Business Eye May 2015

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Issue 150 May 2015 ÂŁ2.50 Voted best Business Magazine in Ireland 2005 and Magazine of the Year for Northern Ireland

Shortlisted Magazines Ireland Awards 2011 Business To Business Magazine of the Year

Bank of Ireland UK Small Business In Focus Features:

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Agri Food... Still The Star Player?

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Tourism... Are We Being Served?

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Progressive... Record Year For Mutual

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Contents

titanicbelfast.com May 2015 ISSUE 150

Business Awards

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Deadline Looming For Small Business Awards

Electric Ireland Top Performer Michelle Greeves is General Manager of Belfast’s most successful shopping centre, Victoria Square, and she talks about the challenges of keeping the city’s retail jewel in the crown at the top of its game.

The deadline for entries to the Business Eye First Trust Bank Small Business Awards is Friday, 15th May. The awards are an exciting new addition to the awards calendar here in Northern Ireland, with the trophies due to be handed out at what is set to be a memorable night out at the La Mon House Hotel & Country Club on June 11th this year.

Agri Futures... Business Leaders Forum

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Cover Story Bank of Ireland UK... Focus on Small Businesses

The best vehicles, the best suppliers and the top personalities from Northern Ireland’s fleet and business vehicle sector were recognised at the recent Business Eye Fleet Industry Awards, held as part of two full days of motoring action at Titanic Belfast.

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Agri Food in Northern Ireland... Still Our Star Performer?

A special Business Eye sectoral focus turns the spotlight back on to the agri food sector. Is it still the local economy’s Player of the Year, and what needs to be done to keep the momentum in agri food going?

We talk to some of the key players, from strategists and consultants through to those running the companies who make the agri food industry what it is.

Eye on Giving Ulster Rugby supremo Shane Logan takes a break from preparing for Ulster’s end of season trophy push to talk about the importance to him of philanthropy and corporate social responsibility.

Johnston Campbell has been a trusted wealth management brand name in Belfast for more than 40 years, and the firm continues to provide a wide range of clients with the kind of financial advice and guidance that they need.

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Record Year At Progressive

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Our new local range at a price you’ll love

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Mairead Scott of specialist recruitment firm MCS reckons that its a candidates’ market when it comes to accounting and finances roles at just about every level in a fast-growing Northern Ireland marketplace.

The Game of Thrones Phenomenon We take a closer look at how the phenomenon that is Games of Thrones has provided a real and tangible boost to the Northern Ireland tourist eonomy at just about every level, and ask how we can develop and build on it for a more sustainable tourism future.

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Eye on Banking

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Moving On

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Eye on Technology

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Eye on Internet

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Eye on Charity

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Eye on Events

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Eye on Digital

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Eye on Motoring

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Editor Richard Buckley Commercial Director Brenda Buckley Sales Manager Claire Dickson

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Accounting & Finance... People Required

Eye on Tax

Buckley Publications 20 Kings Road Belfast, BT5 6JJ Tel: (028) 9047 4490 Fax: (028) 9047 4495 www.businesseye.co.uk

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Wealth Management... A Dedicated Approach

Financial Services

ABC average circulation Jan-June 2010, 7,610 copies Yearly Subscription £35 UK and NI or £37.50 outside the UK

Selective Travel Manager/British Airways Round Table

Business Eye Fleet Industry Awards

Sectoral Focus

Regulars

The Business Eye Business Leaders Forum makes a welcome return to our pages, with a cross section of leaders from the agri food industry reflecting on the importance of the establishment of a new agri food marketing body for Northern Ireland.

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An influential panel gathers at Selective Travel Management’s Belfast boardroom to talk about how the travel industry and airline sector is faring in Northern Ireland, and how improvements could be made.

With business lending on the increase, Sean Sheehan, Regional Director, NI Consumer & Small Business at Bank of Ireland talks to Business Eye about how supporting small businesses here in Northern Ireland forms a crucial part of the bank’s business model.

With loans to customers up by 30% to £153 million, savings inflows up 19% to £278 million and profits sitting at their highest ever level of £9.5 million.....it’s fair to say that it’s been a great year for our only mutual financial services organisation, Progressive Building Society. We catch up with Deputy Chief Executive, Michael Boyd.

Specials

Features & Promotions Manager Ciara Donnelly

Design Hexagon Tel: (028) 9047 2210 www.hexagondesign.com

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Photography Press Eye 45 Stockmans Way Belfast, BT9 7ET Tel: (028) 9066 9229 www.presseye.com

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With the General Election behind us, UK politics might have a challenging future ahead of it in the coming months, but we’ve got to get back to the excitement or otherwise of observing the Stormont administration.

Comment

“If the Executive can get its proverbial *** into gear and deliver a lower rate of corporation tax for Northern Ireland, we can take advantage of potential political disarray in London and what is clearly looking like a socialist leaning SNP administration over in Scotland.”

Richard Buckley EDITOR Irish Magazine Editor of the Year 2005

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fter all, when it comes to decision-making up on the hill, the electioneering of the past few weeks has been little more than a sideshow.

Can we expect to see a new determination as our MLA’s return from a rather pointless absence?

Will the logjam around the welfare cuts be broken?

Will Sinn Fein stick to its anti-austerity guns? And does that mean that corporation tax remains stuck somewhere in the interminable process?

It would be nice to think that the answers to all of those questions – and more – will come quickly.

But past experience tells us otherwise.

It also tells us that those who warned that winning corporation tax powers from Westminster was only the very start of the battle were right.

Yet we’re looking at a very real opportunity here.

If the Executive can get its proverbial *** into gear and deliver a lower rate of corporation tax for Northern Ireland, we can take advantage of potential political disarray in London (where decisions won’t be made with any speed for some time to come) and what is clearly looking like a socialist leaning SNP administration over in Scotland. Lower corporation tax for Scotland isn’t likely to be high on Nicola Sturgeon’s agenda.

When it comes to foreign direct investment, we could have a window of opportunity during which we only have to go head to head with those who we share this island with. And we’re well used to that...

It was good to hear news of another major conference coming Belfast’s way. But even more significant is the fact that the Routes Europe Conference, due to be held here in the early part of 2017, can leave a lasting legacy behind it.

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It’s the major annual event focusing on air routes, and brings together 100 or so airlines along with airports and tourist authorities. In other words, everyone trying to get new routes comes along to lobby those who make the decisions at the airlines.

And Belfast very definitely falls into that category.

Economy Minister Arlene Foster was quick to welcome news of the conference, and she went on to add that any city which has held the event in the past has come out with more routes.

That’s a fairly bold statement by the Minister, and it’s worth remembering that she has another way at her disposal to help boost route development here.

The conference, of course, won’t do any harm. Air route development gurus and funds aren’t the answer either, as has been proven here. But everyone in the airline industry speaks with one voice when it comes to air passenger duty.

The Minister, and the Executive, commissioned a report into the possibility of scrapping APD here – in the same way that the Irish Government did a couple of years ago – but were advised that it would be too expensive.

But, just recently, Belfast International Airport came up with a rival report which said pretty much the opposite.

But maybe one has to be outside of the industry to see what really seems to be happening.

We’ve got two airports (three, if you count Derry) here serving a relatively small population.

And we’re haemhorraging passengers to Dublin Airport an hour and a half’s drive away.

Why? Partly, of course, because of the much wider route network available from Dublin (various US direct flights, Dubai & Bahrain daily, a big European network, etc) but partly because its cheaper to fly from there. Its cheaper because of the lack of APD and its cheaper because the airport bosses run a competitive pricing policy on things like car parking... to attract more passengers down from the North.

Did you think those Dublin Airport poster ads were a coincidence?

Voted

Corporate Bank of the Year* 2015

Corporate Banking

Eye on News

John Minnis Scoops 5 National Awards

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Chris Kirk, director of the Belfast office, Emma Coote, director, Holywood branch, John Minnis, director, Stephen McLean, director, Donaghadee.

John Minnis Estate Agents has scooped five awards at the highly coveted national awards, the ESTAs, and were crowned the ‘Best Local Lettings Agency in the UK’ and ‘Best Estate Agents in Northern Ireland’.

he ten-year-old agency with 25 staff, received full recognition in ‘Best Estate Agents in Northern Ireland’ category, with all three offices winning awards.

The Donaghadee office was also given additional recognition as it won Gold in the Best Lettings Agency in Northern Ireland.

John Minnis was one of just four agencies from Northern Ireland to be shortlisted in the twelfth annual ‘ESTA awards, which are the ‘Oscars’ of the estate agency industry.

Phil Spencer, the TV property expert, announced the award at a lavish luncheon and ceremony at the Hilton Park Lane London, attended by 800 of the UK’s top estate and letting agents in the UK property industry.

The ESTAS determine the best estate and letting agents in the UK through research carried out amongst customers who are asked a series of questions about

the service they have received from their agent. Over 25,000 questionnaires were completed by customers during the competition.

Phil Spencer, who has hosted the ESTAS every year since their inception in 2003 said: “The ESTAS are about making people happy, putting a smile on their face and making a genuine difference to peoples’ lives. An agent’s role is about guiding people through one of the most stressful times in their lives and that’s not an easy job. The ESTAS help agencies to focus on customer service levels and that’s why firms keep coming back year after year”.

Agents were shortlisted in 18 regions around the UK. National Grand Prix Awards were also announced for the Best Single Agent Office in sales and lettings.

New Team To Take Grafton Forward Grafton Recruitment, one of the leading recruitment companies in Ireland, since its establishment in 1983, is gearing for a new era of growth following the recent appointment of a new senior management team and a number of specialist recruiters.

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his investment in the team positions the firm to strengthen its operations within its High Street Division, Specialist Recruitment Division and HR Consulting Division, and expand into new sectors, especially in the areas of Information Technology, Banking & Finance, Engineering and Manufacturing, Industrial and Catering, Contact Centres & Shared Services and Office Support.

Pete Feldman, Director Northern Ireland said “For 32 years Grafton Recruitment has been connecting talent and opportunity.

Our extensive branch network across Northern Ireland enables

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us to connect employers with the best candidates available.

We place a strong emphasis on partnering with our clients and candidates, and work together to foster lifelong relationships and partnerships, driving a positive impact for candidates, clients and our business.”

Feldman is an experienced HR professional who has held senior roles with Carphone Warehouse and Paddy Power in the UK, Ireland and Europe.

He’s joined in the leadership team at Grafton by Nicholas Hudson in the Chief Financial Officer role.

He is a former COO of London’s

Photograph Left to Right - Mark Wylie, Nicholas Hudson, Eileen Jordan, Pete Feldman, Bronagh Hughes, Paul Kenna and Tony Baker

Cromwell Hospital and has worked for several blue chip organisations including Sara Lee Corporation, Courtaulds Plc and DCC Plc. Paul Kenna becomes Banking & Finance Business Manager, heading up that specialist division in Belfast, while Mark Wylie takes responsibility for the temporary division as Commercial Business

Manager. Bronagh Hughes becomes Business Manager for engineering whilst Tony Baker will be in charge of the technology division.

Eileen Jordan completes the new-look team at Grafton as Head of Marketing for Ireland.

She previously held roles at RSM Farrell Grant Sparks, Jones Lang LaSale, Unilever and Danone.

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Eye on News

Airport Firefighter Apprentice Lands Full Time Employment The career prospects of two Belfast youths are set to soar thanks to George Best Belfast City Airport and its ‘High Flyers Apprenticeship’ scheme.

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hrough Workforce Training Services, Tara McGuinness has joined the programme as an Administration Assistant, whilst Neal Rice, from Springvale Employment and Learning Solutions, will achieve a childhood dream by training as an onsite firefighter.

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After receiving the news that the coveted apprenticeship will result in full time employment at the airport’s Fire Department following the successful completion of the required qualifications, 24 year old Neal said: “I’m thrilled that Belfast City Airport has taken me under its wing for this amazing opportunity, particularly as employment opportunities across the fire service are so far and few between.

“Already the airport has funded an

intense five week specialist training programme for me in England, where I successfully completed the Aviation Firefighter Endorsed Certificate of Competence and BTEC Intermediate Diploma.

“I feel so lucky to have been given this opportunity and am very grateful to everyone who have made me feel so welcome and who are taking the time to show me the ropes.”

In the next six months the airport will invest further in Neal’s training through his completion of medical care, emergency response driving and emergency water rescue courses.

Seamus MacMahon, Chief Fire Officer at Belfast City Airport and Neal’s mentor, said: “At the airport we are extremely passionate about supporting and investing in the wellbeing of young people here in Northern Ireland. It’s

about time they were given a break and for more employers to find a way to open more windows of opportunity and nurture their potential.

“Training with the fire service requires dedication, hard work and skill, all of which Neal has demonstrated so far and we really are delighted to have him on board.”

Aidan Sloane, Chief Executive of Springvale Employment and Learning said: “We’re completely blown away that Belfast City Airport accepted one of our clients for its highly prestigious apprenticeship scheme, not least in such a unique, hard to come by role.

“We cannot thank the airport enough for their support and truly look forward to working with the team in the future to provide apprenticeship and employment opportunities to young people.”

NEW FOR 2015

BUSINESS EYE FIRST TRUST BANK

SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS

AWARD CATEGORIES & CRITERIA

There are twelve categories for the awards this year...

SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD The small business enterprise with 50 employees or less which, in the opinion of the judges, exemplifies best practice and achievement across the board.

Entries for this premier award category can be made directly and winning entries in all other categories will also be considered.

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CUSTOMER FOCUS AWARD Our judging panel will single out the local small business which most effectively brings to life best practice in customer service across all of its operations. The judges will look for clear evidence of customer satisfaction..

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INNOVATIVE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD

SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING AWARD

Open to companies operating in any business sector, this award will go to the organisation which best illustrates the most effective use of innovation through investment in innovative practices, leading edge products and/or services to contribute to overall business success.

Open to companies in all sectors of the local business community, this award sets out to recognise and showcase the organisation which best uses marketing – including advertising, PR or the strategic use of digital platforms and social media - to enhance business performance across the board.

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For further information please contact Ciara Donnelly at Business Eye on 028 9047 4490 or ciara@businesseye.co.uk

enter online at www.businesseyeawards.co.uk HOSPITALITY & TOURISM BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD A special category aimed directly at Northern Ireland’s growing number of small tourism and hospitality-related business enterprises, including pubs, restaurants, cafes, smaller hotels, tourism activity businesses and transport and travel providers.

EXPORTER OF THE YEAR An award which will recognise the top achieving exporting company from Northern Ireland’s small business community, recognising sales achievement in all markets outside of Northern Ireland itself, including both the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain.

TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD

MANUFACTURING BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD

This award is open to all small businesses based in Northern Ireland who provide products and/ or services in the wider technology field, including IT services, software development, technology product innovation and consultancy.

A category open to all companies of 50 employees or less engaged directly in the manufacture of products for sale in Northern Ireland and in export markets. The judges will look for evidence of research and development and innovation in manufacturing.

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START-UP BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD Aimed at Northern Ireland’s most promising start-up enterprise, the award will go to a young company of one year old or less which, in the view of the judging panel, best illustrates what can be achieved by startup businesses across any sector here in Northern Ireland.

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AGRI-FOOD BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD Northern Ireland’s leading small business operating in the agrifood sector, to include food and drink producers, farm-based enterprises and companies providing products and services to the agri-food industry here.

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HEALTHCARE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD Another specialist category, aimed at small business enterprises in the healthcare field here in Northern Ireland.

This category is open to all business-led healthcare related organisations including opticians, dental practices and enterprises such as care homes for the elderly.

COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION AWARD Despite smaller budgets, corporate responsibility plays an important role for small businesses in Northern Ireland. This special award will recognise the best example of how small businesses here can help to make a difference in the communities they serve.

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Eye on News

RUGBY WORLD CUP...

THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS Ireland’s sparkling form in the Six Nations Championship this season means that hopes are high for an Irish challenge in the Rugby World Cup which runs from mid-September until the end of October in England & Wales.

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usiness Eye is joining forces with fast-growing sports marketing agency Sportology Talent to organise a Business Sporting Luncheon to coincide with Ireland’s crunch pool game against France.

The lunch will take place on Friday, 8th October, from 1.00 pm at a central Belfast venue.

It will be hosted by BBC Northern Ireland’s Stephe Watson, who will interview a panel of players including 4-time World Cup attendee Paddy Wallace and Ulster & Ireland’s Stuart Olding.

Sportology Talent already represents some of Ulster Rugby’s leading players, and is also active in golf management. The agency was established by former Ulster player Andrew Park.

Full details of the Rugby World Cup events will be featured in forthcoming editions of Business Eye and will also be available on both the www.businesseye.co.uk and www.sportologyuk.com websites.

Places will be limited and can be secured by contacting Andrew Park on apark@sportologyuk.com

Business Eye’s Brenda Buckley helps to launch the October Business Sporting Lunch with former Ireland RWC star Paddy Wallace, current Ulster player Stuart Olding and BBC Northern Ireland’s Stephen Watson.

Danske Bank Announces It Is The New Sponsor Of UTV Business Data

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anske Bank has announced that it is the new sponsor of UTV Live Tonight’s Business Data segment.

Business Data is aired within UTV Live Tonight and features exchange rates, market performance and factual data. It goes out every Monday to Thursday at around 10.50pm.

As part of the sponsorship, Danske Bank has produced a number of 10 second intros that emphasise how Danske Bank is supporting local businesses.

Nicola McCleery, Head of Marketing at Danske Bank said: “We are delighted to be sponsoring UTV Business Data. With an audience of around 70,000 a night, the programme provides us with a unique opportunity to reach a wide business audience and further reinforce our position as leading the way for local businesses.”

Trevor Jordan, Sales Director, UTV Television added: “We are pleased to welcome Danske Bank as the new sponsor for the Business Data segment on UTV Live Tonight.

“The business sector in Northern Ireland is in a strong place and we’ve seen real investment in the sector with some significant new business announcements and expansion opportunities. Just as Danske Bank have played their part in supporting the sector, UTV has significantly developed our business news offering to reflect the level of investment demonstrated in Northern Ireland.

“As well as that our late night current affairs programme continues to develop a sound reputation for delivering exclusive interviews and strong ratings, outperforming the ITV network slot performance each week.”

Danske Bank’s Head of Marketing Nicola McCleery joins UTV Business Editor Jamie Delargy and Sales Director Trevor Jordan in the studio to announce Danske Bank’s sponsorship of the Business Data segment of UTV Live Tonight.

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Eye on Tax Changes

Employer Changes For The New Tax Year Alistair Cooke is Director at accountancy and business advisory firm, ASM Chartered Accountants. In this article, Alistair, who heads up the Dungannon office, and specialises in audit, accounting, taxation and payroll services, discusses the importance of understanding the employer changes for the new tax year…

By Alistair Cooke, ASM Chartered Accountants, Dungannon

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he new tax year started on 6 April 2015 and as with every tax year there have been changes which employers we need to be aware of.

A summary of the main changes are as follows: 1. The standard personal allowance has increased to £10,600. Employers need to therefore ensure that they have correctly increased the tax codes within their payroll system. Most employees will not receive an individual tax code, therefore employers need to apply this increase.

• Action point – check you have correctly changed your employees tax codes.

2. Employers will not pay Employers National Insurance contributions for employees aged under 21. This applies for the first £815 of earnings per week. Employees will continue to pay National Insurance at the normal rates on earnings over £155 per week.

• Action point – make sure you have the correct date of birth for all employees and check that you are applying the correct National Insurance category to their earnings.

3. The £2,000 employment allowance introduced in 2014 continues to be available for 2015-16. This allowance, which is available to most employers, can reduce an employers National Insurance bill for the year by £2,000.

• Action point - check if you are eligible to claim the Employment Allowance and ensure that it is being claimed.

4. The concept of Shared Parental Leave and Pay is introduced for children born after 5 April 2015 (or in the case of

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adoptions for children placed after 5 April 2015). Employed mothers will still be entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave and 39 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay. However the mother can opt to exchange part of her maternity leave and Statutory Maternity Pay into Shared Parental Leave and Shared Parental Pay which her partner may be able to use.

• Action point – Employers will need to be aware of the Shared Parental leave rules and have proper procedures in place to deal with this. Employment policies and handbooks may need updated to reflect these changes.

5. A uto-enrolment continues to be rolled out to all employers. This is where an employer must provide access to a pension scheme for its employees. In most circumstances the employers will also have to make a contribution. The choosing of an appropriate scheme and its implementation takes time and should be carefully planned.

• Action point – Determine your staging date i.e. your auto-enrolment starting date and ensure you have enough time to properly implement it.

6. I ncreases to the National Minimum Wage have been announced from 1 October 2015. The increase in the main rate is 3% and therefore for some employers could lead to a substantial increase in their wages bill. A business may have to review and increase it prices to compensate for this increase.

• Action point – determine the impact the National Minimum Wage increase will have on your business and plan any price increases accordingly.

7. R eal Time Information (RTI) penalties are now in place for all employers, including small employers. Employers with less than 50 employees face a monthly penalty of up to £200 for the late filing of payroll information.

• Action point – ensure all RTI submissions are made on time, i.e. on or before employees are paid.

If you have difficulty achieving this, consider contracting out the operation of your payroll function.

ASM Chartered Accountants has six offices, Dungannon, Belfast, Dublin, Dundalk, Magherafelt and Newry. The 120 strong team specialises in a range of accountancy disciplines including, corporate finance, Insolvency services, forensic accounting, Audit & accounting, consultancy services, internal audit, tax, hotel, tourism and leisure.

To speak Alistair Cooke, Director, ASM Chartered Accountants, Dungannon, email Alistair.Cooke@asmdungannon. com, visit www.asmaccountants.com or call 02887 722139 for further details.

Northern Ireland’s first choice for news www.u.tv

New thinking about energy

www.electricireland.com LoCall 0845 309 8138

Eye on Electric Ireland Top Performer Of The Month

Michelle Greeves (second left) receives her award from Business Eye’s Brenda Buckley. Also pictured are Clare McAllister, Sales Manager, and Vincent Litchfield, Customer Relations Manager, from Electric Ireland’s Belfast office.

In The Hot Seat At Retail’s Star Performer Michelle Greeves, Centre Manager, Victoria Square, Belfast

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he retail map of Belfast changed when Victoria Square opened its doors and the Centre these days is definitely the prime pitch for retailers when they consider investing – or stepping up their investment – in the city.

