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Independent oil distributors Martin McGinn & Sons have announced they are expanding their client base in South Down through the acquisition of Murdock Oil’s client base - following Gerard and Elish Murdock’s retirement this month.
Murdock Oil, based in Burren, have operated over 25 years and ceased trading at the start of November.
Handing over to Martin McGinn & Sons Ltd, Mr Murdock said: “We’d like to thank customers for their support and wish Martin and his family every success going forward. Martin McGinn & Sons are a family business that have been distributing home heating products in Newry, Mourne & Down region for 45 years so we’re confident customers will continue to enjoy excellent value and quality of service.
Martin McGinn & Sons have been independent oil distributors since 1993 and prior to that were approved agents of Cawood’s Oil – who were acquired by Murdock Oil some years ago.
Martin McGinn said: “We are delighted that this opportunity has arisen, allowing us to continue to deliver the high level of service previously afforded to Murdock clients. Our family are proud of the reputation we have developed over 45 years and we strive to always deliver value and unrivalled customer service.
“We look forward to this new chapter for our business and would like to take this opportunity to wish Gerard and Elish our very best wishes for their retirement.”
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Members of the local business community will visit Newry's MJM Group in early December at an event hosted by Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NI Chamber) and Danske Bank.
The event held 7 December 2017 from 9.30-11.30am will see around 50 people hear the company's export success story at the company’s Carnbane Business Park facility.
MJM Group Chief Executive Gary Annett will give a short talk on the company, before taking a tour of their facilities.
Gary will discuss MJM’s Export Success Story including his experiences on how the company has grown business in international markets and will provide advice on aspects of commercial development through export.
MJM Group is a leading international specialist in interior fit out, refurbishment, refit and services, offering comprehensive and turnkey solutions to clients in the marine, commercial and private sectors.
Speaking ahead of the event, Gary Annett, Chief Executive of MJM Group, said:
“MJM Group is the world leader in the refit and refurbishment of ferries and cruise ships and is proud to work with the largest cruise and ferry companies in the world. We have also established a strong and growing land-based portfolio which includes the K Club and Adare Manor. While our Head-quarters is in Newry, MJM Group is a truly global company, with our work spanning 5 continents and countries too numerous to mention. Almost 100% of our business is export and we were delighted to have our success acknowledged this year by winning both the Belfast Telegraph Excellence in Exports and the Aer Lingus Viscount Awards Exporter of the Year. We are delighted to welcome members of NI Chamber to MJM Group to share some of our experiences.”
Commenting on the event, Ann McGregor, Chief Executive of NI Chamber, said:
“In terms of global success, Northern Ireland companies such as MJM Group have proven time and time again that they can punch well above their weight on the world stage through innovative thinking, quality products, effective strategies and sheer drive and determination.
“We are delighted that our members will have an opportunity to hear from Gary Annet and his team as we seek to encourage and grow export activity in Northern Ireland through inspirational stories and shared learning of these successful exporters.”
Aaron Ennis, Head of North Business centre at Danske Bank, added:
“This company visit will be a great opportunity to gain an insight into how one of Northern Ireland’s most successful export businesses operates. Brian McConville and his team have built MJM Group into an industry leading business, with products, craftsmanship and expertise that is recognised by a diverse client base around the world. Danske Bank Export First provides an excellent resource to learn from companies with unrivalled experience of selling into external markets and I have no doubt this visit to MJM Group will be hugely valuable.”
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First Derivatives have taken home a prestigious Tech Company of the Year Award in the UK Tech Awards earlier this month and Chairman, Seamus Keating was on hand at the presentations to accept the award on behalf of the Newry company.
First Derivatives won their award in recognition of the company being “a fully accountable, well managed business that has already gained recognition from analysts and investors, but will also have outstanding long-term growth potential, with a sound strategy in place to ensure successful delivery of its commercial advantages and build shareholder value,”
Winners include companies and individuals in virtual reality, robotic automation and payments including James Dyson named tech CEO of the year.
More than 500 nominations were made across the UK tech awards categories this year, with the winners announced at an awards dinner in London. The awards, a joint venture between PwC and Ford Sinclair Ltd in association with Silicon Valley Bank, recognise the efforts of innovative public and private UK tech companies and individuals.
Jass Sarai, UK technology leader at PwC, commented “The appetite for deals activity we’re seeing in the market along with the number and quality of nominations received for the UK tech awards this year highlight the strength and breadth of our technology industry at the moment. This is testament in part to the support network and developing ecosystems now in place for early stage and growing businesses, but also to the ambitions and risks taken by our entrepreneurs.
