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Yesterday despite the wintery conditions of the past few days over 100 business delegates attended the Cross Border Business Support Expo hosted by Newry and Dundalk Chambers of Commerce and supported by InterTradeIreland, Louth County Enterprise Board on the 29th January in the Carrickdale Hotel.
President Deborah Loughran of Newry Chamber stated, ‘as joint organisers of this annual event, Newry Chamber was delighted with its success in terms of networking opportunities created and the opening of communication channels between local businesses and Support Agencies’.
‘There is a wide selection of business support programmes currently offered to small businesses; however, there is some confusion within the business community about where to look for support and exactly what businesses can avail of. In this evolving economic climate local businesses need to take advantage of all appropriate support opportunities open to them. This event provided a unique forum for business owners and managers to speak directly to all the local Business Support Providers on a one-to-one basis, on one day, under one roof’.
Over 30 Business Support Agencies catering for the needs of businesses located within the Newry Dundalk region exhibited at this Expo; exhibitors included, InterTradeIreland, EURES, Invest NI, Newry & Mourne District Council, Louth County Council, Newry & Mourne Enterprise Agency, Southern Regional College, SOAR, Stem Project, Department of Employment & Learning, Louth Regional Development Centre, Enterprise Ireland, Employability Louth, all of the main lending institutions.
Mr Paddy Savage, Operations Manager at InterTradeIreland said, ‘we are delighted to support this important cross – border business event again this year. We would also like to take this opportunity to remind local companies that we currently have a broad range of support packages for businesses interested in doing cross – border business or looking for networking/ partnering opportunities across the island. Details are on our website intertradeireland.com
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Newry Chamber of Commerce & Trade is delighted to announce that it has secured three new Patron Sponsors, namely Autoline Insurance Group, MJM Group and First Trust Bank.
President Deborah Loughran stated, ‘Newry Chamber is very thankful of the commitment from these three organisations to support the work of Newry Chamber of Commerce over the next three years. This sponsorship package provides us with an essential boost in funding to help finance the Chamber’s running costs and its business support activities’.
Julie Gibbons, Autoline stated, ‘Newry Chamber of Commerce provides an invaluable service to the local business community. As an indigenous Newry company we are very proud to support the work of Newry Chamber in delivering services to assist the local business community’.
Stephen Comer, First Trust Bank said, ‘First Trust Bank is delighted to be a Patron Sponsor of Newry Chamber. Its commitment to the commercial success of its members is vitally important as it encourages more local entrepreneurs and businesses to grow and develop. We believe that supporting local businesses across Northern Ireland is essential as we seek to reinvigorate the economy. With a long history of supporting the local business community in Newry, First Trust Bank believes the Chamber’s pro-business ethos is in line with its own.
Brian McConville, Chairman, MJM Group, ‘MJM has projects spanning the globe; however, at the heart of the organisation, we are a family business based in our hometown of Newry. Newry Chamber is one of the most proactive Chamber’s of Commerce on the island of Ireland; it supports and promotes the Newry business community and we are only too delighted to support their endeavours’.
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In 2014 the residential sales market was defined by high demand, fuelled by limited supply of re sale properties and growing buyer confidence. This was combined with an increase in mortgage availability from a greater pool of lenders in comparison to 2012/13 according to Garry Best, Director of Best Property Services.
Commenting Garry said “2014 also saw a large demand for new build property – again due to the limited supply of new estates and more accessible finance.”
Development Land has shown the strongest growth sector during 2014, driven by limited supply and builders - having access to new funding - looking to acquire land now that house prices are rising.
Last year, well located land with Planning Consent in the Newry area has sold for between £20,000 - £25,000 per unit/site for Semi Detached Houses and £25,000 - £30,000/unit for Detached three Bedroom properties – a far cry from the peak market in 2007 where £100,000/unit site would have been the average.
The South Down agency also reported demand for rental property is at an all-time high with average rent rates continuing to rise (typically 3-5% on previous year).
“Sector types of particular demand are 3-4 bedroom detached and semi-detached properties. In terms of geographical demand, it’s highest in Newry/Warrenpoint area for tenants seeking long term leases,” added Mr Best.
Looking to commercial trends, throughout 2014 saw recovery, with growth in transaction levels and increased demand from both buyers and tenants looking for new property said Ciara Aiken, Commercial Director.
“The retail sector was particularly buoyant and the office sector also saw increase of 72% on sales volumes compared to last year. Overall, commercial transaction levels were up by 30% on 2014 which indicates renewed market confidence.