Victoria Square continues to attract new tenants, and continues to hit the high notes in terms of customer head count.

We catch up with the woman in the hot seat at Belfast’s showpiece retail centre, Michelle Greeves.

deliver the best we can for our customers in Victoria Square. Communication, I have always believed to be the biggest challenge in any organisation, ensuring that our hopes and aspirations for the centre are delivered to the level of excellence our customers deserve. The motivation is refusing to accept average and continually striving to improve on previous standards and targets.

At the heart of this, is encouraging feedback , but more importantly using it to improve and raise the bar.

Outline your career prior to taking on the Centre Manager role at Victoria Square?

I’m afraid this forces me to think back a little further than I care to these days …. At the age of 19, straight after school, I left to join House of Fraser, as a Trainee Manager in Manchester, one of their flagships stores. I then spent the next 16 years working in 11 different stores before returning home in 2007 to launch the HOF in Belfast.

How is Victoria Square performing in terms of both lettings and footfall?

Victoria Square has just celebrated its 7th Birthday, and I feel so proud to have the opportunity to play a part in the success of this iconic centre. It has grown in terms of Footfall and Sales every year since it opened, and last year was obviously the most successful to date, with numerous brands breaking records.

In terms of lettings, another successful year as we introduced more fabulous brands our existing strong portfolio, Yo Sushi, Mango, Swarovski, Goldsmiths Boutique, Karen Millen and extended already successful brands Costa Coffee and Fat Face. There are also several

What are the challenges of the job?

The challenges are the aspects that excite and motivate me the most. There are so many differing stakeholders and members of the team to work with, to

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lined up for 2015, and our latest addition will be Michael Kors opening in April.

What are the ingredients behind the centre’s success?

Understanding what this centre means to our customers is vital. The first steps, are ensuring the team is right and all members of my team have a strong Retail background. I am very privileged to now have a complete team who have clarity on what is the essence of Victoria Square - Our Customers. For my team and I, we have internal and external customers.

All the brands within the centre , are our internal customer, we need to ensure we manage the operational aspect of the centre, keep it clean and safe, and market it successfully. In turn their sales team will deliver excellent customer service at all times, whilst we ensure the environment is attractive to our customers. This centre would not be the success it is without the loyalty of our customers, and the Victoria Square Management team is driven by the opportunity to deliver this consistently.

What are the main targets and objectives going forward?

In very simple terms to be the best we can be. The challenge is in an ever changing market, we need to try to be as innovative as we can, to ensure our customers are excited to return. We are lucky to have a wide offering of over 50 brands from High Street to Premium, 18 Restaurants and cafes and the Odeon Cinema. Many of our brands are unique and therefore can only be found under the iconic Dome , which is a huge tourist attractions within its own right. However in this changing and challenging market, the one constant is our total focus on delivering excellence in every aspect of Customer Service. At the end of last year, we re-located our information desk to a fabulous new state of the art, Customer services area. This provides a world class environment for our customers to purchase our Gift Cards, to talk us or enquire generally about the centre.

BELFAST

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DUBLIN

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LONDON

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NEW YORK

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SILICON VALLEY

Excellence means new opportunities In Northern Ireland, Arthur Cox is the advisor of choice for leading local businesses and multinationals alike. Our growth has allowed us to invest further in our local footprint, and our new state-of-the-art offices are now open for business at Victoria House in Belfast. We look forward to seeing you there.

With Arthur Cox you can always expect excellence.

To find out how Arthur Cox can help you, For any enquiries contact call us on: +000 (0)0 000 0000 Alan Taylor, Managing Partner on: +44 28 9023 0007 www.arthurcox.com

Expect Excellence.

Eye on Technology

Tech Review: WorkPal It’s hard to move in business today without bumping into a new technology that’s transforming how things are done. For many local field-based companies it’s the snappily named WorkPal that’s single-handedly streamlining their entire job management process and virtually eliminating paperwork.

Brief Overview Labelled as a complete mobile workflow management solution, WorkPal (developed

by Northern Ireland company, Barclay Communications) provides office workers with a web app that delivers real-time job management, tracking, reporting and invoicing capabilities. Field workers’ avail of a smartphone or tablet app that constantly links them to the office and remotely guides them to and through all their jobs.

Features of WorkPal Job Management Every client’s current or scheduled jobs can be viewed, managed and quickly assigned to the nearest available field worker using the WorkPal web app, while the smartphone or tablet app guides field workers (step-by-step) through all job tasks, allowing them to add any forms, parts, notes, pictures or signatures directly onto the client’s account.

Job Tracking WorkPal automatically tracks a worker’s location and job status for the office’s web app and the Client Portal, which is designed to allow customers to login and check the status of their own individual jobs.

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Job Reporting As a field worker completes their tasks, WorkPal automatically generates detailed reports for the office that include completed tasks, forms, notes, parts used, photos, signatures, time and date stamps and GPS tracking information.

Job Invoicing Lastly WorkPal can be integrated into a business’s accounting system, which will automatically generate invoices on the completion of a job using appropriate price lists, mark-ups and charging rules.

Setup and Use of WorkPal Scalability There are three out-ofthe-box WorkPal solutions; WorkPal Forms, Lite and Pro, all of which can be used by one to hundreds of employees.

Businesses can also invest in a custom designed package with account system integration.

Installation WorkPal is a cloud based solution that is designed for ease of use and adoption. There’s no

installation on PCs, setup simply involves a web address and user login. The smartphone or tablet app only requires a quick application download.

Use and Accessibility WorkPal is an extremely user friendly solution for both office and field workers. Like many cloud solutions, WorkPal’s web app is accessible on any PC with internet access, and the mobile app will continue to work with or without reception by securely storing data onto the worker’s device and syncing with the office once reception is restored.

“ Every client’s current or scheduled jobs can be viewed, managed and quickly assigned to the nearest available field worker using the WorkPal web app, while the smartphone or tablet app guides field workers (stepby-step) through all job tasks.”

The Bottom Line If you’re a field engineer, contractor, facilities management firm or have any other job-centred remote workforce that want to cut field based paperwork, reduce time frames and the fuel or postage costs associated with delivering paperwork back to the office then WorkPal could be the solution for you.

For more information about WorkPal contact Barclay Communications on 028 9096 0366, visit yourworkpal.com or email info@yourworkpal.com

“Universities and colleges have invested millions of pounds in facilities, equipment and specialist staff and businesses can tap into this rich resource. But the benefits definitely are not one way. Engaging with industry sharpens the academia gaze, and feeds back into the curriculum and through to the students themselves.”

“Our role is simple,” says Lynn Connaughton. “We can ease the way for businesses in Northern Ireland to engage with our colleges and universities.

Businesses can make contact directly with us or any of our staff. We’ll then work to link companies with the right academic or support staff. It’s as simple as that.”

“There is no limit in terms of projects. We deal with such a diverse range....from basic collaboration between two partners, perhaps dealing with material testing or product proto -typing, through to more long-term complex research projects involving multiple partners on both the business and academic sides.”

“We want to engage more with SMEs and micro businesses who have little or no experience of working with a college or university. We want companies of all sizes and from all sectors to avail of this programme, and that includes not-forprofit and social enterprises.”

Delivering university and college expertise to the Northern Ireland business community Connected is here to encourage, ease and increase potential knowledge exchange links between academia and industry, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The aim of Connected is to develop interaction and stimulate innovation to benefit Northern Ireland companies and Northern Ireland’s economy.

Funded by the Department for Employment and Learning, Connected is a clear sign that the further and higher education sectors in Northern Ireland are ready and willing to offer their vast pool of expertise, knowledge, research capability and world-class facilities to businesses and the community at large.

Our colleges and universities are only too keen to welcome new businesses through their doors, whether they are looking for knowledge and expertise, specialist skills or equipment and resources. Working with universities and colleges provides businesses of all sizes and stages of development with access to numerous expertise, skills and specialist facilities on your doorstep.

For further information on the diverse range of support services available please visit our website www.connected.ni.org or contact us by emailing Lynn.connaughton@collegesni.ac.uk or you can follow us on twitter @ConnectedNI

Eye on Cover Story

Bank of Ireland UK Northern Ireland’s Enterprise Bank As the Northern Ireland economy continues its recovery, Bank of Ireland UK is helping the Small Business sector to grow.

N

orthern Ireland’s economic news continues to be broadly positive, with employment growing and house sales continuing to rise. Against this, and a backdrop of improving economies in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland, Bank of Ireland UK has stepped up its support for small businesses.

As Sean Sheehan, Regional Director, NI Consumer & Small Business explains, Northern Ireland is an important core franchise for Bank of Ireland UK and it is committed to supporting its customers and local communities here.

“Just like the businesses we work with, Bank of Ireland UK has real ambition. We want to be the ‘go to’ bank for small businesses and support their growth and expansion,” he says.

Sean reports that in 2014 the bank saw its lending to businesses increase.

“We approved £600m in new business lending, an increase of 20% on the previous year, and we’re saying yes to 93% of all business lending applications. The £600m of new lending covered business of all sizes, from major corporate customers, and medium sized businesses, to small businesses and start-ups and in the Small and Medium Enterprise segment of the business market, we opened nearly 4,000 new accounts.”

He adds: “We’re investing to improve our services and to enhance the skills and qualifications of our people to ensure we’re providing an outstanding customer experience. More than that, because we operate across the island of Ireland we’re able to help businesses who want to develop their cross-border and export trade – areas that present really strong opportunities for growth.”

Peter Dunlop, Managing Director of Bath Shack, an online bathroom store, is just one of the bank’s customers who think their approach is spot on. Peter founded the business in 2009 in shared premises and now employs 15 people across his website and the four showrooms he has across Ballymena, Belfast and Cork.

He says: “We’re a fast growing business and the bank has been with me every step of the way. We need to be able to manage funding for expansion, our cash flow and, because of our operations in the South, manage foreign exchange. Mandy Boyd,

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our Business Adviser, is my first point of contact, she’s only ever a phone call or email away and whatever my request I know the bank are all over it.

I’m very happy with the way things are moving.”

The old fashioned concept of the “friendly bank manager” hasn’t gone away; it’s just been replaced by new terminology. The bank has experienced Business Advisers in every single branch that are the vital link in giving customers help and advice as they plan to develop their companies.

Sean says: “Our local Business Advisers are knowledgeable and passionate about their business customers and take an enterprising approach to finding innovative, competitive and customerfocused solutions for them. They’re supported by local expertise in the areas of global trade, foreign currency management, working capital finance and commercial finance – all areas of increasing importance for businesses entering new markets and ambitiously seeking growth opportunities.”

Ten years ago Karen McAvoy of Karen McAvoy Publishing Ltd established a publishing and events company which now produces some of Ireland’s market leading trade titles such as Plumbing & Heating Magazine, Ireland’s Electrical Magazine and Northern Builder as well as organising a number of trade shows related to these specific industries plus a strong line in corporate brochures and signage.

With trades now increasingly operating on an island of Ireland basis, Karen is increasing her businesses footprint in the Republic of Ireland and expanding into the digital arena. She said: “I have nothing but praise for Bank of Ireland UK and my Business Adviser, Catriona Carmody - she’s professional, approachable, understands my business, shares my passion and does all she can in her power to help me. It’s a return to old fashioned relationship style banking and it’s helping me to grow and expand the business and to take advantage of the new opportunities out there.”

Such sentiments are what you’ll hear time and time again from the bank’s business customers.

Philip Russell established GDK Drinks Ltd in 2009. With more than 40 years’ of experience in the drinks industry, Philip identified an opportunity to bring new and innovative handpicked brands to the island of Ireland. Six years on he’s responsible for introducing a new audience to Rekorderlig Swedish cider, Efes Turkish lager, a variety of craft beers and Josef Meiers herbal liqueur as well as

Mandy Boyd, Business Adviser, Bank of Ireland UK Peter Dunlop, Managing Director, bathshack.com Khara Pringle Photographic.

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Eye on Cover Story distributor for Keoghs Crisps and Manhattan Popcorn in Northern Ireland to name just a few. The business is expanding and having moved to larger premises last May they’re now recruiting to manage the increase in sales.

He says: “We’re passionate about the brands we work with and it’s important that Paula White, our Business Adviser shares that passion. Crucially for us, Paula is hands on and takes the initiative, bringing her utmost professionalism to the job. Her help and guidance have been instrumental in helping us to achieve our growth ambitions and we have still more to come.”

Bank of Ireland UK is investing in its products and business support services, too. It recently launched new banking packages for small businesses and startups including a three-year deal for established growth businesses, providing two years of free transactions followed by a third at a 50% discount, and a twoyear deal for new start-ups offering a year’s fee-free banking followed by a year at a 50% discount.

It has also been working to make banking easier for its business customers with a multi-million pound investment in their mobile, online and tablet services and it has implemented a simple 3-step business credit application to make applying for credit easier.

Bank of Ireland UK has also pioneered other practical ways to support the growth of entrepreneurs through its ground breaking Enterprise Programme. Since it was launched in 2010, the programme’s Enterprise Week has involved 6,000 SMEs with 2,500 businesses showcasing their goods and services across the bank’s branch network in Northern Ireland and branches in the South.

Sean says: “Last year alone, more than 800 local businesses engaged with Enterprise Week activities and we’re the only bank to facilitate showcasing across the island of Ireland which has been so important to support and grow our client’s cross border trade. We’ll be holding our next Enterprise Week 15th – 22nd May with a packed programme of events, networking and showcasing opportunities.

“With a presence across the island of Ireland and throughout the UK we’re well placed to support those businesses trading internationally and to support Northern Ireland’s export drive.

“We work closely with business groups, government and others to support the development of enterprise, innovation and cross-border trade, to encourage the commercialisation of innovation and to drive leadership in enterprise. In partnership with the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry through the Connecting for Growth Programme we’re helping to increase business between companies from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.”

He adds: “We support the growth of Northern Ireland’s knowledge based economy through our sponsorship of Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP) CONNECT’S, INVENT entrepreneurship competition which showcases the most exciting prototype technologies emerging from Northern Ireland.

“Bank of Ireland UK has a long history of serving Northern Ireland, opening its first branches in in Belfast, Derry/Londonderry and Newry in 1825, and we plan to have a long future here. We’re committed to supporting growth, to building long term relationships and to keeping everything simple and straightforward for our customers.”

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Speaking From Experience

Philip Russell, Managing Director, GDK Drinks is pictured with local Bank of Ireland UK Business Adviser, Paula White.

Karen McAvoy, Managing Director at Karen McAvoy Publishing Ltd. is pictured with local Bank of Ireland UK Business Adviser, Catriona Carmody.

‘ Over 75% of ALL our fresh food is sourced locally.’

Eye

on Agri Food

Sponsored by

Over 75% of ALL our fresh food is sourced locally

Eye on AgriFood

Henderson Wholesale Encourages Shoppers To ‘enjoy local’ Henderson Wholesale, owners of the SPAR, EUROSPAR, VIVO, VIVOXTRA and VIVO Essentials, has a proven record of supporting local suppliers, working with over 200 farmers, growers and distributors for over 50 years.

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n April 2015, Henderson Wholesale took the bold step to reinforce their passion for local food, by launching a new range of chilled and fresh products under the SPAR label called SPAR enjoy local.

2014 saw the company invest £37,000 into extensive market research to find out exactly what Northern Ireland shoppers wanted to see on SPAR and EUROSPAR shelves’. As a result, a development strategy was put in place and some of Northern Ireland’s finest farmers and producers were selected to develop this new and exciting SPAR range.

In terms of dairy products, all of the enjoy local free range eggs come from the happy hens of Ballygarvey in Ballymena and all of SPAR’s enjoy local milk and cream is produced on a variety of high quality Northern Irish farms.

Dale Farm, a UK dairy farmer co-operative owned and supplied to by over 1900 dairy farmers, is a key local supplier for Henderson Wholesale.

Utilising Dairy farms throughout Northern Ireland SPAR’s enjoy local cheese, produced in County Tyrone, and Butter, produced in County Antrim, are both supplied to stores via Dale Farm.

A very tasty addition is the yogurt range, which comes in four flavours and is made daily on one of the largest privately owned estates in Ireland,

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Clandeboye Estate. Situated in County Down, the company, is fast becoming well-known for its own local brand ‘Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt’ which it has been supplying to Henderson Wholesale for over five years. In January 2015, the company was one of seven new suppliers to be bought on board to produce SPAR own brand product range.

Avondale Foods, located in Craigavon, currently supplies side salads and vegetable accompaniments to SPAR, EUROSPAR, VIVO, VIVOXTRA and VIVO Essentials stores around the country. In light of the new product range, Avondale were the perfect partner for Henderson Wholesale’s Fresh Team to develop a fresh new recipe for SPAR’s enjoy local potato salad range.

There is no doubt that Northern Ireland has some world class bakeries amongst its ranks. SPAR’s enjoy local delicious bread baps, rolls and batch loaves are produced

by Irwin’s in Portadown, and the pancakes, potato bread, farls and loaves are freshly baked in the ovens of Allied Bakeries in Belfast.

For those with a sweet tooth, Henderson Wholesale reached out to Genesis Crafty, from Magerafelt.

Carefully handcrafted, a delicious range of scones and cakes are now available in the new range. Other baked goods within the range have been produced by Howell’s Handmade and Woodwin Catering.

Our new local range at a price you’ll love

Determined to support a wide range of local producers, Henderson Wholesale has had the joy of working with numerous high quality, many family run, meat and vegetable produce companies too.

All in all the enjoy local range includes baked goods, vegetables, freshly baked savoury pies, a 100% Northern Irish barbeque range including burgers, chicken wings and sausages, as well as yoghurts, cheese and milk.

Every product in the range has a stamp which lets the shopper know exactly where their product was sourced or produced.

The Henderson Group’s Fresh Team will continue to source the very best from farmers, growers and suppliers throughout the island of Ireland to further develop the range, ensuring SPAR and EUROSPAR stores can continue to offer our shoppers the best possible local products.

Take a moment to learn a little more about some of SPAR’s enjoy local suppliers:

#passionateaboutlocal

spar-ni.co.uk

Eye on AgriFood

enjoy local Beef Farmer Local beef farmers, the Kane Brothers, Stephen and David, pride themselves in supplying top quality beef to Dunbia for the past 25 years.

Their Loughgall farm has been in the family for over three generations and David is delighted that his son, Daniel, has decided to now join them and pursue farming as his career. Daniel is currently studying agriculture in Greenmount. Both brothers grew up on the farm and have farmed all their lives.

The family business is kept busy with a 350 strong herd and work closely with Dunbia, to ensure they comply with all regulations on their farm. And, just to make sure that they have absolutely no free time – the brothers also grow Bramley apples and potatoes for good measure!

The family are clearly passionate about their cows and welfare. David’s mantra is ‘A happy cow is a thriving cow!’ and to make sure that the cows stay happy they even let them sleep on rubber mats!

enjoy local Pork Farmer The enjoy local range of pork is sourced from Northern Irish farms by Fred C Robinson of Ballyclare – established in 1905 it is one of the oldest pork processors in Ireland.

Local pork farmer Robert Park started farming when he was only a boy on his father’s Dairy Farm. In 1993, Robert started up his own farm with 20 of his uncle’s sows. His Ballynure farm now proudly homes over 300 sows.

Very much a family man, Robert’s young daughters and son all thoroughly enjoy the farming lifestyle.

Dedicated to his job, Robert works 15 hour days on the farm and has plans in place to expand the farm to house over 750 sows. These future plans are vital to keeping a sustainable and profitable business in the hope that his children can take on the family company in years to come.

Keeping a high quality, safe and successful farm is a tough job, but one that Robert takes very seriously and ultimately finds very rewarding! Especially when little piglets are born – sometimes 24 at once - now that’s a brave sow!

Shoppers can be confident that SPAR’s enjoy local range of 126 delicious products will provide them with tasty food that’s home grown and at a price they can afford. Eating local food is better for you, for the environment, for your taste buds and (most importantly) it offers better value. Sourcing local food means we continue our support for local suppliers – and that’s good news for our economy.

enjoy local Poultry Farmer The enjoy local range of fresh chicken is sourced from Northern Irish farms by Rockvale Poultry based in Richhill, County Armagh.

Nathan Kane comes from a family who are fervent about farming. Their County Down farm has been in the family for two generations and now, aged 25, he works alongside his father on the farm. Together they have been supplying Armagh Company Rockvale Poultry for five years.

Once completing his qualifications at Greenmount College, Nathan has big plans to grow the farm, he is currently sitting a level 2 qualification and will go on to study his NVQ level 3.

So, remember... shop local... support local... enjoy local.

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Over 75% of ALL our fresh food is sourced locally

Eye on AgriFood

Dairying Needs New Ideas For Growth Sam Butler talked to Nick Evrington, chief executive of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF), about the current state of the industry.

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ick Evrington believes the UK dairy industry needs to invest heavily in innovative products to ensure its future development and improved returns for the nation’s dairy farmers. He’s the chief executive of the highly influential Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers, the body that represents the UK industry.

Price crashes, high input costs and stringent regulation were taking a toll. As a result, around nine dairy farmers were leaving the industry every week and threatening the strategically important industry. There’s currently little margin on farm gate milk. The base price is around 23p per litre against production costs between 22p to 30p.

“What the dairy industry really needs is an entrepreneurial figure to drive new ideas. It needs someone like Sir Richard Branson to take it by the scruff of the neck to help exploit its undoubted

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potential for innovative products,” he says. “We have tremendous resources in Northern Ireland and other parts of the United Kingdom.

These include a grass-fed industry that produces clean milk for processing in world-class plants.

We also need to see processors and farmers working much closer together to identify and develop products that markets in the UK and especially abroad want.

“We really do need to develop a greater range of innovative products that will yield greater returns for the heavy investment made by our farmers.”

Milk and milk products currently contribute almost £1 billion to the local economy, exports £391 million and employs over 2,000 people. It is the second biggest sector in Northern Ireland’s £4.5 billion agri-food industry and ships milk powder, butter and cheese to international markets.

Evrington believes the industry must rise above commodity prices by offering substantial product attributes, backed by strong branding, be dedicated to certain customers or markets and focused on adding value on farms and processing plants.