“We need to ensure that we continue not only to take these risks, but also to share the lessons learnt with the next generation of innovators to maintain our leading position at a global level. In these uncertain times, the technology industry has an important role to play in promoting STEM skills to help bring through the leaders of tomorrow and continuing to work with government to secure continued access to global talent.”
Rosh Wijayarathna, director of corporate banking at Silicon Valley Bank, added “We are delighted to support the UK tech awards which is a real highlight of the season. 2017 has been another strong year for the UK innovation ecosystem and to be nominated in such a vibrant sector is a fantastic achievement. On behalf of Silicon Valley Bank, I would like to congratulate all of this year’s winners – each of your businesses are remarkable.
“Silicon Valley Bank is solely dedicated to serving the needs of innovation and life science businesses at every life stage. This year's awards are a testament to the leadership, talent and IP of the industry we serve and we look forward to working with all of our clients, future clients and partners in 2018 and beyond.”
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Newry Chamber of Commerce will once again host the Newry Business Christmas Charity Dinner on Thursday 7 December at 5.30pm in the Canal Court Hotel with the famous Toy Mountain a feature in the foyer of the hotel on the day.
With over 700 guests expected to attend, it's the perfect way to kick start the Christmas festivities and all local and regional business are encouraged to support the event.
This year's Christmas Charity Dinner promises to be another great occasion where the business community comes together to celebrate Christmas with friends and colleagues and to show their support for local charities.
The famous 'Toy Mountain' will again be a key feature of the event with all attendees encouraged to bring an unwrapped new toy; these toys will be distributed to local families through the networks of St Vincent de Paul and The Salvation Army. This year, toys from the 'Toy Mountain' will also be distributed through the Newry Junior Chamber Secret Santa Appeal.
Ticket price is £55 plus VAT per person and includes a 3-course Christmas dinner and table wine. Individual tickets can be purchased or tables of 10 or 12.
To date over £1.2million has been raised for local charities, testament to the generosity of the local business community.
You can book through their online booking system www.newrychristmascharity.com or email Jessica at admin@newrychamber.com
All bookings must be paid for in advance so that monies can be distributed to the nominated charities on the night!
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A revenue increase of 21% compared to the last accounting period saw Newry firm First Derivatives increase their revenue for the six months ended 31 August to £87.8M.
The company have already hired 386 graduates this year so far, an increase of 66% on last years numbers.
Seamus Keating, Chairman of FD, commented “We have continued to position the Group to target several high-value addressable markets, while maintaining our financial discipline. Through our conversations with existing and potential customers and partners, we remain convinced that demand for ultra-high performance analytics capability will continue to grow and that Kx technology leads this market in terms of its performance and lower total cost of ownership.
"Our managed services and consulting activities are also in high demand and we are addressing this through record levels of recruitment of high-calibre graduates. We have signed a number of high value contracts in the first half and there is momentum behind our commercial discussions across the Group. We therefore anticipate a strong full year financial performance, slightly ahead of the Board’s expectations.”
A strong growth in software revenue, up by 32% to £52.2m with recurring software revenue up by 44% to £19.6m played a major role while strong demand and strategic progression in Managed Services and Consulting saw revenue grow to £35.6m.
FinTech revenue rose by 18% since H1 2017 to £66.8 courtesy of a 32% increase in recurring software revenue within their global banking client base, while MarTech revenue was up 30% to £18.3m compared to H1 2017 following the launch of the latest version of their predictive analytics platform.
Red Bull Racing
In a busy growth period for the company First Derivatives also announced this week that it has been selected by Red Bull Racing as a team supplier for the use of its Kx technology to analyse sensor data from its Formula 1 vehicles.
Initially, Kx will be deployed for the analysis of wind tunnel data, a critical element in the development of faster, more competitive F1 cars.
Brian Conlon, Chief Executive Officer of Kx, commented: “We at Kx are delighted to work with Red Bull Racing. Both companies are associated with power, speed, precision engineering and innovation. Over the years F1 has proven itself as an ideal testing ground for disruptive technologies and we look forward to bringing the power of Kx to bear in high-value complementary markets.”
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Over the course of two days Newry Junior Chamber (NJC) members plan to cycle 2,478 miles, the distance from Newry to the North Pole on spin bikes in the Quays Shopping Cente.
Funds raised from entry fees and donations will be donated to Newry based charity, Space NI and NJC’s own annual Christmas Secret Santa Appeal.