“Valuation consultancy services also increased, reflecting the greater levels of business activity generally,” Ciara added.
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Liam Nagle will take up the post of Chief Executive at Newry Based Norbrook from the start of February. The Norbrook group is present in 115 countries with sales of £210m in the year to July 2014
Commenting on his forthcoming post Mr Nagle said “I am honoured to be offered the role as Chief Executive of Norbrook, the business is in an excellent position and I am excited about working with the team to build on its success and take the business to even greater heights.”
Liam joins Norbrook from the SISK Group where he has been Chief Executive, and latterly Chairman, of Sisk’s construction and healthcare businesses.
Norbrook Chairman Sir Roy McNulty said “We are delighted to welcome Liam to Norbrook as Chief Executive. He brings a wide range of skills and experience which will be of great benefit to the team in Norbrook. The Company has a strong track record of innovation and growth, and we look forward to working with Liam in making the most of the opportunities we see ahead.”
Also welcoming Mr Nagle to the post Norbrook Deputy Chair, Lady Ballyedmond said “I am very pleased that Liam is joining us and I am sure that, with his leadership and energy, we can together create a further successful phase in Norbrook’s development”.
As well as his SISK expertise Mr Nagle brings over 20 years international business experience in finance, operations, marketing and mergers and acquisitions to his new role. He was a senior executive at Intel from 1994 to 1997 and led the start up for Bay Networks Europe as Vice-President (1997-1998). When Nortel Networks acquired Bay Networks in 1998, he held a number of senior roles in Nortel. In 2003, Nagle became Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of Bookham Technology. He was appointed President and Chief Operations Officer in 2004.
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Newry company First Derivatives have moved into marketing analytics with the launch of Delta Marketing Cloud with the move supported by the signing of a number of key pilot customers.
Brian Conlon, CEO of First Derivatives, commented: “We are pleased with the level of interest being shown in Delta Marketing Cloud which has already resulted in us signing a number of key pilot customers. While its commercialisation is still at an early stage, we believe it has the potential to generate significant recurring revenues for the Group. The launch also demonstrates the flexibility of the Delta platform and its ability to take us into new markets where there are exceptionally large volumes of data that require real time analysis. Our technology and experience gives First Derivatives a strong position in this expanding market.”
The explosion of digital and mobile marketing across all vertical markets is driving the need for technologies that can provide real-time analysis of large data volumes, which the Delta platform is ideally placed to meet. Industry analysts CEB estimate that marketing software spend will reach $32 billion by 2018 while, according to the Economist, the digital marketing sector is “going through something akin to the automation of the financial markets in the 1980s, with low latency the key to success.” Delta Marketing Cloud assists by combining both speed and scale with a flexible scoring algorithm and alerting process to allow clients to target the right prospects at the right time.
The launch of Delta Marketing Cloud leverages the power of the Group’s big data expertise to help sales and marketing professionals increase the return on their marketing and digital advertising investment, using the same core architecture currently used for analysis of billions of financial transactions per day. It combines real-time and reference data from numerous sources including website traffic, real-time advertising data, social media with proprietary CRM and other customer data. This produces a range of data analytics, such as predictive account-based scoring with real time geographic alert functionality to drive the responsiveness of sales channels.
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Are you in business and want to know about the support you can obtain? What business grants you can apply for? Which funded programmes will help you grow your business? Do you need to secure finance? Thinking of entering new markets? Do you need help on how to survive? Are you looking to expand and/or recruit? Want to start your own business? Are you unsure of where to look for guidance, support and advice?
If the answer is ‘YES’ to any of these questions come to the Cross Border Business Support Expo taking place on the 29th January in the Carrickdale Hotel between 9.30am-12.30pm.
All the Business Support Agencies catering for the needs of businesses located within the Newry Dundalk region will be exhibiting at this unique event. This event will provide an ideal opportunity for local businesses to speak to all relevant Business Support Agencies in one morning, on a one-to-one basis, under one roof! The event will also feature a workshop on writing tenders and a presentation from Slender Choice on how they successfully sourced and secured grant funding and support to help grow their business.
This is event is joint hosted by Newry Chamber of Commerce & Trade and Dundalk Chamber of Commerce and is supported by InterTradeIreland and the Louth County Enterprise Board
Orla Jackson, Chief Executive of Newry Chamber of Commerce stated, ‘we are delighted to co-host this joint Chamber Cross Border event with InterTradeIreland once again. There is an array of business support programmes currently offered to local businesses; however, there is some confusion within the business community about where to look for this support and exactly what they can avail of. The aim of this event is to provide a forum where businesses can find out all they need to know about the support they can and should avail of’.