“Dairy in the US, for example, is prospering from a commitment to innovative products developed through a strong partnership between producers and processors

that’s backed by the federal government in Washington. It has also attracted major corporations like Coca Cola which is adding a strong customer engagement and real marketing muscle,” he adds.

Coca Cola’s Fairlife milk is a high-protein, high-calcium, lowsugar form – and sold at twice the price of a normal pint.

The new premium milk is being promoted by the Coca Cola marketing machine as more “nutritious” with 50 per cent more natural protein and calcium and less sugar. It claims the milk “tastes better” than regular milk and is made on sustainable farms using “high-care processes” and a “proprietary milk-filtering process”.

Much of America’s milk is made in controversial mega-dairies where up to 30,000 cows are kept indoors all year round. But Fairlife come from 92 family-owned farms, and boasts that it will be “pursuing the highest standards of milk quality, agricultural sustainability and animal comfort”.

Fairlife is a joint venture between Coca-Cola and the Select Milk Producers dairy co-op.

Certainly milk producers in the US are better regarded than in Britain. They benefit from a Margin Protection Programme in the US Farm Bill which enables farmers to buy insurance, at a premium that is subsidised by the US Government, which guarantees their margin over feed price at a rate of their choosing between $6 and $8 per 100lbs. This removes the uncertainty of volatility.

In recent years, the US has become a more significant player in global dairy markets. Currently US exports the equivalent of 16.5% of its milk production, and by the end of this decade the target is to increase this to 20%.

Given that the anticipated annual growth in US milk production for the remainder of this decade is equivalent to the total annual milk production in Northern Ireland, the

US is set to underpin its position as a major player in global markets.

To make this happen, they have three pillars in place. First, they have the US Dairy Export Council, a body which is funded through a statutory levy on all dairy farmers in US. Known as the “dairy checkoff” levy, its value is 15 cents per 100lbs and raises about $300 million, and of this 10 cents is retained by the dairy farmer’s state, and five cents goes to a central body, Dairy Management Inc., which uses it for a wide range of activities, including the activities of the US Dairy Export Council.

The second pillar is also through Dairy Management Inc., and its Dairy Research and Innovation Centre, which are funding research to develop tools to help milk powder manufacturers deal with volatility. And the third pillar is through a separate organisation, Co-operatives Working Together, which collects an additional, voluntary levy from dairy farmers at the rate of four cents per 100lbs, to subsidise exports. Last year CWT subsidised the export of 3.4 bn lbs of products at a cost of $30m. The volume of milk for which these exports accounted was greater than the annual increase in milk production in US. While dairying here struggle, US producers are prospering and eyeing our markets.

#passionateaboutlocal

spar-ni.co.uk

Eye on AgriFood

We Must Stay Within Euro Community I find it impossible to understand why some of our politicians should seek to separate Northern Ireland from the European community and leave us totally dependent for the vast majority of our funding from a Treasury in London that’s committed to restricting regional financial support to balance the books and likely to remain so for some years to come. It just doesn’t make economic sense to try to turn our back on Europe.

By Tony O’Neill, Chairman, Agri-Food Strategy Board.

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eaving the European Union would be a total disaster for the agri-food industry in Northern Ireland. It would effectively shut the door on a major source of funds for rural regeneration and future prosperity. Doing business for our food companies in one of the most important markets would be more difficult than at any time in the past 40 years.

Over the past five years, for instance, rural communities here have benefited from upwards of £500 million from Europe. We haven’t really expoited effectively the range of EU funding programmes available for our agri-food industry. We recognised this in the Going for Growth action plan and recommended sharper focus on these substantial business and economic development opportunities.

While I accept that changes are needed in the way the EU operates, pulling out of the community altogether is really not the way to proceed. We should be working within Europe to sort out the things we don’t like or aren’t working properly such as the bureaucracy, imperfect single market and weak currency.

Divorces are often messy and a British withdrawal is likely to be very acrimonious and could impact adversely living

standards in both the UK and remaining EU members. British membership of the EU has hardly been wholehearted over the past 44 years. It could mean an angry EU could drive a hard business bargain with Britain.

I was encouraged by the very positive views about Europe of Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill. She’s absolutely correct that we are better off staying within the EU. Last year alone farmers benefitted from almost £250m in single farm payment. Were we to leave the EU, competitor producers in other Member States would be subsidised and our farmers would have to compete against that – hardly a level playing field..

In Going for Growth, the strategic action plan of the Agri-Food Strategy Board, which represents key players wiithin our £4.5 billion food industry, we came down firmly on working within the EU to ensure greater benefits for the agri-food industry here.

The action plan, launched at Balmoral Show in May 2013, said: “EU funding has been a valuable source of support in the growth of the Agri-Food industry through DARD’s Rural Development Programme (RDP) and through DETI/Invest NI assistance for food processing businesses. It is

anticipated that the next RDP and other EU programmes will provide an important vehicle for delivery of the strategic action plan.”

We recommended that there should a greater focus on working with the EU to maximise support for Northern Ireland from EU programmes such as Horizon 2020, the main source of funding for research and development projects leading, for example, to innovative products and processes. Our record of investment in innovation is historically very low. Horizon 2020 offers unprecedented amounts of support for Research & Development and we must take every step required to access our fair share of this.

We really haven’t effectively accessed this source of funding The action plan recognised the importance of EU for innovation and specifically recommended that “there must be a doubling of the drawdown of European funding in support of Agri-Food innovation over the next three years”.

Furthermore, Invest NI innovation programmes from Innovation Vouchers to the Grant for R&D depend on the European Regional Developmental Fund.

Cutting our links with the EU

would undermine the ability of food companies to compete in Europe and other markets especially Great Britain, still our biggest single market.

The action plan, in addition, recognised the need to accelerate the growth in sales to EU markets, already a vitally important source of revenue for our beef, poultry and pork processors. The EU, including the Republic of Ireland, buys manufactured goods worth £3.1 billion annually of our £6 billion export sales. More than 80 per cent of our dairy products including butter and cheese are exported to other EU members.

While the likely negotiations on a withdrawal would be likely to involve some continued access to the EU, our close neighbours and competitors would have much easier access to trade and, of course, funding programmes.

Whatever supporters of withdrawal say, a British departure would be deeply damaging to Northern Ireland and could also destabilise the EU itself. I believe we should stay in and work to make what is one of the world’s biggest markets operate to the benefit of everyone in Northern Ireland especially our rural communities.

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Over 75% of ALL our fresh food is sourced locally

Eye on AgriFood

New Markets For Local Beef Key To Growth Trevor Lockhart, chief executive of Fane Valley Group in Armagh, has called for urgent initiatives to open the US and Chinese markets as an economic and political priority for local beef. Sam Butler reports.

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revor Lockhart, chief executive of Armagh’s Fane Valley Group, Northern Ireland’s biggest farmers’ co-operative, is convinced that gaining access to lucrative markets such as the US and China for local beef must be a top priority for government here.

Lockhart, also a member of the Agri-Food Strategy Board (AFSB), said the key to “unlocking this potential will be obtaining the necessary veterinary and technical certifications for these markets. Industry and government have much to do in this regard”. AFSB in its Going for Growth strategic action plan also recommended measures to enable local meat processors, the biggest sector in the local £4.5 billion food industry, to access the US and Chinese markets as a matter of urgency. Barriers on UK beef came down in both because of the BSE crisis.

“In parallel we must also develop the business models which will allow Northern Ireland to maximise the return from these exciting new opportunities and to fulfil the undoubted potential for the industry. Fane Valley is well resourced and ideally placed to play a full part in realising the vision for the future,” he added. The group includes major beef processors including the innovation-led Linden Foods in Dungannon and Kettyle Irish Foods in Lisnaskea, a specialist in dry-aged meat.

Eblex, the UK beef and lamb marketing board, is also hopeful of opening up the

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Chinese market for beef, revealing it could potentially worth £39 billion this year. Invest Northern Ireland is working closely with Eblex on marketing local beef. It is also endeavouring to open Saudi Arabia, the biggest market in the Middle East, to local beef. Kettyle has won business in the United Arab Emirates and is hoping to expand into neighbouring Saudi.

This year the Republic of Ireland was the first European country to gain US market access for its beef since the BSE crisis, and the British beef industry is hoping for a similar development.

Lockhart said Fane Valley’s sales for 2014 remained largely unchanged at £553 million, in what he described as a “particularly challenging year”.

“Positive performances in our branded and added-value beef and lamb activities were overshadowed by the pressures in primary beef processing. The demand for supermarket specification animals was intense in the aftermath of ‘horsegate’ as processors sought to fulfil the requirements of the UK multiples,” he added.

“We are pleased with the outturn achieved for the year,” he said. “ 2014 was undoubtedly more difficult as the industry adjusted to adverse changes in market conditions. Most notably the continued fall-out from the ‘Horsegate’ crisis within beef and the much anticipated surge in global milk output were the stimulus for reduced

farm gate prices. The scale of these challenges was exacerbated by the ban imposed by Russia on a wide range of EU food products linked with the wider political destabilisation in the Ukraine.”

“Within Fane Valley we maintained our strong focus on the continuous improvement of our products, processes and people with many significant achievements. The acquisition of McCaughan Animal Health was successfully completed in February 2014 and a head office, warehousing and distribution centre was acquired near Moira in July 2014.”

Other group businesses had performed well. Fane Valley Dairies inceased milk powder volumes by 20% while the quantity of butter reduced by 20% reflecting the product mix and a strong emphasis on whole milk powder.

As a result of the initial high selling prices in the year, turnover was at an all-time record level of £106 million, a 15% increase.

Fane Valley’s food division comprised of Hilton Meat Products, Duncrue Food Processors and White’s delivered improved sales and profitability in 2014. Mr Lockhart said, “Each of these businesses continues to make satisfactory progress within their respective market segments and overall make a significant contribution to group performance.”

Tesco fresh beef

100% from Northern Ireland

Tesco fresh chicken

100% from Northern Ireland

Tesco Good for Northern Ireland • Over £550m worth of local products purchased annually • Over 90 local suppliers • Over 1,200 local products • Over 8,000 employees

/tastenorthernireland

Tesco fresh pork

100% from Northern Ireland

Tesco fresh milk

100% from Northern Ireland

Tesco fresh eggs

100% from Northern Ireland

Over 75% of ALL our fresh food is sourced locally

Eye on Business Leaders Forum

John McCann MANAGING DIRECTOR, WILLOWBROOK FOODS

Dr David Dobbin NIFDA CHAIRMAN

“NIFDA members have been asking for a food marketing body in Northern Ireland for a number of years, and we are encouraged by this new development which will enable us to maximise the growth potential of our world-class agri-food sector. We are keen to see the new marketing body up and running as quickly as possible as there is not a moment to lose. The current strength of sterling versus the euro means that many local food companies are struggling to compete against their counterparts in the Republic of Ireland and need all the help they can get to develop new markets and customers. Better co-ordination of marketing activities will put us on a level playing field with Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, all of whom are actively promoting their food and drink produce. It is essential that the new food and drink marketing body in Northern Ireland is industry led and has a strong commercial ethos.”

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“Northern Ireland’s food and drink industry is exceptional.

Our strong agricultural heritage, favourable growing conditions and entrepreneurial spirit, sets our agrifood industry apart, so I’m delighted to welcome the establishment of a marketing body to promote these unique selling points. Scotland Food & Drink has played a crucial role in expanding export opportunities, particularly for its whisky businesses, and is a great success story for us to learn from. The Agri-Food Strategy Board should emulate its approach by bringing together experts with an in-depth knowledge of export markets to create an environment of collaboration for the whole industry to utilise. Such a specialist NI marketing body will certainly bring benefits. A bespoke, one-stop shop with a thorough understanding of the agri-food sector - and the case studies to back it up - will undoubtedly open up new export opportunities for many of the companies here. As the marketing body beds in, it should also look to advise businesses on how best to create their own marketing programmes tailored to key export markets and to compliment the campaigns of the marketing body itself. Northern Ireland’s agri-food industry is responding with passion to the ambitious targets set out in the Going for Growth Strategy, and the marketing body will be another great tool to help us achieve these targets.

As well as a marketing body promoting NI to new markets, we should also be looking to ease bureaucracy and streamline the food distribution industry in order to truly improve logistics, drive down costs and support local companies across the entire export journey.”

#passionateaboutlocal

spar-ni.co.uk

Eye on Business Leaders Forum

Charlie Kerlin HEAD OF CORPORATE FINANCE, GRANT THORNTON

“The food and beverage sector is massively important to the local economy and this news will be not only be warmly welcomed by processors of all sizes but retailers and those involved in transportation. The sector has witnessed impressive growth over recent years and Grant Thornton has worked closely with a large number of food and beverage companies in assisting them grow their business. Scotland Food and Drink has centred its activities on the marketing of its produce with considerable success and it’s vital that the Agri-Food marketing body replicates and betters the Scottish model. For many of our local producers exporting relates to the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain. However, Northern Ireland produce has been identified as world class and there is significant opportunity in Europe and further afield for specific product groups. China and the US are currently huge markets for produce and these countries offer significant opportunities for the food and drink sector providing they can cater for the huge volumes. The new Agri-Food marketing board should also present opportunities and support for the many SMEs currently producing in the sector.

Through a co-ordinated and partnership approach SMEs should reap the benefits most from this new body. It is vital the model is developed for the benefit of the wider sector and Grant Thornton looks forward to offering its input to the Agri-Food Strategy Board.”

Brendan Guidera OPERATIONS DIRECTOR, TESCO NI

“Since Tesco arrived in Northern Ireland back in the mid-1990s we have actively supported Northern Ireland food and drink producers and their many and varied products. We do this in several ways, but we’ve always put a strong emphasis on marketing Northern Ireland food and drink through a range of channels, from radio, newspaper and magazine ads to billboards, social media, in-store displays and events. Many of our marketing initiatives have been pioneering and we are constantly coming up with innovative new ways to highlight local food and drink. Our annual purchasing from Northern Ireland was £50million in spring 1997 – today it is more than £550million annually and growing.

Our marketing campaigns have undoubtedly helped to drive this growth. The creation of this new body is welcomed by Tesco as we strongly believe Northern Ireland has some of the finest food and drink in the world – and we should be shouting about it more. Better marketing of our food both within Northern Ireland and beyond these shores is a must if the challenging targets within the Northern Ireland Executive’s Going For Growth Strategy for the agri-food sector are to be met. We are looking forward to seeing the proposed outputs from the government-backed marketing body and we would be more than willing to work with them in promoting Northern Ireland food and drink. We consistently deliver when it comes to supporting both existing and emerging local brands and we hope this will also be the case with this new organisation.”

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Over 75% of ALL our fresh food is sourced locally

Eye on Business Leaders Forum

Michael Murphy CHIEF EXECUTIVE, IRWIN’S BAKERY

Mike Mullan DIRECTOR, MOY PARK “Growing business in markets outside Northern Ireland is key to developing a world class food industry that is competitive, well resourced, dynamic and profitable.

The new body should coordinate all food promotion and marketing in order to effectively and efficiently support this growth. It is essential that food from Northern Ireland has a clear identity, which is communicated with a strong message of provenance to differentiate our offering in export markets. Further, in global terms we need to ensure we are not sending confusing messages to these markets – an agreed and consistent approach is important.” Mr Murphy continued, “In order for the new body to be commercially and industry focused it is vital it brings together and secures cooperation from all key stakeholders. Consideration needs to be given to providing support for market entry and removing entry barriers, as well as expertise in market intelligence and consumer understanding. “Ideally the creation of this body will facilitate Irwin’s entry into new markets and give Northern Irish companies the ability to turn export opportunities into profitable business much faster. Northern Ireland’s reputation as a centre of food excellence has significantly improved over the last ten years and we are hopeful the new food and drink marketing body will further enhance this perception and in turn drive business growth.”

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“The development of a food marketing body for the Northern Ireland agri-food industry is a positive step forward and will help to achieve the targets set out in the Agri-food Strategy Board’s ‘Going for Growth’ report. There is no doubt that the sector has huge potential and an industry-led marketing body would help Northern Ireland to compete at the same level as our counterparts across the UK and Ireland and drive export growth for many agri businesses.”

#passionateaboutlocal

spar-ni.co.uk

Eye on Business Leaders Forum

Francis Martin HEAD OF FOOD & DRINK SECTOR TEAM, BDO

Peter Stafford PARTNER, A&L GOODBODY

“The recent announcement by the DETI Minister of a new food and drink marketing body for Northern Ireland can only be good news for the sector. This sector is of fundamental importance to the local economy, employing around 27,000 people in food and drink processing and making a major contribution to Northern Ireland’s annual export output. At A&L Goodbody in recent years we have advised on some of the most significant transactions in the local food and drink sector, including the acquisition of Crossgar Food Service by Pallas Foods and the acquisition of the Old Bushmills Distillery Company by Mexican tequila giant Casa Cuervo.

The Bushmills acquisition is an excellent example of Northern Ireland’s ability to attract major investment from foreign investors. Our food and drink industry is renowned for its excellent quality and provenance and the introduction of a new marketing body to highlight this at a global level could certainly help attract further interest from foreign investors.”

“I warmly welcome the plans to create an industry-wide marketing body for NI food and drink. We have seen the success in Scotland, through Scotland Food and Drink (and in the Republic through Bord Bia) of an industrywide focused approach to marketing and promotional activities underpinned by a clear marketing and promotions strategy. It is now time for Northern Ireland to replicate that approach, called for in the Executive’s Agri-Food Strategy, ‘Going for Growth’, prepared in 2013. If the new marketing body is to succeed, it should be private sector led by industry representatives with a clear structure and strategy, underpinned by strong financial support from Government and the private sector. Whilst ideally we might wish to see the creation of a single agri-food marketing organisation to consolidate all marketing and promotional activities for the sector, this is unlikely to be achieved in the short term. The new body should be allowed to evolve going forward and, meanwhile, therefore, seek to work alongside the multifarious organisations which currently market the sector to achieve strategic alliance. The body should seek to provide leadership and be a voice to communicate the priorities within the sector and to Government. The successful creation of a new industry body will, I believe, bring great benefits to the sector, by addressing current fragmentation, duplication of efforts and costs, and by ensuring more efficient use of agri-food marketing budgets.

This, in turn, will enable the enhanced marketing positioning of NI food and drink internationally which it deserves.”

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Eye on AgriFood

The annual Tesco Taste NI Festival staged at Custom House Square in Belfast has attracted around 100,000 visitors since it began in 2009.

Tesco... Continuing To Back Local Suppliers Since Tesco arrived in Northern Ireland back in 1996 we have consistently been a strong supporter and advocate of both local suppliers and local produce.

A

s our network of stores has grown across Northern Ireland – it currently stands at 56 – our support has grown, too.

Tesco now spends more than £550million on local products each year, it has more than 90 local suppliers and it stocks more than 1,200 local products.

This support for the agri-food sector in Northern Ireland is driven by our eight-strong commercial team based in Tesco Northern Ireland HQ in Newtownabbey.

The team includes buyers as well as range and merchandising managers. They are local people with local knowledge and they are constantly in contact with the local supply base.

We also have a Northern Ireland-based technical manager in Leanne Black, a local expert

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who is working with companies to develop new local Tesco ranges.

For example, Leanne has just engaged closely with Ballymenabased meat company Doherty & Gray as it secured a listing to supply sausages under the Tesco Finest brand to 30 of our stores across Northern Ireland.

The listing has increased Doherty & Gray’s annual business with Tesco by 50% and the contract is expected to be worth more than £500,000 per annum to the Co Antrim food firm.

The eight-strong Finest range includes pork sausages as well as pork with sweet chilli, caramelised onion and two distinct local flavours, Armagh Bramley and scallion. There are also beef and black pepper, beef and red wine jus and chorizo-style pork sausages in the line-up.

Our support for local producers is perhaps best highlighted through the annual Tesco Taste NI Festival staged at Custom House Square in Belfast.

Since the showcase for local food and drink began

in 2009 it has attracted around 100,000 visitors.

In 2014 more than 60 food and drink producers offered the public the opportunity to sample their wares – and the event attracted a record 21,000 visitors over three days last September.

Northern Ireland’s largest free food and drink festival is a huge platform for local suppliers, however it’s not the only one provided by us. The ongoing Tesco Taste Northern Ireland campaign, which is aimed at supporting local food and its producers, includes several other events and activities.

For example, this year we are again running local food markets in our larger stores here. Each event will feature up to 20 producers who will create ‘sampling streets’ in-store so that customers can see, taste and get to know more about the products.

We also run a series of events for artisan producers where they showcase their products by creating displays and sampling their products in the foyers of large Tesco stores.

Another strong example of our support for the agri-food sector was a workshop staged last month in Belfast which focused on how data can help our local suppliers.

Queen’s University Management School and Kent Business School academics hosted the event in collaboration with Tesco Northern Ireland.

The workshop looked at how food and drink firms who supply Tesco can access and use Tesco Clubcard data to aid business planning as well as marketing decision making.

Queen’s Management School said the Supplier Workshop offered an opportunity to raise awareness among the agri-food industry and policymakers of how market intelligence can help small firms to be proactive and customer-centric businesses.

Professor John Turner, acting Head of Queen’s Management School, said the workshop was an excellent example of the university and business exchanging ideas and knowledge to add value to the Northern Ireland agri-food sector.

Over 75%

of ALL our fresh food is sourced locally

#passionateaboutlocal

spar-ni.co.uk

Eye on Round Table

TRAVEL & TOURISM...

ARE WE ON THE RIGHT TRACK? The Panel

John Simpson – Economist & Chairman

Sandra Scannell – Trade Director, NI Chamber of Commerce & Industry

John Friel – Federation of Small Businesses

Kathryn Thomson – Chief Operating Officer, Tourism Northern Ireland

Brenda Morgan – Partnership Manager, British Airways

Mukesh Sharma – Managing Director, of World Travel Centre and Selective Travel Management

Tim McKane – CEO Navajo Digital Marketing & Board Member, NI Screen & Nomadic Trading Company

Business Eye joined forces with Belfast-based corporate travel specialists Selective Travel Management and British Airways to stage a lively Round Table Discussion at Selective’s impressive Murray Exchange headquarters in the city.

The Round Table participants turned the spotlight on a wide range of subjects, from Northern Ireland’s inbound travel product to our air transport links, our airports and how both could be improved.

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JS – Is now a good time for tourism or are we always waiting for next year?