Space NI provide family support services throughout the South Down area in times of difficulty or crisis. Our own Secret Santa Appeal initiative was launched to tackle the financial challenges that Christmas creates for many vulnerable families, and is now in its twelfth year. Working with local charities and aid organisations, we aim to ensure that all local children can experience the joy of having gifts to open at Christmas. By participating in this challenge your sweat will result in smiles in many homes over the festive period!
This intense indoor spin cycling challenge will take place in the public areas of The Quays Shopping Centre on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th December.
To cycle the distance it is estimated that 112 enthusiastic (or otherwise coerced!) participants are necessary to make up 28 teams of 4 cyclists. The cost to enter is £100 per team. Each team will be tasked with covering a target of 88.5 miles between them over a one hour time slot and will compete against another participating team to see who can cover the most ground during that time. Each team will receive a certificate upon completion and prizes will be awarded to the teams who cover the most miles (to be announced on our Facebook page after the event).
Teams can be mixed gender and participants must be aged 18 or over. We would also ask you to ensure that all participants have a reasonable level of fitness to avoid any injuries and to ensure the health and wellbeing of all participants. We welcome teams from local companies, gyms, sports teams, as well as teams of friends and family members who are up for the challenge!
Your opponents will be chosen at random, or alternatively you can request to take on another participating team. We will do our best to accommodate you, provided your preferred day and time slots will allow it. You can also opt to have more than one time slot.
Eight spin bikes will be operating in The Quays shopping centre from 09:00am – 18:00pm on Saturday 9th and from 13:00 – 18:00pm on Sunday 10th December. Participating teams will be supported by cheerleaders and bucket collectors from Newry Junior Chamber for moral support. If getting on a spin bike is not for you, this won’t prevent you from getting involved. We’d welcome volunteers to assist with collecting donations throughout the shopping centre on both days. If you could spare even one hour of your time to help with this, it would be greatly appreciated.
We would like to thank our event sponsors, PRO PT Gym in Warrenpoint, without whose support this challenge would not be possible. Declan Trainor from PRO PT Gym has kindly agreed to lend us their spin bikes for the event. No doubt this will be a fun and exciting couple of days!
Contact garethtinnelly@tinnelly.com to request a copy of the team entry form. These should be completed and emailed/returned to Gareth by Friday 24th November, along with the entry fee.
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An application for planning permission has been lodged for the refurbishment of the ArmaghDown Bar in Monaghan Street in Newry and the provision of a micro distillery, visitors centre, function room and restaurant.
The application under the name of Matthew D’Arcy & Company Limited, plans to tell the story of Newry Whiskey, bringing Newry back to it’s heyday when distilleries were commonplace and whiskey with names like Hand in Hand, D'Arcy's, The Blackthorn and Killeavey Cream were drank throughout Ireland and further afield.
The proposed project site is the former site of a 19th century distillery and it is planned to keep existing features from that time. The rear of the site runs along the side of Corry Square Car Park, Catherine Street.
As well as the micro distillery element, plans for the site include a victorian bar, wine tasting area, shop, multimedia visitors centre, function room/ theatre and bistro.
The man behind the project is local businessman and present President of Newry Chamber of Commerce, Michael McKeown. Michael also Chairman of the Old Newry Society is somewhat of an authority on local history having being involved in compiling The Book of Newry several years ago and more recently he has extensively researched the history of distilleries in Newry and the manufacture of Newry Whiskey locally. If anyone has any Newry Whiskey memorabilia Michael would love to hear from you.
The new initiative will tell the story of Newry Whiskey, once the third most popular Irish whiskey and quite possibly even a candidate for Ireland’s oldest whiskey with the posibility that the Cistercians were involved in distilling way back in the 12 century.
Bushmills Distillery legally registered in 1784 was liquidated in 1886 and the new company The Old Bushmills Distillery Co Ltd had Samuel Duncan as a director. The self same man of Duncan & Alderdice’s Bonded Store fame with it’s premises on Monaghan Street in Newry.
The fact that Samuel was also a former President of Newry Chamber of Commerce might suggest that history perhaps DOES repeat itself ...
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Newry based global technology specialist First Derivatives are taking on the commercial space market and the company has signed a letter of intent with the European Space Agency (ESA) to foster the development of disruptive applications in the market, based on its Kx technology.
Under the agreement, Kx and ESA’s Business Applications (formerly Integrated Applications) Programme will work together to assist innovative start-ups seeking to use Kx technology as a platform technology for big data analytics in the commercial space market.
