warehouse and distribution facility in Titanic Quarter still a relatively new sector for the city. Scottish Provident, StepSpace, Clockwise, Glandore and Ormeau Baths all represent success stories in the flexible space market, but it is now boosted by new offerings in Dublin Road’s Hubflow and Urban HQ on Upper Queen Street. Perhaps we are now seeing this sub-sector reaching capacity but potential changes to work routines, resulting from the pandemic, could fuel further demand.

The industrial sector continues to be the most

durable, and inevitably, the most attractive. Industrial topped Q2 UK transactions for the first time ever, driven by the spike in space needed to facilitate deliveries. From an occupational or an investment perspective, I believe that the industrial juggernaut will power on for some time yet.

The residential market bounced back quickly with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reporting prices hitting a five-year high, no doubt aided by the Chancellor’s stamp duty exemption

for homes under £500k. This strong demand was further evidenced by the Moira One development of 88 homes which shifted the majority of its first phase just hours after being placed on the market. Lotus Homes achieved similar success with its 104 home Ashbourne Manor scheme in Carrickfergus, bagging £2.25m worth of sales in a quick turnaround. There were also buyers queuing for the release of another phase of the Deanery Demesne in Armagh which resulted in 15 bookings worth £2.85m, pushing current totals to an impressive 67 units. To say the demand for new-build residential is strong would be an understatement. The letting market isn’t looking too shabby either as demand remains unwavering for Belfast’s residential offering.

Whilst 2020 has been dominated by bad news stories, we have had some welcome highlights.

Many will already be writing off the rest of this dreadful year and starting to prepare for 2021.

Sadly I don’t see us plain-sailing into the NewYear.

We have little time left to secure a trade deal with the EU as the prospect of a no-deal Brexit seems to heighten. Furthermore, we still have no real sense of what economic damage has been done

by COVID-19.

Regrettably, we have more tough times ahead.

But, hopefully the worst is behind us and, in the past, we have shown our strength and resilience when needed. We endured a long and challenging recession triggered by the 2008 financial crisis, so we know that we can adapt when times get tough.

When things do improve, and theywill, we will all put our shoulder to the wheel.

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TOP 100 Northern Ireland Companies 2020

Covid-19 has shone light on our makers

By Stephen Kelly, chief executive of Manufacturing NI

Economy Minister Diane Dodds on a visit to Denroy in Bangor with (left) chief executive Kevin McNamee and Alan Gibson, tool room engineer

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ven a cursory glance at the Top 100 tells you how important our manufacturing sector is to the economy Northern Ireland. Innovative, resilient, committed firms who make an incalculable contribution to our way of life and putting jobs in places where people want to call home and as a result building strong urban and rural communities.

Whilst some may have focused on the power of our cities to build our economy, our manufacturers

have got on with business creating wealth through the dignity of work and making products which are enjoyed at home - critically bringing in a huge amount of external income to our small economy.

It is a great privilege of this job to be able to get past the factory gates and go see how and what our incredible manufacturing community make. None more so than when I was invited to the opening of the new Bloc Blinds factory in Magherafelt established to make face shields for the NHS. At the beginning of the Covid crisis, Bloc

repurposed inside one week to make their shields for front line workers, took over the local leisure centre and employed hundreds more local people.

Their new partially automated production facility will help produce some 4.5 million shields per week and was completed inside only seven weeks.

This success is testament to the great leadership of Cormac Diamond and his talented team.

But, as Cormac said at the opening, “we were only able to do this because we have a manufacturing sector... lose that and we put yourself at risk”.

That is so true. Where would we be if we didn’t have a manufacturing base. How much trouble would we be in if it weren’t for the agility, ingenuity and entrepreneurship of our local manufacturing sector.

Some 600 local manufacturers repurposed in whole or in part to meet the challenges of the public health emergency.

Whether that’s O’Neill switching form sports jerseys to medical scrubs inside a weekend or Denroy taking the equipment and materials to make free visors for our doctors and nurses, our manufacturers stepped up and delivered.

Of course, we also hugely relied on those who kept going because we really needed them. Moy Park, Almac, W&R Barnett and Norbrook were there to provide food, medicines and keeping the food chain going. As were Keystone Group and Brett Martin and others who meet the challenge about keeping construction materials flowing and Encirc providing bottles for our drinks of choice which perhaps took the edge off the tedium of lockdown.

The hugely important engineering sector led by amongst others Terex, McCloskey and CDE temporarily closed but found a safe way of reopening to make sure people were paid and equipment shipped globally to meet challenges of recovering critical minerals or dealing with waste.

Many falsely believe that “we don’t make anything anymore”. Nonsense. Whether you are reading this on paper or online, have a look around.

There are real, physical things everywhere you look which are made by the hands of someone somewhere and increasingly likely, here at home.

Furniture, food, telecoms, building products, electrical equipment, lighting and more. And, much of the final products make it to you because we’ve made the machinery to support the supply chain. Much may be imported, but much if it also comes your home or office from someone in your city, town or townland.

We should take a look around us and be grateful for the talents of our makers.

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Bloc Blinds set up a facility for making visors at Meadowbank Sports Arena in Magherafelt

Ciaran Doherty of Huhtamaki, which joined Bloc Blinds’ visormaking efforts

Some of the scrubs made by O’Neills in Strabane and (above) a machinist at work

But gratitude won’t be enough. We face the huge challenge of recovery from Covid with the extra burdens of Brexit coming hurtling towards us. Our firms have little capacity or capital for a disorderly and rancorous end of the UKs relationship with the EU. As I write this, one in three people in manufacturing are at risk of losing their jobs when the Job Retention Scheme comes to an abrupt close at the end of October. Sadly, those on furlough may join those in industries not able to wait to who have already announced inevitable redundancies.

Expect promises of retraining and reskilling as a response but these are some of our most skilled workers already. Preparing these workers for other industries is a real waste of talent and of opportunity.

The best place for them would be to move into our SME manufacturers. Bringing their experience and expertise to this part of industry could

catapult the fortunes of these businesses.

For that to happen, these firms need to survive and need the support of the Executive. These export focused, high value-added firms are just the ones that every region across these islands are falling over themselves to attract and support yet here they have to fend for themselves.

Manufacturing is one of the toughest and most expensive businesses to start. It is not simply the case of getting premises and a team together, buying some stock, getting your marketing right and opening the doors with customer waiting outside. It is all of that but with a big capital outlay on machinery whose value is written down over 20 or 30 years, building a team with technical expertise, establishing complex global supply chains, months and years of product development, getting product and market approvals and then a long wait for prospects to have the confidence to be turned in to customers.

In many cases, it is a very long runway which sometimes requires significant lengthening before the business takes off.

With manufacturing businesses so difficult to start up, it becomes even more important that the Executive and its agencies are there for those who have made it through the difficult earlyyears.

Our manufacturers have proven to be creative and resilient in some of our darkest economic days.

As Cormac Diamond said, we are lucky to have them. We may rely on them again this autumn, so everything needs to be done to protect them in the coming months.

Our makers may be currently in retreat, but they can march again. Lose them now and we may well come to regret it.

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