JS – John, is the business community ready for a major advance in this area?

KT – Absolutely not. We’ve had huge investment in tourism from signature projects through to the major events. Tourism numbers are going up and at the end of 2013, we had 4.1 million visitors. So there is a momentum and now is the time to push forward in terms of tourism and its contribution to our economy.

JF – We’ve been ready for years.

But all we hear about is budget, or lack of it. Government doesn’t have enough money for this or for that. Once you get well outside of Belfast, it’s not hard to see the lack of investment in roads and infrastructure and that is a real problem.

TM – At the risk of alienating some people, I’m not sure the business community is ready.

Hospitality businesses leave it to the tourist industry’s leaders and don’t do enough themselves to invest in their effort to get more from tourists and more from their existing customers.

We see a lot of companies that are missing out on the digital marketing opportunities of search and social media.

MS – In our business, we travel a lot and we see some really high levels of service in the hospitality industry. To be honest, it can be very different from the levels of service that we can experience here in Northern Ireland.

JS – That is a very major criticism of what Northern Ireland is offering.

MS – It is, but it’s something we talk about in our industry, partly

Eye on Round Table down to the lack of international experience and becoming a tourist destination after years of conflict.

TM – This comes back to customer expectations. If we’re not delivering what the customer expects, then we’ve got a problem.

KT – It’s a very broad brush statement to say that our customer service isn’t up to standard. One of the challenges we have is consistency. But we are working hard with the wider tourist industry here to raise standards and aim for consistency.

JS – Tourism is part of a big picture.

There are bigger business issues.

Is this on the agenda, Sandra?

SS – There are bigger issues, but to make a point on tourism first.

Business tourism is key for Northern Ireland. We have been lacking a full-sized conference centre here so the Waterfront Hall project is very welcome and should help us attract global conferences. Increased business travellers will have a knock on effect on other tourism.

BM – I think confidence is definitely an issue. Northern Ireland has to have the confidence to get out there and sell its products and what it has to offer.

TM – I would say this, of course, but we also can’t under estimate the importance of the digital platform. For example, start using Google to see what people are looking for and find out if we’re targeting customers properly.

BM – As Mukesh said, whenever we travel, we look very closely at what we’re being offered as visitors. But I have to add that the tourism product here is now a very positive one.

MS – I’m aware that Tourism NI continues to bring lots of key buyers into Northern Ireland.

Maybe we should also be taking hoteliers and event organisers from Northern Ireland overseas to let them see best practice internationally and learn from it.

JS – Is our tourism offering a general one....do we want everyone to come? Or should we be selective?

KT – We’ve worked hard to understand the markets and the visitor segments. So we’re looking at key segments such as young and lively, the family segment and one aimed at older people who are free to travel without children. And we market to those segments in different ways.

JS – So, while we’re not a sunshine destination, there is a marketplace for us?

KT – Absolutely. We definitely can’t offer guaranteed sunshine

and that can even be a good thing.

When the Americans get off the cruise ships that come here, they’re glad to be away from the heat and they love the fresh air.

We don’t sell on our weather, but it helps to make us what we are.

TM – You mention cruise ships there and had someone said to any of us years ago that we’d have 70-odd cruise ships coming into Belfast every year, we’d have looked at them as if they were mad. Now almost everyone on those ships comes

ashore, does different things and reviews their experience on Trip Advisor. You can’t buy that kind of publicity. So we can forget what a wonderful product we have.

JS – Is the absence of a dedicated cruise ship terminal a problem?

MS – Yes, it is an issue but it’s partly down to how far we’ve come in a very short space of time. There are long term plans in place, but the important thing is that these visitors have a good day when they are here.

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Eye on Round Table JS – So, between the lack of a cruise ship terminal and the lack of conference facilities, we do have weaknesses?

KT – But it is being addressed. The Waterfront Hall project is being built, Titanic Belfast is adding a purposebuilt exhibition centre and there are plans for more hotel beds as well.

TM – A lot of these big infrastructure questions need to be answered by government.

But what can the private sector do? And is it being encouraged to invest? Is there enough innovation?

On the evidence I’ve seen, I think there is plenty of innovation, with some great projects being launched by smaller businesses.

JS – So we think that there is potential there, but we’re in an era when government and local authorities don’t have a lot of money to spend.

Is this a frustration?

KT – We have been structurally underfunded as an industry, but we have to balance that against high levels of investment in capital projects by government. And they’ve spent £30 million or so on our major events. We know that we’re not immune to government cuts and we have to re-balance the public and private sector balance.

But it has to be a gradual conversion from one towards the other.

MS – It’s a difficult question, Kathryn, but do you feel that you’re missing opportunities because of the way that tourism is marketed on the island as a whole rather than just Northern Ireland?

KT – I think that competition between Belfast and Dublin can be healthy in some ways, but also this is a small island in world terms.

And, in markets like GB, we do work to differentiate the ROI and Northern Ireland product offerings.

MS – The other thing that we do need is more air connections from the big destinations. We have routes like the British Airways Heathrow service and KLM’s new Amsterdam route, but Dublin Airport has a lot more routes on offer, and maybe that’s a disadvantage to our growth.

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JS – But Belfast has a catchment of 1.6 million people or so and Dublin can boast 4 million. If I was an airline executive, I know where I’d take my routes.

MS – You’re right, of course, and the infrastructure that Dublin Airport has put in place also helps. One issue we have here is whether we need three airports within Northern Ireland.

In every other country, it’s normal to travel for 45 minutes or an hour to the airport. Why do we have to be 15 minutes from one?

Maybe there is still an argument for one really good airport.

JF – And if we had some better motorway links to get us to all these airports, or that airport, it would be even better. I live in Strabane. Derry Airport is closest but the routes are very limited so, more often than not, I have to travel to the City or International Airports.

JS – Heathrow is the most important route for us here in Northern Ireland. I don’t think anyone would argue with that. Brenda, do you believe that the City Airport is best for servicing Heathrow.

BM – Yes, the City Airport is our airport of choice and it works very well for us. We have to be very careful about government intervention in this industry, It can simply put undue pressure on the existing market. NI developed an Air Route Development Fund previously and, if I’m correct, only one route in still in existence.... what is now the United service to New York. And we continue to have issues around Air Passenger Duty and this puts us at a disadvantage to Dublin. As airlines, though, we need numbers so we need more tourists coming here. That’s what it is all about.

JS – Let me home in on Air Passenger Duty. We were assured by professional economists that it wasn’t feasible, and now we hear in a report commissioned by Belfast International Airport that this isn’t the case. But the fact remains that if we abolish APD, we will have to cover it through some other form of tax. Where do we stand on this?

MS – Look, it puts us at a disadvantage. Someone sitting in Spain, for example, who can access a direct flight to Belfast will look at the air fares and taxes to Belfast and then a few other European cities for a short break. And, with APD removed, we will be more competitive.

JS – But should we take the plunge and remove air passenger duty?

SS – I think that’s a difficult one.

The Chamber has campaigned for a reduction on air passenger duty. With recent research the issue now is one of affordability.

KT – It needs to be looked at in the round but, for Northern Ireland, connectivity is everything. Good air access is absolutely critical.

TM – If we’re going to do that, take £30 million and effectively give it to the airline sector, we have to ask real questions around whether it will produce the results that we want and need.

JF – There is the argument that we’re too small as a region and too close to Dublin not to do it.

BM – Yes, we’ve thousands of people going an hour and half down the road to avoid paying APD which is the highest flying tax in the world so to stay competitive we must do this. It’s important to remember that aviation generates economic growth and jobs. APD is an anti-business tax and it must

be abolished to allow our aviation and tourism industries to grow and flourish in Northern Ireland.

MS – I think that the Executive doesn’t like making decisions outside of its comfort zone. This is a big call, a real commercial issue. It either takes the Executive an age to make decisions like that, or it doesn’t make a decision at all. There are studies which clearly show that the benefits of removing APD clearly out-weigh those of keeping it.

JS – OK, connectivity is a buzzword.

What are the implications?

TM – If I can put my NI Screen hat on, our inward and outward travel should grow as industries like screen and our creative industries grow.

BM – We haven’t mentioned cargo. That’s a key element for us as an airline operating into and out of Belfast and an essential part of the business.

TM – That’s crucial for the companies here who sell online.

Chain Reaction Cycles are a great example. The expectation now is that when you order something online, you get it 24 or 48 hours later, wherever you are.

BM – Our connectivity in general has improved. Direct access might have a bit to go, but our connectivity through Heathrow has improved considerably since our move to Terminal 5. It is a very smooth operation now....a short hop to

Eye on Round Table London then onwards. That is our business model. There are plenty of places that we’ll never have direct access to, so connecting is what it is all about. I should add that, as IAG Group, things are a bit different. Vueling, which is part of IAG, is launching a new route from Belfast City to Barcelona over the next few weeks.

SS – I agree with Brenda. Most business travellers recognise that they need to travel extensively to trade globally. A good hub airport with quality routes available through that hub gives access to do this.

JS – Does British Airways try to offer everything from low cost to full service and does that present a problem for you as an airline?

BM – We cater for all markets. It’s all about choice. Even on short haul, we’ve got a range of fares.

And, on longer haul routes, we’ve a choice of cabins. Flexibility is very important too. So our customers can choose what they want and need. We’re seeing low-cost airlines move towards more flexibility and changing their business model to offer more choices as that is what the market is demanding.

MS – A point worth making on this front is that low-cost airlines aren’t always the lowest cost. I’ve seen many occasions when so called full service airlines like BA can come in cheaper than the lowcosts depending on the day and even time of day. But be careful how many times you search...

the more searches there are on a particular fare, the higher it will be pushed up by the airline!

JS – Tapping into the diaspora.

How do we improve our game?

KT – The diaspora is very important. You’ve only got to look at the success of The Gathering in Ireland last summer. And we’ve now got an organisation called NI Connections building our links with people from Northern Ireland.

SS – We see it as very important too.

In business terms, people from this part of the world can and do act as our ambassadors and they can be a big help for companies working overseas and in terms of inward investments to Northern Ireland.

TM – Social media offers huge opportunities here and these are opportunities that haven’t existed before. It used to be hard to contact the diaspora. It isn’t now. And most people have digital savvy now... even if they say they don’t. The iPad broke down the remaining barriers between the generations.

TM – I was talking to a friend recently who had been working in China and where he was the people had barely heard of Ireland let alone Northern Ireland. But they had heard of Titanic and they had heard of Game of Thrones. When they heard that both were made in Northern Ireland, they were amazed.

And where do they go to find out more... they go online. We’re not tapping into key words like those as much as we should be. In the online world, key words are invaluable.

for quite a while. Look at Indiana Jones. The franchise died quite a while ago, but there are still Indiana Jones attractions alive and kicking.

BM – And it gives us a USP versus Dublin, which can’t be discounted.

We had 12 very senior and very well-travelled executives here not too long ago, and they were blown away by Titanic Belfast. It’s importance cannot be over stressed.

JF – I would agree with Mukesh.

Tourism is a very big issue and we need a Minister to really drive it forwards. And the other thing I’d pick out, as mentioned before, is further improvement of our roads network.

JS – Around the table, what single change would you like to see in tourism here?

MS – I’d go for a dedicated Tourism Minister. That’s not a criticism of the existing Minister who doubles up on Economy & Tourism but we need one with a single focus on this area.

JS – And what about Titanic Belfast?

KT – It is huge, not just for the city but for Northern Ireland and, in terms of numbers, it has passed all expectations with well over two million visitors to date and it’s still growing.

Fundamentally it has transformed what we offer here. What remains is to work on integrating it with the rest of the city.

MS – The Titanic building itself is fantastic. The only regular complaint I hear is about the surrounding area. It needs to be developed and developed quickly. Visitors step outside of Titanic Belfast and there is nothing there.

SS – We need to think of the future all the time. We’re moving away from the anniversary of the Titanic as each year goes by and Game of Thrones won’t be around for ever. That’s where real forward planning comes in.

KT – Yes, that’s agreed. We maybe need to think about a legacy project around Game of Thrones, although the latest we’ve heard is that it could run to 10 series or more.

MS – I think there will be life in it

KT – I think we need a very clear strategy looking at how government, the agencies, the new local government and the private sector works together, as suggested by the recent Hunter Review.

BM – Taking that theme on, we need an aviation strategy tying all the strands together. We’re not achieving what we could achieve.

SS – Yes, we need a framework to support the industry. Do we need to look at another Route Development Fund? Maybe, but let’s look at how we can move forward most effectively.

TM – There is huge lack of understanding of how we can use technology to boost tourism here.

80% of non-regular purchases start online.....think about that.

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Eye on Communications

The Digital Motorway When eircom arrived in Northern Ireland in 2007, no one could anticipate the growth trajectory that lay ahead. With plans to invest €5m and employ 15 people, the company’s outlook was bright.

Eight years, £20m investment and 52 jobs later, eircom Business Solutions NI has far exceeded its targets, has played a key role in Government reform, and is now determined to do the same for Northern Ireland enterprise.

Matt McCloskey, Sales Director with eircom Business Solutions NI explains how.

E

ngage with government at any level and you will be connecting via our platform.

Network NI, delivered by us, connects all Central government departments and agencies - and has done so for the past 7 years.

Your local school or library is on the eircom digital platform. And if you call Translink, NIE or Power NI, you’ll also be connecting to our services. Connecting government is what we’ve been about.

Now we’re reaching out to the private sector and broadening our commitment to being at the heart of the digital transformation of Northern Ireland plc.

Any business that is not digital will not be around in 10 years time.

And that doesn’t mean ‘doing’ digital by having a social media strategy or taking orders online.

It means digitising as much of the business process as possible from top to bottom. That’s ‘being’ digital.

Becoming a digital business requires not just commitment at Board level but the freeing-up the IT Department from reacting to the day-to-day demands of maintaining the network to investing in the long term

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strategic play of the business. IT is traditionally something that ‘just happens’, rather than being understood as an integral part of the strategic business. For companies like Chain Reaction Cycles and Wrightbus that take steps to embrace Digital, the transformation is measurable.

How can we help in this digital transformation? It’s easy to get technical about what we do and what we offer. For instance, we use IP SLA to monitor network quality, not just availability. And we have teams of guys who can out-geek any of their peers. In fact, we have the most Cisco certified engineers than any other in Northern Ireland. But what a business owner or MD wants to know is this: what can eircom Business Solutions do to help grow my business?

We connect things, people, businesses and the public. We ensure those connections are the best they can be, all the time – because we monitor their performance and quality proactively. With everything connected and managed, the barriers to new ideas are removed

and IT teams are allowed the time and freedom to get creative.

Our customers would all say the same: the network is a utility, the knowledge, expertise and potential for innovation of the IT/digital team is the value.

That, in a nutshell, is what we offer. And we’re committed to making it more accessible. We’re investing in our network, our ‘digital motorway’, with 13 more towns being added by September, bringing the total to 22.

Northern Ireland has the opportunity to be on top for innovation. Take a look at Estonia, a population similar to ours. Over the past decade Estonia has transformed itself into one of Europe’s business success stories, mainly thanks to the sophisticated e-solutions available. Services such as internet banking and digital signatures have cut costs and speeded up trade in Estonia like never before. It works there and with inspired leadership and continued investment in digital platforms, it can work here as well.

Matt McCloskey is Sales Director at eircom Business Solutions NI. Contact Matt at http://uk.linkedin. com/in/mattmccloskey or contact eircom at 0800 039 2000. www.eircom.co.uk twitter.com/eircomUK linkedin.com/company/eircom-ni

When your business is saving money and energy, you’re winning Talk to Electric Ireland, and we can show you how and where you can save Call us now 0800 056 9914

Smarter Living

Eye on Events

CARE GROUP ON EXPANSION TRAIL

J

onny Cook, Managing Director of Peninsula Care Services, Northern Ireland’s leading domiciliary care, nursing and recruitment agency is creating 50

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new jobs, bringing his workforce to over 200 people. Pictured with Jonny is UTV’s Pamela Ballantine and Peninsula staff Tina Sharpe, Neil Armstrong and Matthew Campbell.

SWEET SUCCESS...

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number of Northern Ireland business leaders stepped out of the boardroom and into the kitchen this month to raise thousands for the Institute of Directors’ (NI) Charity of the Year, Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke. Competitors joined restaurateur Michael Deane

in a MasterChef style challenge at Belfast Cookery School along with Paul Terrington, Chairman of the IoD and Sinead Magill of Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke to create a healthy three course meal which they can now attempt at home! For more information, please visit www.iodni.com or www.nichs.org.uk

Eye on Events

MOY PARK’S AFRICAN AID

BEHIND THE LENS...

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orthern Ireland’s top photojournalists were recognised at the recent BT Press Photographer of the Year Awards which took place at a gala dinner in Belfast City Hall.

The top award winner on the night was Charles McQuillan of

Getty Images/Pacemaker who took the Photographer of the Year title, beating off strong competition from William Cherry of Press Eye.....a regular photographer for Business Eye. Charles McQuillan is pictured receiving his award from Paul Convery, Head of Business at sponsors BT.

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oy Park has announced a charity partnership with Farm Africa which will see the company aim to raise an ambitious £100,000 for the charity over the next three years Over the next three years, Moy Park employees will take part in a variety of fundraising activities including a trek through some of Ethiopia’s

most challenging countryside, mountain climbing, competing in marathons and cycle relays.

Pictured (L-R) Richard Macdonald CBE Moy Park Non-Executive Director and Farm Africa Chair, Janet McCollum Moy Park Chief Executive, Nigel Harris, Farm Africa CEO and Mike Mullan, Moy Park HR Director Europe.

TOP CLASS HOCKEY COMES TO TOWN MAXOL GOES FOR MORE...

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erry girl Ashleigh Coyle recently joined leading fuel and convenience retailer Maxol to officially open its new Eglinton service station.

Maxol Eglinton sees the introduction of Moreish into Northern Ireland – a new deli and café setting offering speciality sandwiches and freshly ground barista

coffee. The Moreish café is located within the Maxol SPAR forecourt store and includes a contemporary seating area, state-of-the-art washrooms as well as WiFi. In addition to Eglinton, Maxol plans to bring the Moreish fresh food concept to Townparks, Antrim and Scarva Road, Banbridge service stations in the next three months.

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orthern Ireland’s tourism industry will get a major boost this autumn when some of the future stars of American ice hockey come to Belfast, according to The Odyssey Trust.

The city’s first ‘Friendship Four’ will see four top collegiate universities from the prestigious National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) play for the Belpot Trophy at the Odyssey Arena, home of the Belfast Giants, over Thanksgiving weekend (Friday November 27th and Saturday 28th November 2015).

This will be a world first for the

NCAA as it is the first time the league has taken to the ice to play competitive games outside the USA. 1,400 out-of-state spectators are expected to arrive into Belfast from the USA, Europe, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom for an average stay of four days.

Pictured at the launch event in Boston are Stephen Hagwell, ECAC Hockey Commissioner, Eric Porter, Chairman of the Odyssey Trust, Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Arder Carson and Joe Bertagna, Hockey East Commissioner.

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Eye on News

Dakota Launches KLM’s New Belfast Link Dutch airline KLM chose a unique way to launch its new flights from Belfast City Airport to Amsterdam Schiphol.

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he airline brought over its lovingly restored DC-3 Dakota aircraft, originally built in 1944, for a series of flights around the city.

Special guests and local competition winners enjoyed a champagne reception at Belfast City Airport, before stepping back in aviation time and boarding the Dakota DC-3 aircraft, to enjoy a scenic flight over Belfast. Offering on board comfort and reliable flights, KLM has provided routes to Europe, the Far East, and beyond for nearly 100 years, and the DC-3 aircraft is a living

reminder of the fascinating history behind modern aviation and of KLM’s legacy as the world’s oldest airline still operating under its original name.

Moving to the present day, KLM announced the launch of flight services from Belfast City Airport earlier this year, with daily flights due to commence on 18 May 2015, offering Belfast passengers access to KLM’s worldwide network of over 200 destinations, in more than 100 countries, via the awardwinning Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

With customer-friendly technology

Business Eye Editor Richard Buckley prepares to board one of KLM’s DC-3 Dakota flights.

and innovative products remaining at the heart of KLM’s strategy, Belfast passengers will benefit from KLM’s awardwinning services, which include payment for flights via social media, high speed customer service available on Twitter 24 hours a day, and the award-winning Flying Blue frequent flyer programme, offering exclusive benefits for KLM passengers.

Warner Rootliep, General Manager UK & Ireland for Air France-KLM said: ‘We are very pleased to add George Best Belfast City Airport to our network of departure

points across the UK and Ireland. KLM recognises the significance of Belfast as a departure point for both business and leisure travellers, and passengers will now be able to enjoy convenient connections to over 200 destinations worldwide, from their regional airport. This year, KLM is launching routes to new and exciting destinations including Bogota and Cali in Colombia, Edmonton in Canada, and Krakow in Poland, and we look forward to welcoming Belfast passengers on board, to discover the world with KLM.’

Gerry McGinn joins Progressive board A new state-of-the-art physiotherapy clinic in Belfast featuring the highest quality equipment and experienced specialist practitioners delivering therapy for • Sports injuries • Back and neck pain • Arthritis • Headaches • Sciatica • Neurological conditions including Brain injury & stroke, MS, MND Located in Castlereagh Business Park off the Castlereagh Road, we offer ample free parking and easy access to our 2000 square foot ground floor facility which includes large private treatment rooms and a purpose-built gym with the latest equipment to support your treatment and recovery.

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We want our clients to feel better and to lead healthy, active lives. Uniquely, all of our profits go directly to the charity Brain Injury Matters. We want to give something back to the community, to help those that need it most to rebuild their lives.

BIM Enterprises (NI) C.I.C Suite 5C, Castlereagh Business Park, 478 Castlereagh Road, Belfast, BT5 6BQ T: 028 9099 2444 www.reboundphysio.co.uk @reboundphysiocastlereagh1 reboundphysiocastlereagh NI Registration No. NI628165

Progressive Building Society which celebrated its 100th AGM and recently reported post-tax profits of £9.85 million and new mortgage lending of £153 million for 2014, has announced the appointment of Gerry McGinn to the Society’s board. Pictured with Gerry (right) are John Trethowan, Chairman (left) and Declan Moore, Operations Director (centre).