First Derivatives Chief Executive, Brian Conlon commented: “The commercial space market is flourishing, leading to increasing demand for advanced technologies such as Kx to analyse the data generated by the rapid growth in the number of satellites in orbit. Kx’s ultra-high performance capabilities are ideally suited to meet these challenges and we look forward to working with ESA to support the development of commercial space applications.”
ESA is at the forefront of efforts to utilise satellite data to benefit European and global citizens and has identified support for key enabling technologies, such as analytics, as a priority to achieve its goals. Kx’s ability to analyse large volumes of historic and streaming data in real time makes it ideally suited as a platform for use cases ranging across sectors including transport, energy, safety, development and agriculture. The agreement with ESA strengthens Kx’s presence in the space market, following recent announcements such as a collaboration agreement with Airbus and the selection of Kx as its real-time analytics platform by Earth observation specialist 3DEO.
Kx and ESA have had preliminary discussions over multiple opportunities to work together, and with third parties, to address specific data challenges. Over the coming months Kx and ESA Business Applications will foster the development of innovative applications based on Kx and seek to raise awareness of Kx technology within the commercial space market. Kx and ESA will also discuss opportunities to collaborate on Earth Observation analytics, where ESA provides multiple applications including disaster management to alert first responders on floods, major fires and natural disasters such as hurricanes.
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An Economic Impact Report just published by Warrenpoint Harbour Authority (WHA) has cemented Warrenpoint's position at the second largest port in the province.
2016 was a record year for the port, handling 3.5m tonnes of freight, valued at £6.2bn. The report highlighted that currently over 200 people work in the port every day with the Harbour Authority employing 65 directly. The multiplier effect further generates significant job numbers in the local economy. In 2016 alone, the port generated £7.3m in Gross Value Added for the NI economy through on-site activity, via its local supply chain and employees wage expenditure. In additional, companies that trade through the Port generate a further £25m of GVA for the local economy plus benefits for the Irish and UK economies.
The report carried out by independent economist, Ryan Hogg, working alongside Richard Johnston, an Associate Director in the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre and Board member of WHA, concludes that over the last decade the port has generated over £61m of GVA and sustained over 1550 full time equivalent job years for the local economy. GVA also grew at a compound rate of 4.1% in this same period compared to a NI average of 0.27% highlighting the growing resilience and importance of the port to the region.
Speaking about the report, Stan McIlvenny, the Chairman of Warrenpoint Harbour Authority said “We are delighted to report the significant and growing contribution that Warrenpoint Port makes to the local economy- both directly and indirectly. Importantly however, we are not standing still and the Board, staff, local stakeholders and industry experts are working together to develop shared plans for the future of the Port that will ensure that it thrives and grows, contributing even more to the economy of the future.”
The report also highlighted the strategically important nature of the port and its growing significance as a key component of Northern Ireland’s economic infrastructure. Local companies trade through the Port with customers in GB and Ireland, but also more broadly across the world including with Spain, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, the Ukraine and the Americas. It acts as a valuable gateway to export sales and as an import destination for goods from across the world destined for the island of Ireland. It also has made some inroads on the growing cruise tourism market – with each cruise ship visit to the port estimated to generate a potential £18,000 of GVA to the local economy.
The Port also promotes social initiatives by supporting charitable causes such as Mission for Seafarers and Carlingford Lough Sailability to helping those in need within the Marine Sector and Warrenpoint. Staff also take a key role in engaging with the local community through School visits, Sentinus Projects and by sponsoring several sports clubs and festivals.
The report also considers the challenges facing the port and chief among them is the fall-out of Brexit and what trading arrangements are established between the UK and the EU and other countries. Another challenge identified, to ensure the port remains competitive in the future, is the delivery of the Newry Southern Relief Road which would provide a more direct route for freight from across the island of Ireland entering and exiting the Harbour.
Peter Conway, the Chief Executive commented “The Port has been part of the fabric of society in Warrenpoint for hundreds of years and is an important catalyst for economic development in the region. It is a local business with international reach and the income generated from trading allows the Harbour and those working in the team to support a range of local initiatives and social enterprises, both financially and by giving their time. I’m keen that the Harbour develops and continues to support and grow the local economy and we hope that with strategic investment in projects such as the Southern Relief Road, we can continue to be a key component of the local and regional economy, whatever Brexit brings.”
The full economic impact study is available at: warrenpointport.com
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