Posts tagged ‘Corporate agenda’
Corporate agenda:Continued investment?
Friday, March 12th, 2010Gary McDonald looks at how Northern Ireland could capitalise further on investment from the US and India. Either side of the millennium, Northern Ireland indisputably punched above its weight in terms of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), especially from the US and more recently India. From 1997-1998 to 2006-2007, for instance, North American client companies of Invest NI (and previously IDB) made 100 investment announcements, pumping £1.174 billion into the local economy which in turn created 13,660 new jobs and safeguarded a further 9,397. Those figures don’t even include...[full story]
Corporate agenda:A good cut
Friday, March 12th, 2010The Economic Reform Group has called for Northern Ireland to follow the Republic with a cut in corporation tax to 12.5 per cent. While there will be an initial shortfall, the region could be better off in the long term. “Twelve years after the Good Friday Agreement,” the Economic Reform Group states, “Northern Ireland still remains the UK’s poorest region.” With the smallest private sector in the UK, it claims the most effective way to turn the economy here round quickly is a low rate of corporation tax. At present, Northern Ireland relies heavily on a significant grant from...[full story]
Corporate agenda:Star companies
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010TG Eakin Being prepared to go where the squeamish will not has paid off in spades for Comber-based TG Eakin, which is arguably Northern Ireland’s most profitable yet media under-exposed business. Northern Ireland has a raft of home-grown and foreign-owned companies punching above their weight in global markets. agendaNi features three of the province’s star companies. For it operates in a niche area most people would rather not know about – manufacturing medical devices such as colostomy bags and skin glues for use in stoma and wound care. Today the company exports 99.5 per cent...[full story]
Corporate agenda:Banking in the storm
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Gary McDonald takes stock of the current state of banking and weighs up how much influence the local banks have amid the blame game. The financial services sector, above all others, has faced the most scathing attacks from business and the public for its role in causing the deepest recession in generations. Senior executives in the City were accused of mismanagement on a grand scale, and few outside the banking industry could fathom the economic justification for the exponential rises in their rates of pay over the past 20 years. Their actions were viewed as the modern day equivalent...[full story]
Corporate agenda:Retail round-up
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Local retailing stays dynamic but new opportunities are limited after a decade of growth. Few things illustrate the recent transformations in Northern Ireland’s fortunes better than retailing. Following 25 years of stunted growth, and coinciding with gathering momentum in the peace process, the sector expanded rapidly from the mid-1990s onwards with many of Britain and Europe’s biggest retailing names opening stores across the region. From a standing start, the three main multiples – Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda – now have more than 50 stores between them and are keen to extend...[full story]
Corporate agenda:A media snapshot
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010Downward financial trends for print and broadcast outlets do not cancel out some good news. Gary McDonald gives a survey of the state of Northern Ireland’s media after a tough year for the sector. The last 12 months have been the most challenging for the media sector in Northern Ireland for decades. Radio, TV and newspapers have had to cope with falling advertising revenues, down by more than a third in some cases, and the rise of digital media and the increasing choice and competition that brings. Belfast-headquartered UTV Media is a bellwether for the sector, operating across all...[full story]
Corporate agenda:Quinn’s world
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010A man of many talents, Peter Quinn shares his thoughts on business, economics and sport with Meadhbh Monahan. Growing up in “relative poverty” in south Fermanagh didn’t hinder Peter Quinn, who has taken on prominent roles in education, business, sport and the media over the years. An admirer of Seán Lemass and Barack Obama, Quinn is a chartered accountant and financial consultant with his own consultancy agency in Enniskillen. He is Director of the Quinn Group and a number of other organisations in the Republic, and is also Chairman of Irish language television station TG4. Quinn...[full story]
Corporate agenda:Spotlight on construction
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010How the sector is emerging from the recession. If there’s one thing Northern Ireland’s construction industry longs for as it enters a new decade it’s stability. The last few years have been a proverbial rollercoaster ride for the sector. First there was the unprecedented property boom, then the sudden crash, the financial crisis, and the tightening of the public purse strings. The inevitable rapid contraction has left the sector reeling, but it’s determined to emerge stronger when fortunes pick up. “We’ve certainly had a couple of turbulent years,” says Construction Employers...[full story]
Corporate agenda:Essential innovation
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010Randox Laboratories founder Dr Peter FitzGerald talks to Gary McDonald about innovation’s importance and its application in the business he started from scratch. “An established company which, in an age demanding innovation, is unable to innovate, is doomed to decline and extinction.” Dr Peter FitzGerald can’t, nor won’t, lay claim to that quote (in fact, it’s attributable to a namesake, the acclaimed business thinker Peter Drucker) but it’s a mantra the founder and managing director of Randox Laboratories obdurately adheres to as his company continues to pioneer the development...[full story]
Corporate agenda:Budget predictions
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010Ahead of the spring Budget and the general election, which is expected in May, four major business organisations in Northern Ireland were asked these two pertinent questions. If you were Alistair Darling, what single initiative would you implement in the Budget as a major economic stimulus for Northern Ireland? FSB What is needed urgently is an incentive that will make it possible for small businesses to recruit new staff, innovate and grow. This could all be achieved by cutting employers’ national insurance and in turn would provide the entire economy with a much needed boost. Mr...[full story]