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Fleet Industry Awards Come To Town Car industry rivals Vauxhall and Ford were among the winners at this year’s Business Eye Fleet Industry Awards, staged at Titanic Belfast recently as part of a major two-day motoring event which also including business and public motor shows.

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ore than 300 guests attended the second annual Fleet Industry Awards, hosted by Sarah Travers, and sponsored by City Auction Group.

The event was being held in the grand surroundings of Titanic Belfast for the first time.

Vauxhall took the coveted Fleet Manufacturer of the Year award with the Ford Mondeo claiming the Fleet Car of the Year prize. Contraflex boss John Henry, a 39-year veteran of the business vehicle sector, received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Other key vehicle winners on the night were the Toyota Prius Plug-In as Electric Car of the Year and the Nissan n200 as Light Commercial of the Year.

Fleet Financial (part of the Charles Hurst Group) lifted the Leasing Company of the Year title, while Kwik Fit was named as Fleet Industry Supplier of the Year.

Other awards included Fleet Simplicity’s Customer Service accolade and Europcar lifting the Car Rental Company of the Year Award. Belfast Skoda dealership Mervyn Stewart beat off strong competition to be named Service/Maintenance Dealer of the Year.

Eye on Awards (1)

(2)

WINNER

WINNER

Most Improved Company of the Year

Fleet Car of the Year Award

(3)

(4)

Highly Commended

Highly Commended

Fleet Car of the Year Award

Fleet Car of the Year Award

(5)

(6)

WINNER

WINNER

Green Fleet of the Year

Lifetime Achievement Award

(7)

(8)

WINNER

WINNER

Customer Service Award

Fleet Manager of the Year

(1) Presented by Neil Girvan - Winner McGimpsey Removals - Colin Brown and Paul GcGimpsey. (2) Presented by Brenda Buckley, Winner Ford Mondeo - Mark Wilkie, Debbie Irwin. (3) Presented by Brenda Buckley, Highly Commended - Skoda Octavia - Helen Parker Smith and Yulia Eldridge. (4) Presented by Brenda Buckley, Highly Commended - Hyundai Qashqai - Lynne Portrey and Michael Walker. (5) Presented by Harry Girvan - Winner Elaine Boyd, Grants Electrical Services. (6) Presented by Greg Swail - Winner John Henry. (7) Presented

by Philip Miley Winner Fleet Simplicity - Harry Girvan and Neil Girvan. (8) Presented by Jim Humphreys - Winner Chris Losty - Phoenix Natural Gas, collected by Lorraine Johnston.

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Eye on Awards (9)

(10)

WINNER

WINNER

Short Term Rental Company of the Year

Electric Vehicle of the Year

(11)

(12)

Highly Commended

WINNER

Electric Vehicle of the Year

Most Improved Driver of the Year

(13)

(14)

WINNER

Highly Commended

Service/Maintenance Dealer of the Year

Service/Maintenance Dealer of the Year

(15)

(16)

WINNER

Highly Commended

Leasing Company of the Year

Leasing Company of the Year

(9) Presented by Aidan Neeson, - Winner Europcar Terence Lyness, Lisa McQuoid and Mark Maguire. (10) Presented by Irene Brene - Winner Toyota Prius, Louise McLoughlin.

(11) Presented by Irene Brene - Highly Commended Kia Soul - Lorraine Mitchell. (12) Presented by Neil Girvan - Winner Ian Love, McGimpsey Removals. (13) Presented by Mark Maguire and Lisa McQuoid, Winner - Mervyn Stewart - Stephen Stewart. (14) Presented by Mark Maguire and Lisa McQuoid - Downeys Kia, Ian McCulla and Russell Perry. (15) Presented by Raymond Hill - winner Fleet Financial. (16) Presented by Raymond Hill, - Highly Commended - Ogilvie Fleet Joyce McFaul, Jim Humphries and Leanne McConville

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Eye on Awards (17)

(18)

WINNER

Highly Commended

Most Innovative Company of the Year

Most Innovative Company of the Year

(19)

(20)

Highly Commended

WINNER

Most Innovative Company of the Year

Fleet Manufacturer of the Year

(21)

(22)

WINNER

WINNER

Risk Management Project of the Year

Fleet Supplier of the Year

(23)

(24)

WINNER

Highly Commended

Small/Light Commercial of the Year

Small/Light Commercial of the Year

(17) Winner Ogilvie Fleet Presented by Yulia Eldridge - Jim Humphries and Joyce McFaul. (18) Presented by Yulia Eldridge, Highly Commended Tom Tom Telematics Neil Girvan.

(19) Presented by Yulia Eldridge - Highly Commended Kwik Fit, Alan Burns, David Ouldfield and Aidan Neeson. (20) Presented by Nuala Larkin, Winner Vauxhall, Andrew Shillan and Nicola Weir. (21) Presented by Chris Lavender - Winner - Tom Tom Telematics. (22) Presented by Donna Hosking - Winner Kwik Fit - Alan Burns, David Ouldfield and Aidan Neeson. (23) Presented by John Henry, Winner Nissan NV200 - Michael Walker and Pete Molloy. (24) Presented by John Henry - Highly Commended - Renault Kangoo - Colin McNab

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Eye on News

Harbinson Mulholland Looks To The Future With £300K Office Investment

The Northern Ireland Executive must continue to work together strategically to create long term economic growth, according to leading accountancy practice Harbinson Mulholland.

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ounding Partner Jeremy Harbinson, speaking at the opening of their new offices, said a new spirit of optimism and innovation among local SMEs was helping to drive economic recovery.

“In the last 12-18 months, after years of credit crunch and recession, people are more positive about taking a risk and trying something different,” he said. “There

is no doubt we’ve turned a corner, but there’s still a lot of pain around and more needs to be done to speed growth.

“Owner Managed Businesses, the backbone of our economy, must have the confidence to seek readily available funding to help them lift their game beyond these shores, while lower corporation tax must be introduced at the earliest opportunity to stimulate inward investment.”

The Finance Minister, Simon Hamilton MLA, officially opened the firm’s new home at the Centrepoint Building in Belfast, around the corner from their old Dublin Road offices.

The move represents a £300k investment by the firm, a home-grown business which has been operating since 1998, with an ambition of increasing their staff of 50 to 100 over the next few years.

The Minister welcomed the move, saying: “This significant investment is evidence of a commitment to growth and continuous improvement by Harbinson Mulholland. I am hugely encouraged by the firm’s aspiration of doubling their workforce over the next few years.

“The Executive’s number one priority remains growing a sustainable economy. Harbinson Mulholland are not only a thriving practice in their own right, they are dedicated to helping SMEs grow their businesses and reach their full potential, providing a boost to our local economy.

“I am particularly impressed by the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit demonstrated by the practice that has led them to this important milestone.”

Harbinson Mulholland, which also announced their patronage of the SME Centre for Business Development at the Ulster University in 2015/16,

represents more than 2,000 individual, SME and third sector clients across Northern Ireland.

Jeremy Harbinson added: “As a specialist in the SME/OMB space, we have found that attitude of mind is the most important factor in seeding and growing a successful business - but other things are important as well.

“We are one of the few, if not only, accountancy practices to boast IT services which are fully hosted in the Cloud thanks to the Superconnected Broadband scheme, but every SME in Northern Ireland needs to be able to access this level of technology to compete in a global marketplace.”

Kirsty McManus, Director of the SME Centre, thanked Harbinson Mulholland for their patronage during the 40th anniversary year of the Ulster Business School. The Centre was established in 2012 to help signpost sources of support and information for SME owners.

“We wanted to bring on board an accountancy firm that would guide our support to Northern Ireland SMEs,” she said. “Harbinson Mulholland fulfils this criteria to the fullest extent and has demonstrated a clear commitment to the growth of our indigenous SMEs.” Harbinson Mulholland are one of Northern Ireland’s leading firms of accountants, with a team of chartered accountants, forensic accountants, tax and business advisers offering a full range of services dedicated to local businesses and the people who run them.

Owner Managed Businesses are a specialty, with tailored approaches to fit the needs of individual businesses and families. Services provided by HM to these businesses include problem solving, future planning, managing succession and advising on complex tax issues.

DOHERTY & GRAY CELEBRATE NEW TESCO DEAL County Antrim meat company Doherty & Gray has secured a significant new listing with Tesco.

T Naomi Jones and Alan McKeown from Doherty & Gray and Tesco NI’s Leanne Black are all smiles as they sample some Tesco Finest pork and sweet chilli sausages.

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he company, based in Ballymena, is now supplying sausages under the Tesco Finest brand to 30 of the retailer’s stores across Northern Ireland.

The listing has increased Doherty & Gray’s annual business with Tesco by 50% and the contract is expected to be worth more than £500,000 per annum to the Co Antrim food firm.

The eight-strong Finest range includes pork sausages as well as pork with

sweet chilli, caramelised onion and two distinct local flavours, Armagh Bramley and scallion. There are also beef and black pepper, beef and red wine jus and chorizo-style pork sausages in the line-up.

Doherty & Gray, which employs 100 people and has been in business for 61 years, first started to supply Tesco in Northern Ireland 18 years ago. It has cemented existing jobs and taken on two extra staff as a result of the latest deal with Tesco.

Eye on News

LLOYDS BANK FOUNDATION FOR NI LAUNCHES 30TH ANNIVERSARY CHARITY ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS The Lloyds Bank Foundation for Northern Ireland has launched the new Charity Achievement Awards as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations.

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he launch took place in the MAC at a special event organised to recognise 30 years of Corporate Philanthropy in Northern Ireland by the Foundation.

The Belfast event –‘Celebrating the Past, Understanding the Future: 30 years of Foundation Philanthropy’ - explored the challenges and needs across five sectorial groups, to inform the Foundation’s on-going programme of grant-making in Northern Ireland.

It is one of the key events of Philanthropy Fortnight, Northern Ireland’s biggest celebration of charitable giving, which runs from April 20 - May 1. Lloyds Bank Foundation for Northern Ireland brought together six organisations from five specialist areas – Community Arts, Mental Health, Women’s Groups, Sports and Early Years.

Executive Director Sandara

Kelso-Robb, speaking to representatives of 30 voluntary sector organisations, said the awards were a chance to celebrate 30 years of vital work helping the lives of deprived communities.

She said: “These UK-wide awards recognise the work of outstanding small and medium-sized charities, which have benefitted from grants from the Lloyds Bank Foundations of Northern Ireland, England, Wales and the Channel Islands. Since the launch in 1985 the foundations have distributed over £575m to charities in communities across the UK helping to tackle disadvantage.”

Ms Kelso-Robb said a total prize fund of £86,000 will be awarded as unrestricted grants of between £1000 - £2000 to outstanding charities funded by the Foundations from England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands, judged against six categories.

Sandara Kelso-Robb, Chief Executive, and Tony Reynolds, Chairman of the Lloyds Bank Foundation for Northern Ireland launch the organisation’s 30th Anniversary Charity Awards in Belfast.

She added: “Prizes will be awarded at a regional level and will provide an opportunity for charities to showcase how they are on the frontline of tackling disadvantage and bettering lives in their communities. Finalists will then go forward to a UK wide final round, and will be invited to attend a prestigious awards ceremony at Banking Hall, the historic London Headquarters of Lloyds Bank.”

Charities eligible to apply must have a turnover under £1m and be in receipt of an active grant from the Lloyds Bank Foundations for England and Wales, Northern Ireland or the Channel Islands on the dates outlined in the eligibility guidelines.

Charities will nominate themselves within their region marking achievement against the following categories:

• Outstanding Impact • Against The Odds • Valuing Volunteers • Championing Change • Unsung Hero • Enterprising Collaboration An overall prize will also be given for the ‘Foundations Charity of the Year’ award which will be selected from all applicants (charities cannot specifically apply for this award).

The awards are now open for entry and the deadline for applications is midnight on 1st June.

Further information can be found on the Lloyds Bank Foundation website or by contacting: achievementawards@ lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk

LOCAL LAWYERS RAISE £54,000 FOR TINYLIFE CHARITY

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he Europa Hotel was the venue as local Lawyers from across Northern Ireland came together to put 6 months’ worth of dance training

into practice as part of ‘Strictly Come Legal’ in aid of local premature baby charity Tinylife.

In front of a packed audience of over 600 people, 11 couples danced the night away before facing the judges’ comments. In the end Paul Dougan from and Imelda McMillan were crowned ‘Strictly Legal champions 2015’.

The event raised £54,000 for local charity Tinylife.

Speaking afterwards the President of the Society, Arleen Elliott said: “I am delighted that we have raised £54,000 for our chosen

Arleen Elliott presents winning couple Paul Dougan and Imelda McMillan with their trophy.

charity of the year. My sincere thanks goes to our dancers and their supporters who have put so much effort and

time into Strictly Come Legal and who have shown great commitment in raising money for this most worthy charity”.

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Eye on Banking

Danske - Leading The Way In Customer Service

Most companies go out of their way to declare how important good customer service is to them. But there aren’t many organisations who demonstrate that commitment by putting one of their most experienced executives in charge of customer service and satisfaction.

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or Danske Bank it is a strategy that makes perfect sense. Robert Garrett has been with the bank for 36 years and has a wealth of experience across the full range of business banking functions, from branch to regional finance centres, credit and corporate banking.

He was appointed Head of Customer Service for Business Banking two years ago when the bank decided to step up the investment it was already making in strong customer relationships.

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“We’ve been very successful with customer acquisition from our competitors over the past number of years and this has led to us gaining a strong market share” explains Robert.

“Customer retention is key and we want to make sure we’re giving our customers the best possible service across all areas of business banking.”

Like any bank, Danske has some customers whose financial position warranted closer attention and more intensive support from the bank during the recession years. As they

return to health and a more normal relationship with the bank, Robert Garrett is on hand to provide advice and address any issues which might cause the customer concern.

“Part of my role is that, as customers move back to a much stronger trading position, I get alongside them to make sure that transition back to the good bank is handled well,” he says.

“Our relationship managers will bring me in to meet with certain clients where they think my experience can be useful, perhaps to help customers

adjust to growing working capital needs, to give ideas for structuring a deal or smoothing over problem issues.”

Garrett, who is from Larne, started in the bank’s branch network and then after a spell in the credit department he led its regional finance centre in Ballymena. He has been in the business banking world for the past 20 years and has an in depth understanding of business needs, from small firms to corporate customers.

His current role is unique in the local banking landscape

Eye on Banking

“ Our relationship managers will bring me in to meet with certain clients where they think my experience can be useful, perhaps to help customers adjust to growing working capital needs, to give ideas for structuring a deal or smoothing over problem issues.”

and has seen him introduce a more structured approach to customer service.

He explains: “We get statistics every month on customer satisfaction and I analyse those to see where we are compared with our competitors, what we are doing well, what weaknesses we have and how can we continue to improve our customer satisfaction performance.

“It’s clear from the results that we’re ahead of our competitors but as they get into a more normalised position the onus is on us to keep improving.”

Based on monthly benchmarking reports, Garrett surmises that customers score the bank most highly when they are actively advising them and telling them about services that could assist their business.

“Some banks maybe think the less they speak to the customer the better, but the opposite is true. Customers don’t want a silent partner. Customers value that engagement. Because of that we’ve set up a process to ensure all finance centre and corporate customers have even more regular face to face meetings” he says.

“When I talk to new to bank customers it often comes out that before they moved to Danske they didn’t know who their relationship manager was, there was confusion about who looked after their account and relationship managers were at times changed without them being advised. We want to build a relationship with a customer so that we are out in front of them on a regular basis providing information that is useful to their business and becoming a trusted business partner.”

A significant percentage of

the KPIs set for each Danske Bank relationship manager relate to customer service.

Danske also logs every customer engagement so Garrett can check that activity remains high and that there are positive actions coming out of those meetings, with a separate agency then following up meetings to get customer feedback.

“It has to be more than just a coffee and a chat. We track and measure those meetings, identify what is working well and identify any blind spots with particular relationship managers,” he says.

“We have a very experienced team of relationship managers in the bank, so it’s not a case of having to guide people by the nose here. We don’t have to change behaviour.

What’s important is that we have put a structure around customer service and got everyone to understand what it means in the organisation and, more importantly, what it means to the customer.”

Garrett believes the bank will continue to see big benefits from his role, and his goal of making every customer interaction a positive one, as the economy continues to recover. For him it is clear that if customers are happy they will be strong advocates for the bank and refer contacts at other companies to Danske.

“The first quarter of 2015 was one of the most successful we’ve had in terms of business acquisition but we’ve also seen more activity from our existing customer base and more

requests for additional funding coming through. That’s a good indicator of where we are in the economy. Confidence has started to return,” he says.

“Confidence is what’s going to drive our business. If customers have the appetite to borrow we will provide the capital, that’s not an issue for us. Other banks sometimes offer occasional sector specific funding packages but we have always said we don’t need to put a limit on it, whatever requests come through we will be able to satisfy them.”

And satisfaction is, after all, what it’s all about.

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Eye on Giving

RUGBY CHIEF’S CHARITY FOCUS Shane Logan Chief Executive, Ulster Rugby IOD Member since 1998 1. What are your thoughts, in general, on charitable giving?

I think it is right to do, individually and collectively, as companies or organisations. Having run a charity, I think that it is important to ensure that you are investing wisely and to treat it as an investment, not a subsidy and that there ought to be clearly defined returns. There are many good charities and some others that are others less good. I think you need to put your money where you get a good return.

2. Is your giving personal or corporate or a combination of both?

Personally, I do give. I give to church and to other charities. As an organisation we have a charity of the year and we support the IRFU Charitable Trust, both of those very considerably. We also support a wide range of other charities on a one-off basis. We try to invest our time wisely to provide a good strong return, but as you might expect at Ulster Rugby, demand often exceeds our ability to supply, therefore we have to try and use our time judiciously.

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3. How do you give to charity: monetarily, your own time as a volunteer or your specialist skills?

Over the years, I have sat on a number of voluntary boards. I have been asked to advise on a number of charities. I have also been asked to speak at charity events. At Ulster Rugby, we try and do as much as we can within the constraints of having to deliver success on the pitch and to grow the game in clubs and schools.

4. What types of causes do you favour and why?

I favour those that will help the most marginalised. I favour causes, both locally and internationally, who work with those who are in trouble, people in prison, people in poverty or people without hope.

Therefore, I try and select causes that will address those issues.

5. Are there specific charities or causes that you give to regularly? How do you choose which to support?

I sponsor a child in Africa and I have done for many years. I collect once a year for Christian Aid and give regularly to Christian Aid. I support the church, which is a charitable organisation, and I would try to give freely when asked.

6. Do you believe that companies and individuals have a duty to help others? If yes, why?

There is no question of that.

In my past, I have been helped by others many times. I think the more successful companies organisations are, the greater the imperative to try and help others.

7. What is your message to business people who may be thinking about becoming more involved in strategic philanthropy?

Make sure that it is strategic. Make sure that it is effective. Be clear on the return that you are expecting.

Only invest in organisations that are really well run and be prepared to define the return on investment that they are going to give you.

Be wary of the short term and organisations that are not as well run as they ought to be.

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Eye on Wealth Management

JOHNSTON CAMPBELL...

A DEDICATED APPROACH TO WEALTH MANAGEMENT When it comes to experience, there aren’t too many wealth management specialists in Northern Ireland who can point to 40 years of providing advice to clients....and growing at the same time.

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ohnston Campbell, from its base at Cromac Place in the Gasworks Estate, has been building a business and a client list since those early days back in 1970’s.

“We’ve always been about a steady and professional approach to working with a wide range of individuals and companies to provide tax efficient, bespoke investment management,” says Ewan Boyle, one of three equity directors at the practice alongside Raymond Mulligan and Graham Glover.

They head up a team of

investment planners, investment managers and support staff providing advice on just about every aspect of pension and wealth management, tax and investments.

The company has a total headcount of close to 30 including one member of staff who has been with the practice since it was first established.

“Our objectives are very simple,” adds Boyle. “We set out to provide a flexible service, but one that is tailored to the individual aims of each client. And every element of our advice is linked to what

each client is trying to achieve, both short term and long term.

Financial confidence without the complications, in other words.

“We have generations of the same families who trust us with their wealth management requirements. That experience includes investing significant fund between £200,000 and £20 million.

“So it’s very important for us and for them that we have a constant understanding of the changing goals and ambitions, and that we work using that knowledge.”

Eye on Wealth Management

Johnston Campbell sets out to keep things simple for its clients.

The practice offers a transparent fee structure, allowing customers to see what the fees are for, and how much they are going to be.

The company had adopted this approach long before the Financial Conduct Authority brought about the banning of commission as a result of its Retail Distribution Review. This has meant that a move to fees has been seamless and has allowed the organisation

to grow its market share.

“It might sound simple, but it’s something that our clients appreciate,” adds Ewan Boyle.

“What they also appreciate are open lines of communication. Once clients get used to working with us, and see how our complete confidentiality kicks in, we find that they talk to us about a wide range of financial issues. And we can provide advice on just about anything within the wider area of financial management.

“And we do that using a combination of third party research, close connections with international fund managers, strategists and intelligent in-house analysis.”

Graham Glover who leads the Investment Management Team at Johnston Campbell, boasts of a team of highly skilled and training financial advisors, analysts and administrators offering an informed and intelligent approach to investment. Its approach and size is unique to the Northern Ireland market. He states “Their skill at blending multiple asset classes together allows them to create portfolios with both lower risk and higher expected returns than most individual types of asset alone.”

With that in mind, Johnston Campbell’s specialist advisors can provide examples of different types of portfolio which are tailor made for each individual, dependent upon their appetite for risk and their capacity to accept loss. It’s all a matter of personal investor choice, and the Johnston Campbell team set out to guide each client personally through the process.

Part of that process is to build a Cash Flow Model, which in essence looks at a client’s wealth in conjunction with their future financial needs. Raymond Mulligan states “this is the cornerstone of a client’s financial planning. We can demonstrate to a client, through interactive graphic representation, just how long their assets will last, based on certain assumptions.

We can alter those assumptions, even showing a client the impact another major market crash will have on their plans and objectives” He adds that at Johnston Campbell we set out a four-stage approach to client account management:• Understanding goals & ambitions Initial client meetings and a review of all existing investments, policies, etc. Analysis of all relevant investments.

• Research & analysis of potential solutions A detailed look at the client’s tax position, estate planning, business and lifetime cash needs analysis.