Grant Gilmore, Acting Director of Business Services and Programmes, InterTradeIreland, stated ‘Cross-border trade presents businesses with an invaluable opportunity to increase their sales, develop new markets and benefit from all-island expertise and innovation.
We encourage all SMEs from Newry and Dundalk and the surrounding areas to attend this event to see exactly what opportunities are available and how to access them.’
Confirmed exhibitors at the event include, InterTradeIreland, Invest NI, Newry & Mourne District Council, Louth County Council, Newry & Mourne Enterprise Agency, Southern Regional College, Department of Employment & Learning, Louth Regional Development Centre, Enterprise Ireland, EURES, Employability Louth, all of the main lending institutions, plus many more.
This event is open to all businesses in the Newry Dundalk region. Entry is free of charge. It will operate on a ‘business drop-in clinic’ format; whereby business representatives can call in to the event at any stage between the hours of 9.30am to 12.30pm on the 30 January. To register for the event or if you require further information, please email, Newry Chamber: info@newrychamber.com
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Small Business Saturday, 6th December 2014, is an initiative which encourages people to support local, independent businesses in their area, both on the day itself and in the future.
The event runs from 10:00am – 2:00pm at the Events Space, Cathedral Quarter, Hill Street
Promotional team will be handing out branded shopping bags and information. There will also be music and on street entertainment.
Over 25 businesses have participated and provided offers on the day.
Originating in the USA in 2010, the campaign has seen great success so far, with small businesses reporting increased footfall and takings on the day. The initiative was introduced to Ireland and Britain for the first time last year, and received a very positive response from both businesses and customers.
Small Business Saturday is a celebration of small, independent shops and services, and here in Newry the Gaelic League hopes to help raise the profile of all the fantastic small businesses we have right on our doorstep and to encourage pre-Christmas commerce and signage through the Irish language, especially given the large numbers of southern shoppers who come to the town.
To that end, the Gaelic League in Newry, with some additional support from Aonad na Gaeilge, Comhairle an Iúir agus Mhúrn, has assisted three small local businesses in attracting 50% funding from FORAS NA GAEILGE for bilingual shop signage and is providing a large, colourful bilingual poster (to be available for tomorrow) to promote family-run businesses.
Encouraging citizens to ‘keep it local’, to BUY IRISH, and to use small businesses in Newry, will protect jobs and help retain a vibrant city centre.
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The Rug House in Newry has once again scooped a prestigious award with Clare Vallely winning the Best Exporter Award at last weeks Women in Business NI Awards.
Clare a 27 year old graduate from Dublin Institute of Technology studied Surveying and Property Economics. Her business career started whilst still at University when she set up The Rug House with brother Paul. The Rug House began as an online company selling rugs on eBay, Amazon and the company website. In recent time The Rug House have been creating waves in the local economy opening a new retail outlet in Carnbane Industrial Estate, Newry.
Over 400 guests attended the Women in Business NI Awards, held in the Culloden Estate and Spa. The annual event highlights the hard work and achievements of many business women who make a valuable contribution to economic life locally.
Increasing sales and multiple award wins have certainly made the Autumn and Winter season very successful for The Rug House. In September The Rug House won Exporter of the Year at the DANI Awards and this was followed by the Best SME Award at the UTV Business Eye Awards. Over this period staffing level have increased from 22 to 25 staff with a number of key positions still to be filled including shop and purchasing manager roles.
Clare explained "I am delighted to be recognised but this award is recognition of all our staff and their hard work. This is the busiest period of the year for The Rug House with homeowners investing in new rugs in time for Christmas and our staff have shown amazing commitment and work ethic to deal with the increased workload."
The Rug Houses Christmas Opening Hours are Monday to Saturday 9-6 with late night Thursday. For more information visit the company website www.therughouse.co.uk/rugs
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Bank of Ireland UK in Newry this week hosted a business breakfast as part of Enterprise Week, the bank’s own bi-annual initiative that supports business growth through networking events, seminars, business clinics and Show Your Business events in bank branches across Northern Ireland.
Under the theme ‘Let’s Connect Globally’ the event was held to provide advice and guidance to local businesses with ambitions to expand into new markets and trade globally.
Among the guest speakers at the event in the Canal Court Hotel was Frank O’Connor, Financial Controller, First Derivatives who provided an insight into how the financial software company has grown from a local business start-up to a global player in recent years.
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