• Recommendations & implementation of strategy A series of solid recommendations across subjects including personal & business finances, fund management and pensions.

• Regular client reviews “What we also say is that anyone can write about how good they are at personal service and wealth management.....but not everyone can actually deliver it. That’s why it’s best to meet us, talk to us, challenge us, and then make your decisions.”

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Eye on Financial Services

PROGRESSIVE...

ANOTHER RECORD YEAR AS MARKET PROSPERS 60

Eye on Financial Services Progressive Building Society has racked up another year of record returns, with figures buoyed up even further this time around by a fast-recovering housing marketplace and a targeted approach to supporting customers through the mortgage process.

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he Society’s AGM which this year visited Coleraine heard Chairman John Trethowan and Chief Executive Darina Armstrong paint a very healthy picture indeed..... and not for the first time.

“It’s been a very busy year for us at Progressive,” says Deputy Chief Executive Michael Boyd. “2014 was our centenary year but it’s also been a year marked by regulatory pressures in the mortgage market.

“However it’s also been a really successful year, with the headline figure for us being a 30% increase in total lending to our borrowing members, with lending for the year at £153 million. What’s more, the growth in lending has been even faster again in the first few months of 2015 so this year’s total could top that again.”

Progressive has always laid considerable store in its mutual status – which never wavered in the days when other societies were shaking off their mutual clothes – and in its business model which might look old-fashioned in today’s technology-driven marketplace, but it’s a winning formula amongst the Society’s established member base.

“We’ve always believed in a high street branch network and that’s not something which is going to change. Key to our success is qualified mortgage advisors in each of our branches guiding customers through the mortgage process. To support this over the past year we’ve invested more than £2 million in rebuilds and refurbishments across the network.”

Key developments included a £1m rebuild of the Society’s Ballymena branch and new branches at Cornmarket in Belfast and at Millenium Forum in Derry / Londonderry, made necessary by the merger last summer with the City of Derry Building Society. As a logistical exercise, the merger was a big one.

“We had to amalgamate two different IT systems overnight... literally. The City of Derry systems were closed down at 5pm on 30th June and at 9am the following morning, the City of Derry customers had full access to everything that Progressive can offer.”

Over the coming months, Progressive’s head office branch at Wellington Place in Belfast city centre will be extensively refurbished.

“While branches have always been important to us and important to our members, they’re not the only way our members can engage with Progressive,” says Boyd. “We have a postal offering for savers, an online portal for savers and we’re currently putting the finishing touches to an online system for mortgage introducers and borrowers. So we can offer the full gambit.”

The fast-growing loan total wasn’t the only major achievement for Progressive this time around. The Society also reported a record profit after tax of £9.85 million, a hefty jump from the previous highest profit figure of £6.3 million.

“There’s no doubt that the housing market is more buoyant than it has been for some time. There is genuine confidence out there now, and recent figures have shown that we’re faring well as a region in comparison to others in the UK. “The increase continues to be driven by Greater Belfast and North Down, but I think we will see other areas starting to make some real progress too.”

Recent statistics showed that Northern Ireland (at 14% year on year) has the fastest-growing house prices of any UK region at the moment, including London.

Michael Boyd sounds a note of caution. “If it sounds a bit familiar, it’s because this is what happened a few years ago just before the crash, when the

John Trethowan, Chairman and Darina Armstrong, Chief Executive, Progressive Building Society were joined by the deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness for the official opening of the Society’s new branch in Newmarket Street Derry~Londonderry after a £250k investment.

average house price here hit the £250,000 mark. But we didn’t have the salary levels to support that kind of over-inflated market.

“But I don’t think we’re heading for a crisis this time around.

My view is that our price levels undershot by a bit too much on the way down, and now we’re seeing a correction going on in the market. The RICS reckons that it will settle down to 4% growth and that’s very sustainable.”

“The employment statistics are also looking good and add to a healthy picture. We do have the spectre of public sector cuts, but overall things are looking very positive.”

Returning to Progressive Building Society’s own numbers, and the final piece of the jigsaw for the reported year was a healthy 19% rise in savings incomes to £278 million.

“A 30% increase in advances coupled with a 19% rise in inflows can’t be too bad,” smiles Michael Boyd.

Consistently high savings rates in a tough marketplace have helped to keep Progressive close to the top of the marketplace amongst banks and fellow building societies whilst Michael Boyd also singles out loyalty reward savings products for regular customers and some continued innovation in the ISA space.

He also points to Progressive’s 0.63% management expense

ratio, one of lowest among the 40-odd building societies active around the UK. “It’s this sort of thing that makes mutual building societies inherently a lot more efficient than the banks,” he adds.

There’s evidence, he reckons, that the banks are starting to learn lessons from the Progressive approach. The lack of call centres, the success of branches, and the fact that there is a qualified mortgage advisor in every branch are all things that some larger institutions have been working hard to mirror.

“We differentiate ourselves through that attention to customer service. It’s where we can really make a difference.”

Progressive has a total of 160 staff, split roughly equally between Head Office operations and its branches.

It’s also got one of the lowest staff turnovers (less than 2%) of any in the financial sector.

Looking to the coming year and beyond, Michael Boyd reckons that the marketplace will continue to become more competitive, but he sees little change in the Bank of England base rate.

“Our priorities as a business will remain the same,” he says.

“We’ll continue to focus on service and offering our customers the best possible products on mortgages and savings. It’s a case of steady as she goes... it’s worked for us up to now!”

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Eye on Events (1)

SELECTIVE TRAVEL MANAGEMENT OPENS NEW BELFAST BASE Northern Ireland’s largest independent travel company, Selective Travel Management, this week announced the completion of a major expansion programme at its corporate headquarters based in one of Belfast’s most iconic buildings, Murray’s Exchange.

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nder the leadership of Managing Director Mukesh Sharma, recognised as one of Northern Ireland’s most experienced and successful travel professionals, the company has, within a two year span, doubled its staff numbers from 40 to 80 and invested more than £350,000 in software, hardware, training, infrastructure and IT last year.

Commenting on the expansion, Mr Sharma said: “As a result of the company’s outstanding performance over the last two years we have been able to double staff numbers and we are already planning further staffing increases in 2016 and beyond.

“Our ongoing investment in staff

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has been central to establishing the company as a market leader in the corporate travel, groups conferencing and incentive sectors.

Staff training has been crucial as we stepped up to the plate to introduce on-line corporate booking tools including the most up-todate and extensive management information systems, with realtime date, carbon analysis reporting and procurement and e-invoicing.

We have also moved to become a genuinely 24/7 service provider: an essential service element when we are dealing with the travel needs of our varied client base, often across the world’s time zones.”

Recent business growth has been fuelled by major, multi

million pound contract wins not only in business across the UK but also in academia with contracts with the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Bradford and Cardiff Universities and Queen’s University, Belfast.

(2)

The Selective Travel Management corporate headquarters expansion at Murray’s Exchange, Belfast, was formally opened at a ceremony

by Mrs Fionnuala Jay-O’Boyle CBE, Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant for the County Borough of Belfast.

Eye on Events (3)

(5)

(4)

(6)

(7)

(9)

(8)

(10)

(11)

(1) Mukesh Sharma MD Selective Travel Management with the Lord Lieutenant for Belfast Mrs Fionnuala Jay-O’Boyle CBE who formally opened the new £350,000 state of the art facilities. (2) Special guest Paddy Wallace former Ulster and Irish player who shared some of his experience and expertise on the importance of team work and team building, Ann McGregor NI Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Lord Lieutenant for Belfast Mrs Fionnuala Jay-O’Boyle CBE and Mukesh Sharma Selective Travel Management. (3) Volker Lorenz, Siobhan Bosket-McGuigan, Amadeus Ireland and Mukesh Sharma Selective Travel Management. (4) Mukesh Sharma Selective Travel Management, Lord Lieutenant for Belfast Mrs Fionnuala, Jay-O’Boyle CBE and Brenda Morgan BA. (5) Liza Hammond Etihad Airways, Aubrey Irwin Tourism Ireland and Beatrice Cosgrove Etihad Airways. (6) Ross License, Paul Dougan, Pamela Ballantine and Keith Graham. (7) Michael McKinstry, Group Executive and Liz Robinson Phoenix Energy Holdings Ltd, Brenda and Richard Buckley Business Eye. (8) Aidan Coghlan, MD World Travel Centre, Lord Lieutenant for Belfast Mrs Fionnuala Jay-O’Boyle CBE and Mukesh Sharma MD Selective Travel Management. (9) Doreen McKenzie ABTA and Knock Travel, Onur Gul Turkish Airlines and Lynda McCorry Silversea Cruises. (10) Keith Graham Selective Travel Management, Delia and Stephen Aston Clubworld Travel. (11) Gary Laverty and William Gould Exchange Accountancy Services with guest speaker Paddy Wallace (c) former Ulster and Irish Rugby player.

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stor yhouse films great brands make great stories what story are you telling? stor yhousefilms.com

Eye on Internet

The Five Most Common UX Mistakes

By Gareth Dunlop, Fathom.

Like many or perhaps all services businesses, clients contact Fathom because something is broken. Or if it’s not broken, then it could certainly perform better.

Whilst the specifics of each challenge are unique, this “could do better” reveals itself time and again in some of the following patterns.

• An e-commerce website isn’t persuading enough users to buy • A software-as-a-service website isn’t encouraging enough users to sign-up and try, or enough trialists to move from free to paid-for • A website has a suspiciously high bounce rate • A competitor has emerged and is stealing significant market-share quickly through their digital activities • Anecdotal feedback suggests that a website is un-navigable • A beleaguered marketing team want to remove conjecture and internal politics from the design process, to deliver a customer-centred site • There is little or no coordination across digital channels such as web, mobile, search, social, affiliate and email (and don’t even start the discussion about online and offline integration) In each of these challenges, userexperience planning and the implementation of the right UX processes, delivered in the right order, can always help and in some cases revolutionise performance.

Not infrequently clients who come to us for assistance and professional advice, consider that they “already do UX” or that “UX was all sorted as part of web design” and so we always start our engagements by setting UX in context, explaining what it is and why it matters, and debunking some common myths.

The five most common are listed below.

Not knowing what it is. Despite many

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in the industry agreeing that UX is not UI, the overwhelming number of people whose job title starts with UX ends with designer. UX designers are great people and we need as many of them as we can get our hands on, but what about UX researchers, UX analysts, UX copywriters, UX architects and so on? My guess is that UX designers outnumber all of the UXers by at least ten to one and this needs to change.

A UX professional is not a UI designer who reads Mashable once a week.

Not investing in it. Starting from the premise that on the web we are communicating with intelligent strangers, smart people who we haven’t physically met who want to access information to make informed buying decisions, it seems logical to me that the more we know about them the more accurately and succinctly we can communicate with them. In a time-poor attention-poor environment such as the web, if we make assumptions about our customers, we lose. If we know our customers and speak their language, prioritise what matters most to them, help them find tasks and complete tasks, pitch our tone of voice correctly and let them engage with us across devices, across locations and in multiple contexts of use, then and only then have we a chance of closing the deal.

Such customer knowledge requires understanding customers intimately, by investing money in research.

Not getting your CEO enthused by it. User-experience planning demands leadership from the top down, and for

it to truly succeed needs to be believed by everyone in the organisation from the Chair to the Board to the CEO to senior management to executives to administrative staff. UX thinking often requires infrastructure investment, business process changes (people in silos who haven’t spoken to each other for years now having to work collaboratively), strong digital leadership and a new way of measuring success. In December 2014, Forrester Research reported that “only 25 percent of Customer Experience (CX) professionals say their company’s CX programs actually improve customer experience” with cultural misalignment being the core reason for the disconnect.

Using it to promote opinion. Many organisations, particularly larger ones are characterised by semi-competing silos, internal politics and decisionmakers faced with the challenge that what is best for the business isn’t best for their career. Perhaps the most over-used under-valued phrase in digital is the phrase “best-practice” as it becomes the go-to defense for the promotion of opinion and levering of influence. Culturally, every organisation must have a healthy disregard for opinion and a healthy skepticism of the findings of experts (and I include Fathom amongst that), unless justified with evidence, statistics and facts.

Measuring its impact. Sometimes the impact of a user-experience initiative is immediately obvious and measurable.

We have been privileged to be involved

in UX testing projects which have almost tripled conversion, others which have seen task completion double and task efficiency increase fourfold. Sometimes it can be more difficult, particularly when it comes to understanding conversion attribution and multi-channel multi-context-ofuse decision-making. Measuring UX can be difficult but where UX can be measured it should be measured.

Ultimately UX philosophy is founded on the realisation that your user, right now, on your website, is having an experience whether you have thought about it or not. It is only by addressing your business culture, business processes, research and design activities, that you can be confident their experience is a good one for them and a profitable one for you.

Gareth Dunlop owns and runs Fathom, a user-experience consultancy which helps ambitious organisations get the most from their website and internet marketing by viewing the world from the perspective of their customers. Specialist areas include user-testing, usability and customer journey planning, web accessibility and integrated online marketing.

Clients include Invest NI, Power NI, Three, Ordnance Survey Ireland, and Permanent TSB. Visit Fathom online at fathom.pro.

Eye on NLP in Business

Reframing Problem Situations For Business Success

By Douglas King, NLP Master Practitioner and ANLP Accredited Business Trainer

“I have reconsidered the matter, you have changed your mind, he has gone back on his word”. Bertrand Russell.

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uring the run up to the national and local elections some politicians were masters at reframing, others less so. It seems no matter what happens, some can put a positive spin on it for themselves or a negative spin for their opponents.

Reframing is an everyday situation used by most of us unconsciously and with NLP you can learn how to reframe with purpose and with an outcome in mind.

During the 1984 campaign, there was considerable concern about Ronald Reagan’s age.

Speaking during the presidential debate with Walter Mondale, Reagan said, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Reagan’s age was not an issue for the remainder of the campaign.

In business, reframing is useful and used in many disciplines to create understanding and motivation. In selling, reframing takes an objection to a sale and turns it around to be a key reason to buy. In coaching, reframing explains a point in a different way, so helping those who did not understand when it was explained the first time. In leadership, reframing takes a routine or

daunting idea and makes it rousing.

There is a story about Thomas Watson Sr., the first President of IBM. A young worker had made a mistake that lost IBM $1 M in business. She was called in to the President’s office and as she walked in said, “Well, I guess you have called me here to fire me.”

“Fire you?” Mr. Watson replied, “I just spent $1 M on your education!

Reframing is a particularly useful method when two or more people are stuck in opposing and seemingly inflexible positions.

Reframing here effectively changes the ground from under their feet.

It is a common method in conflict resolution. A typical approach is to: • First get each parties to understand their own frame, and that it is a frame.

• Then each must appreciate that other people have different frames that are, for them, valid.

• Then each accepts that no one person has the ‘right’ frame • And hence accept that the other person’s frame is valid.

• Then to evenhandedly explore similarities and differences.

Aristotle identified three categories or the frame on which rhetoric can be drawn: logos, ethos and pathos; in other words, as facts, character and emotion.

Framing a good speech appeals to each of these categories. A good speaker will not simply present the facts and leave it at that - they will give their audience reason to believe that they, the speaker, are trustworthy. They will also present the facts in such a way that the

audience will have an emotional stake in accepting those facts.

For example, individuals might not care too much about what happens to the planet after they’ve gone, yet if you talk of the future for their children then individuals may be tugged emotionally. Our desire to see our children safe translates into our desire to take action on climate change, even though we won’t be around.

At another level, all companies need to continually reframe their businesses in order to survive as the market and technology change.

For example, Kodak defined its business as making cameras and film. When digital cameras made film photography obsolete, the company lost out badly, because it wasn’t able to open its frame early enough to see its business as including this new technology.

Framing and reframing of problems also opens up the door to innovative new ventures.

Scott Summit, the founder of Bespoke, created a brand-new way to envision prosthetics for people who have lost a limb.

Essentially, the prosthetic was transformed from a medical device into a fashion statement.

The language patterns of NLP, including the artfully vague and elegant Milton Patterns and the Sleight of Mouth reframing patterns of Robert Dilts are quietly proving effective tools in business to motivate, persuade, acknowledge, develop and innovate staff, services, products and customers. We are fedback some powerful results from businessmen and businesswomen from a wide range of environments.

“Reframing” is one of the first NLP techniques that I teach in our business trainings. After learning the processes involved and practice, it is easy to perform and very, very effective. There are two different ways to reframe any situation- “Context” and “Content” reframes.

Content — inside the box. Here you consider the details of the external behavior and the internal states. How else can I view this? What other perspectives could I use? What are some viewpoints others might use?

Context — outside the box. Here you set a higher frame on the belief or ideas. In what context would this behavior be useful?

So, Context Reframing is giving another meaning to a statement by changing the context. Example: ‘My 16-years old daughter is too head-strong’ …‘won’t you have peace of mind that when she leaves home, that she will be able to fend for herself?’

Content Reframing is giving another meaning to a statement by recovering more content, which changes the focus. Example: ‘My boss always comes to me when he wants someone to deal with this most difficult customer who is also the most important.’…

‘He must trust you so much!

The purpose of reframing is to help you and others to experience your actions, the impact of your beliefs, etc. from a different perspective (frame) and potentially be more resourceful or have more choice in how you or they react.

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Eye on Digital

The 5 Golden Rules Of Social Media... Busted

By Lynsey Paisley - Head of Search & Social Media at Simply Zesty

Social media can be pretty fantastic.

Done well, it helps you connect with your audience, helps you learn more about what makes your audience tick and provides amazing insights for your brand.

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took a virtual stroll through LinkedIn this week. Based on my connections, I’m seeing about 10,000 or so LinkedIn users listed as “social media experts” or variations of. Social media marketing is a relatively new channel, even within digital itself.

For such a young discipline, there seems to be a phenomenal amount of “expert” knowledge out there. As such, we see a lot of “expert” advice floating about too.

I’ve taken a light hearted look at some of the most regularly trotted out “rules” in the world of social management and explained how they don’t always apply.

1. Post About Topical Events Right, let’s get this one out of the way.

Reactive content (that’s been done well) is brilliant, hilarious and makes the internet go ‘round. As an agency, we pride ourselves on doing it really well too. And yes, you should be creating content that is timely and relevant to your audience. Yes, you should be coordinating this with a planned schedule which has a balance of branded, reactive and themed content. However...

You should not be posting about the latest celeb fashion disaster/wedding/ breakup/fail unless you (as a brand) have a genuine reason for getting involved with that conversation. Not everyone can (or should) be a controversial brand, chasing every trending topic or hashtag going.

Unless you have a unique take on the topic, or a really quirky/funny connection with it, think twice. Embrace your own brand voice and create good content around topics that interest your own audience 2. Don’t Make Spelling Mistakes Leaving the “Their, They’re, There” brigade aside, there is a sneaky tactic being employed by brand social managers - using mistakes to get cut-through in crowded social conversations. Take for example J.C. Penney who caused confusion on Twitter with their nonsensical posts – prompting

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users to think the account may have been hacked. In fact, J.C. Penney were deliberately tweeting as if wearing mittens – to promote their winter collection. Many industry voices have pointed out that this approach can negatively affect the overall brand image, which is fair. However, with the right balance of humour, topical advantage and community management/moderation, it can be used by brands to dramatically dial up online conversation. Use with caution.

3. Post at Lunchtime Each Day If I see another ‘Best Ever Guide on When To Post on Social’ article I may need to hurt myself. Quite honestly, THE universal best time for posting (works for everyone, don’t even need to think about it) doesn’t exist. It is different for each brand, for each social media channel and for each industry/ market. I recall working on 2 different client accounts on one day where the optimum posting time for one was 10am on Facebook (targeting bargain seeking mums), with another being 5.30pm on LinkedIn (targeting clued-in marketers on their way home on the train). Test your own content, your own audience and your own mix of social channels for the optimum posting time – and keep monitoring it, watch how mobile behaviour differs from laptop, and how organic and paid postings differ from each other.

4. Don’t Ever Delete a Post (or Tweet) In the interests of transparency, of course you should not deliberately delete posts or comments just because you plain-old-don’tlike or agree with it. That’s the essence of wrong in a social sense, and is likely to invoke the ire of your fans and anyone else who hears about it. So please don’t use this as an excuse to get over-friendly with the delete button. But there is a time and a place for selective moderation by deletion – if someone uses unnecessary or excessively bad language that might offend others, that’s a good reason to remove it. What if a comment endangers another users privacy? What if a comment contains libelous content? Set out some clear community guidelines on your social pages, and be transparent with your community as to what’s going on. Above all, treat your community with respect.

5. Always Add an Image to Posts Now I’m being a bit cheeky with this one.

Content with really good, engaging images does really well on social channels, of course.

A recent study by Quintly puts image based brand posts at about 54% of all content shared. But what I am getting at here is really about prompting you to consider which format and which type of content works best for you and your brand. What we are seeing on client accounts (and what many other sources are saying) is that native social video content (for example Facebook video) is achieving more shares and higher engagement rates than other forms of content for brands. For others, particularly content publishers, sharing links out to good quality articles (NOT clickbait) works really well. So much so that Facebook is looking at ways to bring content production within their own platform.

So test out which formats work best for you, at different times and on different platforms and use this info to inform your ongoing choice on content strategy.

There is no social media magic wand.

What goes into making good social media campaign activity is hard work, data and insights, informed strategy, creativity, agility and an inventive approach.

Get in touch for a social chat at hello@simplyzesty.com

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Eye on Recruitment

Mairead Scott...

Is Accountancy The New IT? We all know about the growth in the IT sector here and the skills challenges it has created. Now, welcome growth within Accounting and Finance professions is bringing similar challenges with a definite shortage of qualified people already being experienced by organisations within Northern Ireland’s private sector. That’s the view of Mairead Scott, Head of Professional Services at Belfast-based, specialist recruitment firm, MCS Group.

“R

esources are stretched already across many functions including Internal Audit, Taxation and Change Management. Additionally, ongoing regulatory pressures have significantly pushed up the demand for compliance professionals, of whom there is already a dearth of in Northern Ireland. With these pressures we are starting to see salaries rise after being flat for many years,” says Mairead.

“There’s a definite shift towards a candidate led market at the moment and it shows no signs of changing,” she adds. “As a result, organisations, both large and small, are having to become more and more inventive when

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it comes to attracting the right people....and then retaining them – very much a similar challenge which the IT sector here has faced for several years now.” Also, like the IT sector, it seems that shifts in technology are impacting on the skills that modern day Accountants and Finance professionals need to be successful. “Accountants are being challenged to deal with the changes created by big data and cloud computing as well as the demands of cybercrime and digital service delivery,” says Mairead, suggesting a future which requires professionals to adapt or be left behind. “Accountants and other finance professionals will be expected to provide

leadership, influencing technology decision making both within their own organisations and the clients they work with. This makes Accountants influential agents of change, so looking ahead is as exciting and challenging as it is daunting for most Accountants,” she says.

Through her own career Mairead has not been afraid to face up to a challenge. She joined MCS Group as Head of Professional Services in January of this year, having had a very successful previous 14 years spent in finance recruitment, initially as a recruiter, latterly in a senior management position.

Mairead joined MCS Group as the company sought to drive through its strategy to

Eye on Recruitment become the leading provider of specialist and professional recruitment services in Northern Ireland. Already widely known as a leader in the IT & Technical space, moving MCS into Accountancy and Professional Services, with a view to achieving the same level of success, is a challenge she has embraced fully. “Professional services, Accountancy and Finance was a new area for MCS, but it’s an area which has taken off really strongly for us,” she says. “We’ve already developed a strong team of consultants and have exceeded initial expectations across the professional permanent and interim recruitment sector. Our client base is strong and growing, our candidate base is significant and we are noticing a strong appetite from individuals and firms who want to work with knowledgeable professionals they can trust, so overall I’m very happy with the progress”.

MCS is known for its ethical approach and attention to customer care. It seems this approach is working, as further expansion is imminent. “We’ve got ambitious plans for expansion,” Mairead adds, “and with the rate of growth we’ve experienced, we’re already in the market to add to our team of specialist recruiters. While it could be said that this rate of growth reflects what is happening in the marketplace as a whole, we believe our success is down to our approach and the quality of our team. I believed, when joining MCS, that I was joining a business which genuinely cared about its clients and candidates and I’ve been pleased to see that it is very much the case. Our goal is to help our customers achieve success through people and working with such a diverse group, from the global accountancy & professional services firms, to medium sized practices and locally owned small firms ensures that we are kept busy. Additionally, we also work extensively with customers across Commerce and Industry and are building a strong footprint amongst Northern Ireland’s Top 200 Companies.

Overall, the signs in the market are good according to Mairead. “We are now seeing more confidence in planning for long term growth, not just in meeting short term needs. There is fluidity of movement within practice and also between practice and industry. The reality is that talent is in demand and candidates are now taking a more structured approach to career planning. With a lot of employers out there looking for much the same kind of skill set in accounting and finance, the ability to position your business, creating an attractive proposition and employer brand, is critical to recruitment success. However, regardless of that, we still need a supply of more qualified people,” says Mairead. “Post-recession, business and industry is growing and it needs the financial and accounting staff on board to help manage that growth.”

One significant new trend, she points out, is a new form of apprenticeship scheme being introduced by some larger and more progressive organisations, offering candidates on the job training, career progression and a range of other benefits.

Companies who have traditionally started out focusing strictly on candidates formal education and in particular the A Level/ Degree route have realised they may be missing out on a lot of talented people whose true abilities surpass their academic credentials. Just recently Professional services company PWC have scrapped its requirement for all applicants to achieve top a level marks and a minimum number of UCAS points regardless of the strength of their degree for its graduate programmes. A lot of companies realise now that they have been looking at candidate CVs far too narrowly.

Looking into the future, Mairead reckons that the only way the talent pool can be expanded it to entice more young people into considering Accounting and Finance as a career choice.

“We do need to work on the pipeline of talent that is available,” she says, “and there is an important role for our universities, FE colleges and schools when it comes to making sure that students and parents know about the opportunities that can await them in this sector. However, they need support from industry, so we’ve already become heavily involved, trying to play our part, with several engagement programmes already in place. This partnership approach is what we believe will work best in the long term. After all, it’s in all of our interests to make sure this economically critical sector not just survives but thrives.”

Mairead Scott is Head of Professional Services at specialist recruitment firm MCS Group. She can be contacted on 028 9023 5456 or by email at m.scott@mcsgroup.jobs.

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Eye on Moving On

1 Kate McCusker has been appointed by Clever Fulton Rankin as a solicitor in Planning & Environmental Law. Kate was previously been employed by a local authority in England.

She has wide experience of contentious and non-contentious planning law including advising on public inquiries; judicial reviews; environmental liability and enforcement action.

1 Kate McCusker

2 Richard Kirk

3 Donal Durkan

2 Richard Kirk has been appointed as Regional Director of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the body which represents around 2,000 civil engineers who live and work in Northern Ireland. Prior to this, Richard was a senior engineer with Aecom and was responsible for the delivery of capital infrastructure projects in Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. 3 Donal Durkan, an Executive Director in Invest NI has been appointed as an Independent Board Member to Colleges Northern Ireland.

Donal worked in the private sector for a number of years before taking up a career in economic development. He has significant experience across a number of sectors including engineering, software, electronics, food, life sciences and creative industries.

4 Claire McKee joins JPR as a Junior Consultant.

She joins from one of Northern Ireland’s largest utility companies and will work on a range of blue chip client accounts.

4 Claire McKee

5Cathy Noade

6 Sara Rafferty

Henderson Foodservice has announced the appointment of three new Business Development Executives for their Food To Go 5 brand. They are Cathy Noade, who previously worked in management roles in the hospitality 6 and retail sectors, Sara Rafferty, who has experience in sales and marketing in the fresh 7 food sector and Tina Murphy, who has worked in the foodservice and retail sectors.

Gaelectric Developments has made two new 8 appointments. Anna Magee joins as Construction Project Manager. The holder of Masters Degrees in Renewable Energy and Marine Spatial Planning, she joins from Farrans Construction where she was a site engineer on reservoir construction.

9 Marco Bianchini becomes Project Engineer (Operations & Maintenance). He has more than 10 years experience in project management, geophysical investigation and land remediation works. He is a native of Turin in Italy.

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7 Tina Murphy

8 Anna Magee

9 Marco Bianchini

10 Jeffrey Harrison

11 David Ramsey

12 Maggie McQuiston

Bank of Ireland has made three key appointments.

10 Jeffrey Harrison has been appointed Regional Mortgage Manager Northern Ireland.

He has over twenty five years’ experience in mortgage management, sales and service.

11 David Ramsey has joined Bank of Ireland UK as Branch Manager of City Hall, Belfast. David successfully completed the HSBC Graduate Management Trainee Scheme in 2009 and has since held a variety of management positions in both Scotland and London before recently making the move back to Northern Ireland. And 12 Maggie McQuiston has been appointed as Head of Customer Advocacy for Northern Ireland.

Maggie has extensive experience in customer service management and operational change.

Eye on News

NEW SPAR RANGE BOOSTS AGRI FOOD SECTOR A new range of locally sourced fresh products has been launched in SPAR and EUROSPAR stores, supporting 22 of Northern Ireland’s finest suppliers to the tune of around £25m each year.

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enderson Wholesale, which owns the SPAR and EUROSPAR franchises in Northern Ireland, has unveiled its enjoy local range, the latest addition to its growing fresh business, in over 400 stores here.

The range includes 126 fresh and chilled products including dairy, baked goods, fruit, vegetables, freshly baked savoury pies, and a 100% Northern Irish barbeque range including burgers, chicken wings and sausages. Every product in the range has a stamp which lets the shopper know exactly where their product was sourced or produced.

Suppliers include Dungannon firm Dunbia, which sources beef from Northern Ireland farms, Rockvale Poultry, based in Richhill, and pork processor Fred C Robinson in Ballyclare, while Clandeboye Estate Yogurt and Genesis Bakery are among six companies supplying to Henderson Wholesale’s own brand for the first time, representing contracts worth a combined £3.5m.

Paddy Doody, Sales and Marketing Director at Henderson Wholesale says: “Eating local food is better for you, for the environment, for taste and offers better value. Sourcing locally also means that we continue to support our local suppliers and that’s great news for our economy.

“Henderson Wholesale has invested a significant amount to date in the launch of the new own brand enjoy local range, and in 2015 we will invest £3.7m in the implementation of our marketing strategy.

“This underlines everything we are about - a local business working with local suppliers to provide for our local stores and shoppers. Consumers will see a real change in our own brand products and we’re delighted to work with some of Northern Ireland’s finest local farmers and producers during this exciting time.”

Neal Kelly, Fresh Foods Director added: “Extensive research

Paddy Doody, Sales & Marketing Director and Neal Kelly, Fresh Foods Director at the Henderson Group are joined by Paula McIntyre to launch the new SPAR own brand range, enjoy local that supports local suppliers, farmers and growers across Northern Ireland.

showed that more than anything, our shoppers appreciate value, range and provenance when it comes to fresh foods, so we’re delighted to launch the enjoy local range to meet their demands.

“Adding to our repertoire of suppliers pushes our local message further so we can confidently say that over 75% of our total range of fresh products are produced and sourced locally.

“Henderson Wholesale’s Fresh

Team will continue to source the very best from farmers, growers and suppliers here to further develop the range, ensuring we provide the best for our retailers to offer our shoppers.

“Shoppers can expect to see additions for summer and winter seasons, and we will always strive to offer the best value and shopping experience throughout SPAR and EUROSPAR stores in Northern Ireland.”

Stena Line Invests £6M in Fleet Upgrade Work

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tena Line is due to complete a £6m refit investment programme of its Irish Sea North ferry fleet when the Stena Precision finishes its upgrade at Belfast’s Harland & Wolff shipyard over the Easter period. A total of seven ships have been upgraded by Stena Line over the last 5 months with the bulk of the work being carried out at Harland & Wolff shipyard including Stena Line’s flagship vessels Stena Superfast VII and VIII which operate on the Belfast-Cairnryan service.

Stena Line is the leading ferry company on the Irish Sea and last year the company carried a total of 1.4m passengers, 318 000 cars and 485 000 freight units and as Stena Line’s Irish Sea

North route manager Paul Grant points out, the latest refit spend is part of an ongoing investment programme by Stena Line. “Over the last 5 years alone Stena Line has invested more than £250m in its Irish Sea business. This latest investment commitment of £6m is to help keep our Belfast fleet operating at optimum performance levels and ensures that our leisure and freight customers continue to benefit from award winning facilities and service. The challenging 5 month work schedule has been achieved in partnership between Stena Line, sister company Northern Marine Ferries and the team at Harland & Wolff,” said Paul Grant.

Mr Grant added: “While the refit window provides us with an

opportunity to overhaul all the necessary mechanical aspects of our vessels it also provides the perfect platform for us to upgrade and enhance our passenger facilities. For us, it’s a case of continual improvement, the best just keeps getting better! Our sister ships Stena Lagan and Mersey which operate on the Belfast-Liverpool service have also benefitted from an extensive refit programme which included an enhanced Stena Plus lounge, improved free Wi-Fi coverage and an extended children’s play area.”

Stena Line operates 3 routes on its Irish Sea North corridor BelfastCairnryan, Belfast-Liverpool and Belfast-Heysham with seven ships providing a choice of over 140 scheduled sailings per week.

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Eye on News

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS ELECT NEW CHAIRMAN Patrick Gallen has been elected Chairman of Chartered Accountants Ulster Society at its 108th Annual General Meeting in Belfast. The Ulster Society represents over 3,800 Chartered Accountants and is a district society of Chartered Accountants Ireland, the largest and oldest professional accountancy body in Ireland.

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r Gallen, who takes over as Chairman from Paul Henry, is an Associate Partner with PwC in Belfast and leads PwC’s Learning Services Centre of Excellence in the UK, which delivers behavioural change through learning and development solutions. He has significant experience as a specialist trainer and has also spent 10 years in the Audit Business of PwC, before transferring to Consulting in 1999.

Addressing the Society’s AGM, he said: “Chartered Accountants have a great role to play in encouraging economic development and as a profession we have a great deal

of expertise, experience and ability to bring to bear for the benefit of Northern Ireland.

“During my year in office, The Ulster Society will continue to be an active voice for the Chartered Accountancy profession in Northern Ireland. We will strive to be a strong supporter and advocate for the local business community.

“We will seek out opportunities to support the local Executive, by providing a link to Northern Ireland businesses and offering leadership which can benefit the local economy. We will offer insight and opportunities which can benefit local

entrepreneurs and business leaders.

As Northern Ireland’s recovery from the longest recession in living memory continues, we will play our part by supporting businesses which are aiming for growth.”

A resident of Lisbane in County Down, Mr Gallen joined PwC in 1989, having studied Economics and Accounting at the University of Ulster and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Accounting at Queen’s University Belfast. He is also a former Chairman of the Chartered Accountants Ulster Student Society and a Past President of Belfast Junior Chamber of Commerce.

HENDERSON FOODSERVICE HOLDS ITS PLACE AS ONE OF IRELAND’S BEST MANAGED COMPANIES Henderson Foodservice has retained its place as one of Ireland’s most successful companies in the Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards Programme, which recognises excellence in business management and performance.

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he company, a division of the Mallusk-based Henderson Group, supplies and delivers to customers across Ireland including hotels, schools, restaurants, fast food outlets, hospitals, nursing homes, cafes, sandwich bars and retail convenience stores.

The awards, held in association with Barclays Bank Ireland in Dublin this month, were attended by over 800 people from the business community across Ireland.

The Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards Programme, in association with Barclays Bank Ireland, recognises indigenous companies across Ireland which are operating at the highest

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levels of business performance.

The programme was created to recognise the overall success of a company, including management strength, ability to innovate, strategic initiatives and financial performance – all the elements that contribute to a Best Managed company.

Damien Barrett, managing director of Henderson Foodservice, said: “The Best Managed Companies Awards Programme is the only awards programme that considers a business’ performance from every perspective so it’s a real endorsement of our business in so many ways to retain our place this year.

“It’s wonderful to receive the accolade and we are proud that

our high level of commitment and capability has been recognised.

“Winning is a symbol of organisational success and achievement and we are delighted that this process has highlighted once again that Henderson Foodservice as one of Ireland’s most dynamic and innovative companies.”

In the last year Henderson Foodservice has focussed heavily on developing its fresh offering, investing in a dedicated ‘fresh sprinter’ lorry, which has helped the company secure three major contracts worth more than £2m.

The contracts, which are predominately for the supply of fresh food, are with major local players in the pub and

restaurant, healthcare and support service sectors.

In recent years the company has been expanding in the Republic of Ireland and the market now represents around 10% of its total business. New sales staff have been recruited to help increase sales in the region.

New Pension Reforms And Tax Planning Seminar

The seminar is designed for individuals with pension funds, business owners and company directors seeking to learn about the Pension Reforms coming into force on 6 April 2015. We will also cover the following topics of interest and some tax saving ideas.

• The significant pensions changes which are coming into force • How to plan for long-term care costs in advance and asset protection issues • Inheritance tax planning with options for saving on inheritance tax Join us for a free seminar which will cover these vital areas as well as areas to look for investment returns in 2015

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Eye on Competition

Business Eye Exclusive Reader Competition Win a week’s France Summer NLP Business Training and Certification! Business Eye has teamed up with King NLP to provide one reader with this fantastic opportunity. The prize includes return flight from Dublin, accommodation in the Chateau for 7 nights, airport transfers, breakfast, lunch and 4 evening meals. Your training will be hosted at the magnificent Chateau Domaine des Granges Vieille, Souillac sur Dordogne, Lot France, 13-20th June 2015.

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he NLP Practitioner Course is an intensive programme that gives you an exciting & fun ‘hands-on’ introduction to all the fundamentals of NLP. Frequently known as the “users manual for your mind”, the course will provide a toolkit to enable you to think and act differently and so achieve greater personal development

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In a nutshell, how to get even better results, even faster.

The successful entrant of the £2,500 course will be announced in the June edition of the magazine. There is pre-study requirement and with a 130 page manual, 16 CD audio programme, Integration Paper as well as the Certified live training, coaching and accreditation.

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Answer the question and register for the free 8 day Introduction to NLP that will be emailed daily directly to your inbox.

The closing date for entries is 8th May. The winner will be notified by registered post.

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building and sales performance

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Workspace Innovation

In the immortal words of James Brown “Get up offa that thing” A number of studies have suggested that constantly sitting at work is bad for you. So, could workplaces be heading for a redesign around standing up?

Medical research has been building up for a while now, suggesting constant sitting is harming our health - potentially causing cardiovascular problems or vulnerability to diabetes.

One way of moving towards a “Standing Office” is to introduce height adjustable desking & seating with 360° dynamic movement.

www.innov8office.com hello@innov8office.com Belfast Showroom

1-3 Glenmachan Street Belfast BT12 6JB T +44 (0) 28 9023 8180

Dublin Office

77 Sir John Rogersons Quay Dublin 2 T +353 (0) 1 649 9054

Eye on Charity

Lockton Belfast staff Mark Jobling, Wendy Graham, Gary Ennis (Managing Partner), Clare Watson and Suzanne Morrow are encouraging other local businesses to support the Action Cancer ‘Breast Cancer: Don’t Duck the Issue’ campaign.

Lockton Belfast staff say, ‘Breast Cancer: Don’t Duck the Issue!’

Managing Partner Gary Ennis and his staff from Lockton Companies LLP local Belfast office are proud to supportNorthern Ireland’s leading local cancer charity, Action Cancer’s and their new breast cancer awareness campaign, ‘Breast Cancer, Don’t Duck the Issue’

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ction Cancer is asking local business owners and staff to help get all their ducks in a row, by signing up to receive two pinks ducks. Each pink duck represents a breast screening and encourages you to raise £80 to cover the cost of one screening.

The new pink duck campaign, supported

by Action Cancer Patron Gloria Hunniford, endeavours to raise awareness, encourage ladies to regularly check their breasts,

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whilst aiming to raise £20,000 towards the charity’s unique breast screening facilities.

Having received her two pink ducks, Wendy Graham, Account Executive at Lockton explains why she decided to encourage her colleagues to fundraise at least £800 for Action Cancer and pay for 10 ladies to be screened.

“Having got to know the services provided by Action Cancer over the years and the support they provide to those affected by cancer and their families, we here at Lockton feel this is a great opportunity to show our support for such a worthwhile charity, that provides valuable and often lifesaving services.”

This year, 10,000 women in Northern Ireland will choose to make their screening appointment with Action Cancer and this service is entirely free of charge. We screen women aged

40-49 and over 70, who fall outside the government screening programme.

Action Cancer is the only charity that provides a breast screening service for women in Northern Ireland aged 40-49 and 70+. As with any cancer, the earlier it can be detected, the better chances of survival – if a breast cancer is caught in stage one or two, survival rates are 95%.

For every 1,000 women we screen, we detect an average of 5 breast cancers. For more information or to book your breast screening online, visit www.actioncancer.org If you would like to receive your two pink ducks, and help Action Cancer continue to save lives and support people in your local community, please call Gillian on 028 9080 3347 or by email on gthomson@actioncancer.org ...Breast Cancer, Don’t Duck the Issue!

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Eye on News

A Helping Hand...

Leading local charity Cancer Focus Northern Ireland is headhunting corporate partners for 2015/16 – can you help?

Marketing manager Lauren Campbell (left) and Rebecca Henderson, events coordinator, Victoria Square shopping centre, Belfast, handed over £25,000 to Cancer Focus Northern Ireland chief executive Roisin Foster (centre), raised by staff and customers. Huge thanks to everyone! If your company would like to fundraise to help local cancer patients please email eointreanor@cancerfocusni.org.

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orporate fundraiser for the charity Eoin Treanor said: “Our corporate partners help us carry out extremely valuable

work in the community – and we’d love to join up with you.

“Even if your company cannot commit to a full year of fundraising, one-off

events are also a huge help, and we have a host of fun ideas we can give you.

“Your money will fund a host of projects including vital breast cancer research at Queen’s University Belfast into the BRCA1 gene mutant – the condition that led movie star Angelina Jolie to have a double mastectomy and her ovaries removed.”

Eoin added: “Sadly we all know someone who has been affected – a family member, a friend, maybe even a staff member or customers.

“Cancer Focus NI needs to raise £3.5m each year to continue providing our services to patients and their families.

These include counselling, family support service, creative writing, brafitting, Lagan Dragon rowers for women with breast cancer, and much more.

“We work in schools teaching

children about healthy lifestyles to help lower their risk of cancer later, run stop smoking sessions in workplaces, schools and community venues, and our Keeping Well vans can bring important health checks right to your workplace or sports club.

“We’d be delighted if you’d consider us as your charity for 2015/2016.

If you’ve any questions about the work we do please do not hesitate to call me on 028 9068 0758 or email eointreanor@cancerfocusni.org.”

You can also help Cancer Focus NI tremendously by spreading the word about its good work by following on Twitter and Facebook.

Please go to www.cancerfocusni. org for more details or call the free helpline on 0800 783 3339 if you have any concerns about cancer.

Progressive Invests In The North West Economy Progressive Building Society has announced a significant economic boost for Derry with the investment of £250k in the relocation of its City Centre branch to Newmarket Street following the successful merger with the City of Derry Building Society in 2014.

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he new facility is part of a £2m investment in new branch openings and refurbishments since June 2014 confirming the society’s commitment to investing in the local economy and developing the local High Street.

The deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness MLA officially opened Progressive’s new building, where he outlined his commitment to supporting investment in Derry.

Speaking at the event he said, “I welcome this £250,000 investment

by Progressive. This investment will provide a significant boost to the North West economy and is a sign of Progressive’s confidence in Derry as a vibrant, energetic centre of commerce.

This new branch on Newmarket Street will provide customers with a

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branch designed to meet their needs.

I thank and congratulate Progressive Building Society and wish them every success with this new branch.

This investment signals their long term commitment to the City, the North West, and to all our people.

The building society which will hold its 100th AGM later this month recently announced that in 2014 its new mortgage lending increased 30% to £153 million reflecting the increased confidence in the Northern Ireland housing market.

Resident in Derry since 1996, Progressive has its roots in local communities across Northern Ireland.

Commenting at the opening Darina Armstrong, Chief Executive said, “We know that customers seek out great value, but don’t want to compromise on

John Trethowan, Chairman and Darina Armstrong, Chief Executive, Progressive Building Society were joined by the deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness for the official opening of the Society’s new branch in Newmarket Street Derry after a £250k investment.

quality, so we’re always looking to meet these evolving demands by enhancing our branches and our products.

“As the largest locally owned financial institution in Northern Ireland we have been providing a top quality and competitive service to home owners and savers throughout Northern Ireland for 100 years. The investment in our branch

network strengthens our position as one of Northern Ireland’s leading providers of mortgages and savings and helps us deliver on our core values - a traditional building society, offering good value savings and mortgage products and excellent customer service for the benefit of our members.”

Eye on News

LEXUS BELFAST REVS UP THE STYLE STAKES AT DOWN ROYAL

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ashionistas and racing fans alike will be under starter’s orders for this year’s twoday Summer Festival of Racing at Down Royal, as it’s confirmed that Lexus Belfast , part of the Charles Hurst group, will sponsor the Best Dressed Lady Competition.

To celebrate this new racing partnership, the Lexus Belfast best dressed lady on Saturday 20th June, will win an amazing three night five star break in Rome, the fashion capital of Italy; including £500 spending money, walking tour and a Rome by night coach tour.

This announcement comes as Down Royal celebrates 330 years of racing heritage, with the venue undergoing a multimillion pound refurbishment programme including an upgrade of the public bar and food outlets in the main grandstand. The project, which was

completed late last year, reinforces Down Royal’s commitment to providing world-class facilities to racegoers from across Ireland.

The sport of kings champions the queens of fashion and the Lexus Belfast best dressed lady competition provides the perfect opportunity for guests to celebrate their individual style and enjoy top quality racing in a bespoke Festival setting.

Jonathan Lavery, Sales Manager of Lexus Belfast, said: “We are delighted to be part of the Best Dressed Lady competition, following Charles Hurst Premium’s successful partnership with Down Royal at the Summer Race Evening in September.

“With two such stylish brands, it will be one of the most chic events this year and we look forward to seeing the style

Miss Northern Ireland Rebecca Shirley with Down Royal’s Mike Todd and Jonathan Lavery, Sales Manager of Lexus Belfast.

on display at the event.”

Mike Todd, General Manager at Down Royal, says the two-day festival is the highlight of a fantastic social summer racing calendar, which runs through to September.

“We look forward to this event every year, marking as it does the highlight of Summer Racing at Down Royal, and we’re proud to be associated with Lexus Belfast for the best dressed ladies competition at our Summer Festival of Racing.

“This is one of the highlights of the racing calendar, and following our recent multimillion pound investment in facilities here we guarantee a fantastic day out for

everyone attending Down Royal.

With the refurbishment of the public bar including the addition of Silks @ downroyal, offering artisan food from award winning local meat supplier, Peter Hannan, the great day out that our many thousands of guests have at Down Royal just got even better!”

For more information on this year’s Down Royal Summer Festival of Racing on 19th and 20th of June, and details on how to enter Ladies’ Day, visit www.downroyal.com.

SKODA DRIVES LOCAL FOOTBALL Mervyn Stewart Skoda has announced a three year deal to become an Official Partner of the Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL). The partnership sees Mervyn Stewart Skoda named as the ‘Official Car Partner’.

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he Belfast based dealership has just undergone a major renovation, investing £300,000 in the restructure of a state of the art showroom – the largest in the UK, opposite Windsor Park on Boucher Crescent.

The NIFL has recently announced an impressive 14.5% increase in match attendances this season with almost 200,000 fans through the turnstiles since August.

Stephen Stewart, Managing Director of Mervyn Stewart Skoda comments: “We are really looking forward to

working with the NIFL, our hope is to help drive domestic football in Northern Ireland. It’s great for local football and being a football mad business, it is an honour for us to support club football in Northern Ireland. As part of the sponsorship we’ll be able to showcase the Skoda fleet at clubs and grounds throughout the league, so the fans can check out our award-winning cars.”

NIFL Managing Director Andrew Johnston is excited by the new partnership. “We are delighted to team up with Mervyn Stewart Skoda as our

Crusaders midfielder Declan Caddell, Mervyn Stewart Skoda Managing Director Stephen Stewart and Linfield Player Manager Warren Feeney.

‘Official Car Partner’ providing a fantastic platform to display their vehicles to football fans across Northern Ireland.”

Mervyn Stewart has been in business for over 50 years investing in the Skoda brand - following the car manufacturers’

commitment to double their global sales by 2018. The group investment amounts to a massive €14 billion, and includes a new two year phase of product development which aims to release a new model every 6 months.

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Eye on Tourism

Northern Ireland is building on its established reputation as the go-to location for big film and television production companies eager to make use of the unique bio-diversity, creative industries infrastructure and great transport links.

TOURISM NORTHERN IRELAND PREPARES ‘SCREEN TOURISM’ FOR STARRING ROLE

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merican TV company, HBO continues to use Northern Ireland’s mountains and forests to help set the scene for the phenomenally successful, Game of Thrones series which returns to screens in April 2015 for a fifth season. Good news for Northern Ireland, as during the filming of seasons 1 – 3 an estimated £65.5m was spent on goods and services here.

Game of Thrones, The Exhibition generated £2.9m worth of PR stories and a direct spend of £735k.

And last year, Hollywood rolled into town to film, Dracula Untold, with a cast and crew of hundreds and armed with a $100m budget, some of which was spent locally.

But that’s only a small part of the much bigger picture.

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“When Hollywood comes to town you know you’re doing something right”, said Laura McCorry, Tourism Northern Ireland Director of Product Development. “And Northern Ireland can boast several big projects over the last number of years with more to come.”

Big screen movies filmed in Northern Ireland over the last number of years include Good Vibrations starring Richard Dormer, Your Highness starring Hollywood names James Franco and Natalie Portman and City of Ember starring Bill Murray.

Laura continued: “With the unique Paint Hall Film Studios studio facility in Titanic quarter, countless breathtaking landscapes to choose from and a wealth of

local talent Northern Ireland is increasingly being mentioned by Hollywood executives at brain storms, by hip filmmakers looking for scene stealing backdrops and location managers seeking atmosphere and character.

“We are fully aware of the staggering beauty of our country so it is somewhat gratifying to know that millions of TV and film fans across the world have been let in on the secret. I think it’s fair to say that if a fraction of these people get curious enough to take a trip to the locations they’ve seen on screen then we can expect to see more of these types of tourists in Northern Ireland.”

But it isn’t just beautiful landscapes and green pastures attracting filmmakers as the

BBC series, The Fall, starring Northern Ireland’s very own Mr Grey, Jamie Dornan, shot in and around urban Belfast, proves.

“For New Yorkers, seeing their buildings and streets on the big and small screen is nothing new but for people from Northern Ireland it’s a different matter.

Catching a glimpse of a place you’ve holidayed in or a nightspot visited with friends on screen adds an extra frisson of excitement that’s new to us but that we’re happily getting used to”, said Laura.

Screen tourism reality As the result of the film and TV shows being produced here, location Northern Ireland is fast becoming a star in its own right, and like a sharp-eyed

Eye on Tourism “ When people see our Jurassic coastlines, crumbling castles, stately homes, mountains, forests and cityscapes on the TV they see into the heart of our offering, and that is something we are very keen to capitalise on.” director Tourism Northern Ireland is out to make sure the countryside is cast in a leading role as the screen tourism sector begins to take shape.

Together with Northern Ireland Screen, Tourism Ireland and the hospitality industry, Tourism Northern Ireland is working on a series of measures to make a screen tourism industry a reality. For example Tourism Northern Ireland has produced dedicated screen tourism and Game of Thrones web pages incorporating a Game of Thrones filming locations map.

“When people see our Jurassic coastlines, crumbling castles, stately homes, mountains, forests and cityscapes on the TV they see into the heart of our offering, and that is something we are very keen to capitalise on,” says Laura.

Tourism Northern Ireland has met with a number of local tour operators who have built experiences around the Game of Thrones locations, and is continuing work to enable local trade to develop further initiatives based on screen tourism.

Laura continued: “In 2013 we held a screen tourism insight event with over 150 attendees from local industry which examined how film and TV locations can be used to create tourism experiences. This has undoubtedly fed an appetite, as we now have several operators with product in this area which is continually growing.”

Tours and experiences Among them is McComb’s Coach Travel Game of Thrones locations tour, recently awarded 5* status by Tourism Northern Ireland under their Quality and Grading Scheme. They have worked on the first four seasons of Game of Thrones providing transport to filming locations.

Clearsky Adventure which operates ‘Winterfell Tours’ experiences is also transporting tourists into the world of Westeros, having created a replica of the Winterfell Archery Range in the courtyard of Castle Ward on the spot where Game

of Thrones filming took place.

Visitors can dress up in character costume, step into the movie set and experience the home of one of the show’s families.

Last Halloween, the team at Tourism Northern Ireland also released a map to guide visitors around the Dracula Untold filming locations.

Laura McCorry says there are a number of ways that tourism businesses can capitalise on local film and television production.

They include themed visitor experiences and activities, location tours, themed package breaks and accommodation both for visitors attracted through screen tourism and for crews filming on location.

She adds: “The ultimate aim is to position Northern Ireland as the home of several high profile productions. There is no doubt we can be a place visitors can immerse themselves in their experience of choice, then sample our culture and enjoy new and exciting activities.”

Northern Ireland taking a starring role The places and attractions in Northern Ireland which can been seen on screen read like a who’s who of our top attractions including the Giant’s Causeway,

Downhill Beach, Tollymore Forest, Ballintoy Harbour and grand estates like Castle Coole, Mount Stewart and Castle Ward.

2015 is just as exciting for screen tourism as The Frankenstein Chronicles, a re-imagining of the Frankenstein myth as a six-part ITV period crime drama, has begun filming, starring Sean Bean who also starred in Game of Thrones.

Jamie Dornan and Gillian Anderson are to reprise their starring roles in a third season of successful TV series, The Fall for the BBC. Further soon-to-be released productions include High Rise, featuring Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller and Luke Evans and a drama set in Fermanagh and filmed entirely on location at Castle Coole, Miss Julie starring Colin Farrell and Jessica Chastain.

Action film Robot Overlords, which used Donaghadee, Greencastle Beach, Tollymore Forest and Carrickfergus Castle as locations, hit cinema screens in early 2015 which stars Gillian Anderson and Ben Kingsley.

The Oscar nominated short film Boogaloo and Graham was recently awarded a BAFTA in 2015 following on from the success of Oscar winner The Shore in 2012.

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Eye on News

Lidl Commit To Raising £150,000 For CLIC Sargent Lidl has announced a two year partnership with CLIC Sargent which will help fund the charity’s services for local children and young people with cancer.

Lidl has committed to raising £150,000 over two years through initiatives including staff fundraising, challenges, events and in store activities.

Ross Patterson (aged 6) from Ballyclare, Paul Gibson, Sales Operations Executive, Lidl Northern Ireland and Nadine Campbell, CLIC Sargent Area Fundraising Manager are pictured in the CLIC Sargent Home from Home celebrating that Lidl have announced a two year partnership with the charity. Ross and his family have benefited from CLIC Sargent’s services since he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in February 2014.

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aul Gibson, Sales Operations Executive, Lidl Northern Ireland said, “At Lidl we are committed to Northern Ireland and supporting local communities. We are delighted to announce CLIC Sargent Northern Ireland as our

charity partner and look forward to making a real difference through the many exciting activities we have planned with our staff, in stores and with our customers.

The charity provides a wonderful service to local Northern Ireland

families at an incredibly difficult time; with this partnership we can play our part in supporting that vital work for children and young people with cancer and their families.”

CLIC Sargent provides clinical, practical and emotional support to help children and young people with cancer. Last year the charity opened the first Home from Home in Northern Ireland providing free self-catering accommodation beside the Royal Hospital, while the second Home from Home is due to open by the end of 2015 within walking distance of Belfast City Hospital.

Nadine Campbell, CLIC Sargent Area Fundraising Manager in Northern Ireland commented, “I am delighted that Lidl NI is supporting

CLIC Sargent to raise an incredible £150,000 by 2017. Each week in Northern Ireland two children or young people are diagnosed with cancer. Money raised through this partnership will help to pay for a variety of services to help children and young people with cancer, including Paul’s House, CLIC Sargent’s first Home from Home in Belfast. On average a family in Northern Ireland will make a round trip of up to 95 miles, up to 5 times a week so that they can access the cancer treatment that their child needs. Paul’s House, which opened in 2014, provides free self-catering accommodation, just a short walk from the hospital so that families can stay together at this difficult time.”

Belfast’s First Licensed Patisserie To Open

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Gordon Devenney of O’Donnell O’Neill Designers, is pictured with Supervisor, Georgia Smyth and Eve Wallace, the Manager of Miel et Moi, Northern Ireland’s first ever licensed patisserie which is set to open next month on Belfast’s Lisburn Road.

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orthern Ireland’s first ever fully licensed patisserie is set to open on Belfast’s Lisburn Road, creating 25 new jobs. Inspired by classical French patisseries and bars, the £200k investment will see Miel et Moi opening as the second phase of the development which includes The Albany, one of Belfast’s most popular and successful bars which was re-launched in 2013.

Master Pastry Chef and lecturer Hazel Magill who has over thirty years experience in venues such as The Culloden will serve home-made patisseries and light bites along with champagne, wine and cocktails.

Miel et Moi is a Calla House Group

project which created the award winning bar The Albany bar and according to Director Paul Langsford Northern Ireland’s first licensed patisserie provides a totally unique offering and something Northern Ireland has been crying out for, he said, “We have had a very positive response from the local community and further afield in anticipation of our second phase which represents the growing sophistication of Belfast as a progressive, modern and metropolitan City. Miel et Moi will bring a completely new and exciting dimension to our South Belfast premises and will be open 7 days a week, from 7am right through to 1am”.

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Eye on Motoring

dfcbelfast.co.uk Motoring with Derek Black dbmotoring@btinternet.com

FIAT BIGS UP ITS RETRO MINI BUT DOES IT HAVE THE X FACTOR? The 500X is the latest extension to the retrostyling Fiat mini car range. This time it has grown into a bigger cross-over, lining it up to compete with the Nissan Juke, Peugeot 2008 and Vauxhall Mokka. It is a sister car to the more roughneck Jeep Renegade.

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ike most of its ilk, the 500X rides tall and comes with either two-wheel or four-wheel drive. Most roadies will be content with front-drive but there is a 500X Cross Plus with all-wheel drive, skid pans and the ability to tackle rougher ground. (or you can get the Cross look with two-wheel drive).

On the road, the 500X felt surprisingly biddable for its size

and shape - it whirled about some twisting County Down roads with aplomb. There is a bit of wind noise at higher speeds but the car feels composed and comfortable. With a smooth six-speed gearbox, the 500X was more fun to drive than I expected from its looks - thanks to new strut rear suspension.

There is a range of engine choices but the 118bhp turbo

diesel is the one that does the business. Subdued rather than silent it can hit 62mph in 10.5 seconds. It is rated at 68.9mpg on the combined cycle so realtime consumption should be well into the 50s. Emissions of 109mpg are class competitive.

Inside, the fascia looks familiar from the baby 500 with a coloured insert, nice upholstery and a neatly built-in screen for

infotainment. There is loads of space in the front and the rear is not cramped either. The ambience is pleasantly different from the average hatchback.

Fiat is hoping that the 500X will appeal to the fleet sector with a spacious and fairly frugal diesel with an individual look. A mid-range ‘Popstar’ model with the 1.6 Multijet diesel costs just over £19K.

NISSAN GETS BACK INTO THE MAINSTREAM WITH THE PULSAR After giving us such trendy cars as the Quashqai and Juke in recent years, Nissan seems to be turning back the clock with the very mainstream Pulsar hatchback. It is as if, like a politician, they have suddenly remembered who their core voters were.

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hey have sold a lot of those fashionable crossovers but that particular segment is getting crowded as other makers go with the flow. So now we have the Pulsar which may appeal to those who owned Almera or Primera hatchbacks in the past. Priced below the Quashqai, the Pulsar makes sense though it might not get your pulses racing (at least not until the 180bhp sporty model appears later this year).

Engine choices are on the modest side at the moment,

either a 1.2 turbo petrol or a 1.5 turbo diesel familiar from other Renault/Nissan models. There is not much difference in the power outputs - the petrol is surprisingly peppy and flexible for its capacity whilst the diesel is more relaxed on the road Prices run from £15,995 to £21,945 but the equipment levels are generous. Even the starter model has air con, Bluetooth and an infotainment screen.

Higher grades include reversing cameras, smart phone integration, sat nav, LED lights. Top models

have a safety package including emergency braking, moving object detection, lane departure and blind spot warnings.

The diesel engined cars - from £17,595 - will be of most interest to the business buyer. They are rated at 78mpg combined and have emissions of just 94g/km leading to tax savings for the company car user. Both engines are fairly quiet and refined.

The Pulsar stands a bit higher than the average hatch.

Inside, the theme is function rather than luxury. But there is plenty of space both front and rear. Nissan is targeting the Hyundai i30 and Kia c’eed rather than the posher makes. A hatchback that does everything with competence and has many executive options is well worth a closer look.

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Eye on Motoring

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Eye on Motoring

DFC and TRACKER UK Continue to Strengthen Existing Partnership In light of our recently celebrated 25th anniversary, we at DFC continue to enhance are already strong alliance with TRACKER UK with this new partnership.

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aving recently signed a partnership with the RAC, we at DFC continue to invest in some of the most well-known and prominent companies in the motoring industry. In addition to the RAC and TRACKER UK partnership we are also pleased to welcome Pauline Nelmes on board as part of the DFC family.

Pauline who has spent over 20 years working in the vehicle tracking industry will now be working as a part of the DFC brand. Pauline will continue to be a main agent of the TRACKER UK product, whilst now also being able to assist our customers with all of the offerings from the DFC brand.

Mark Tavner, TRACKER UK National Sales Manager said, “We have always had a powerful relationship with

DFC, however this new partnership will enable us to work much closer together. Both DFC and TRACKER UK share a lot of similar ideas and this new alliance will enable us to provide an enhanced service to all of our customers.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for Pauline’s commitment and loyal support to TRACKER UK over the years.

Her effort and support has been exceptional and I wish her nothing but the best in her new role.”

This partnership will provide further support to businesses looking to drive down costs and provide highly accurate insight into how businesses fleets are managed.

Uel Butler, DFC CEO, said, “Having just celebrated over 25 years in business managing vehicles in the UK and Ireland, this enhanced relationship is a perfect way to celebrate. It shows the forward thinking from

all here at DFC as we continue to look to the future and provide our customers with one of the best services on the market. The recent changes here have enabled us to provide our customers with the perfect package.

Not only are we able to find them the best deals on the market in terms of price but can offer this unique holistic approach. We can now offer our customers the complete package in terms of fleet management, RAC breakdown recovery, accident management, Telematics and now stolen vehicle recovery.”

“Finally I would like to welcome Pauline as part of the DFC family. We are delighted to have her on board and we look forward to another fantastic 25 years in business.”

To find out more or to arrange your personal consultation with Pauline call 07775 773 806 or email pauline@dfctelematics.co.uk

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dfcbelfast.co.uk Motoring with Derek Black dbmotoring@btinternet.com

THE UNTHINKABLE HAS HAPPENED - A DIESEL MASERATI! Maserati is on the march as a practical car choice for the managing director. First, they introduced four-door models - the compact Ghibli and the larger Quattroporte - to offer more space and comfort for everyday driving. Now they have done the unthinkable - added diesel engine choices!

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ome eyebrows will be raised at the very idea of a Maserati with a turbo-diesel engine! I sampled this enigma on County Down roads recently and can tell you that it works better than expected. While the sound is not quite as evocative as the classic petrol powered cars, it is still a satisfying throb.

Maserati has fine-tuned the much-praised ZF eight-speed

automatic gearbox to produce even quicker changes through the steering column paddles!

Equally classic is the chassis. It is rear wheel drive - of course - with a perfect 50:50 weight distribution.

Add an advanced suspension system and you have the ingredients for a car that grips the road and handles impeccably with a thoroughbred balanced feel through the steering.

The Ghibli, which starts from

under £50k, is nimble and compact enough for our country roads It is a handsome saloon with curves in all the right places. Inside, there is the luxury of beautifully stitched and sumptuous leather. An 8.5 inch screen dominates the dash and there are bright surrounds to the dials. Above it sits an oval analogue clock, typical of the modern and classic blends in this car.

What is the bottom line? The

3.0-litre engine turns out a beefy 272bhp and is good for 0-62mph in just over six seconds. The emissions of 158g/km and almost 48mpg combined economy are competitive, especially when related to the strong performance.

More ‘sensible’ supercars are on the slips. Maserati plans to launch a luxury SUV called the Levante which will further broaden their appeal as a practical choice.

ANOTHER BEAUTIFULLY BUILT HYBRID FROM LEXUS - YAWN! Enter the eye-catching Lexus NX, a crossover that slots in below the larger GX range. This gives them a car with more extrovert looks to compete with the BMW X3 or the Audi Q5 in the premium soft-roader segment.

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exus does not do diesel but is heavily into hybrids - this one has a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and an electric motor which gives a combined power of 195PS. It has a beefy feel and a 0-62mph time of 9.5 seconds though it is not exactly a driving delight.

One downside is the CVT transmission which has steering wheel paddles to simulate manual gear changes. For once I found myself using these to give more control over a box that can be fussy at times if left to its own devices.

As always with Lexus, the car is impeccably put together and just oozes refinement. The sheer quality of the interior is almost breathtaking and there

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is decent room front and back with a useful boot. Almost every bit of equipment you could think of is provided!

Adaptive Cruise control and a Pre-Crash Safety system are the latest additions to the long list of standard features. My car had adaptive suspension and a premium navigation system

on top of the Fsport package that included all-wheel drive.

A neat touchpad replaces the previous ‘mouse’ controller on top models and it much easier to use. Also useful is a wireless charging tray for smartphones.

Given its power, the 300h does relatively well on the key figures.

It is rated at 54mpg combined

and has emissions of 121g/km putting it in the 17% BIK category.

That is creditable for what is still a sizeable executive car.

A straight turbo 2.0-litre petrol version with a six speed automatic gearbox will be offered later this year - this 235PS version will have added on-road appeal for the enthusiastic driver.

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