Write a comment
Newry-headquartered Around Noon has been listed as one of the top 10 fastest-growing privately owned food and beverage companies in the UK.
The manufacturer of food-to-go products, such as sandwiches, salads, wraps and yoghurts, is ranked seventh in the prestigious report, produced by global advisory firm Alantra, and published by The Grocer magazine.
Alantra has now been publishing the Food & Beverage Fast 50 annually for more than a decade. It ranks the UK’s fastest-growing, privately owned food and beverage businesses on the basis of the revenue growth they have achieved over the past two years, according to their most recently published accounts.
With annual sales growth of 46.2 percent, Around Noon was the highest-placed Northern Ireland-based company in the listing.
Strong Roots, a frozen plant-based food company, topped the list, followed by Grenade, the producer of nutrition-focused snacks.
In the report foreword, Simon Peacock, Partner and UK Food & Beverage Leadership at Alantra, said: “This year’s ranking offers a glimpse into how the most agile brands are exploiting the fast-moving marketplace. It is their commitment to product quality and customer service that is in turn driving dramatic improvements in their sales.”
Charles Lanceley, Director and UK Food & Beverage Leadership at Alantra, added: “The fastest-growing brands in the food and beverage sector have captured the imagination of consumers by offering a product with a genuine point of differentiation that reflects their granular understanding of the marketplace.”
Gareth Chambers, CEO of Around Noon, said: “By working closely with our clients to develop products and ranges that appeal to their customers, we have been able to achieve strong organic growth, alongside the growth that we have achieved through acquisitions.”
“Our team has worked extremely hard to ensure we continually produce innovative products and deliver outstanding service to our customers. The growth that we have achieved and our placing in the top 10 of this report, is a tribute to them,” Mr Chambers adds.
Around Noon employs around 250 people and its clients include a range of blue-chip companies in the UK and Ireland, including leading convenience retailers and coffee shop chains.
Write a comment
A new initiative has been launched to encourage workers to leave the car at home and walk/ cycle or take public transport to their place of employment during the month of June.
Workers are being challenged to improve their health and the environment by walking, cycling or using public transport for their daily commute while Employers are being encouraged to sign-up to the Active Travel Challenge.
A couple of statistics on cycling alone explains the health benefits.
People cycling saves the NHS £8 million annually, equivalent to salaries of 343 nurses. (The UK Bike Life survey (2017))
The Department for Infrastructure, Public Health Agency, Sustrans and Translink have joined forces to launch the new initiative.
Throughout June, employers are asked to encourage staff to leave the car at home and walk, cycle or take public transport for some of their journeys to, from and during work. Participants log their ‘active travel’ journeys online and can compete with colleagues and other companies to see who makes the most journeys.
Each week of the month will have a different ‘active travel’ theme with a range of prizes and incentives up for grabs to motivate employees to join the challenge.
The Active Travel Challenge will run throughout June 2019 featuring: Bus + Train Week (3-9th June), Bike Week (10-16th June), Walking Week (17-23rd June) and Get Active Week (24 – 30 June)
Encouraging organisations to get involved, Translink’s Employee Support Officer Una Carson said:
“Following the success of Translink’s Corporate Challenge over the past 3 years which saw employers encourage staff to use the bus or train for their daily commute, we have set the bar even higher in 2019, joining with partner agencies to deliver a month-long active travel challenge that kicks off with Bus + Train Week.
“Research shows that people who take public transport are more active, clocking up additional steps and burning more calories as they walk to and from the bus or train. By incentivising staff to travel more actively throughout June, employers can help improve the health and wellbeing of workers, whilst reducing traffic congestion and creating better air quality for everyone who lives here.”
Steven Patterson, Sustrans Delivery Manager, added: “Many commuters spend a large chunk of their day sitting in traffic jams. We believe you can combine active travel into all or part of your daily commute. We are really keen to attract the ordinary, mainly sedentary worker to take part and enjoy the difference getting active as part of your daily routine can make to your life. The Active Travel Challenge is a great way to get started.”
Brendan Bonner, Assistant Director of Public Health, Health Improvement at the PHA, said “This partnership initiative is a fantastic opportunity for workers across NI to use the month of June to try out active travel as a means of commuting to work and we would encourage people to embrace active travel as part of their daily lives.
“Building active travel into your working day through walking and cycling can help contribute to meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ recommended amount of physical activity of 150 minutes each week.
“Research shows that people who are physically active can reduce their risk of developing chronic conditions including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, cancer and respiratory conditions. It can also improve sleep, help maintain a healthy weight and reduce stress and anxiety.”
Lynda Hurley, Safe and Sustainable Travel Division in the Department for Infrastructure, concluded: “Encouraging people to make sustainable travel choices is a key ambition in the draft Programme for Government and the Department is committed to working collaboratively with others to increase the number of people walking, cycling and using public transport.
There are many benefits in choosing active travel options – to your health, the environment and your pocket! Many people continue to use the private car for what are relatively short journeys. In fact, around one third of all journeys that we all make every day are less than two miles – a distance that could be walked or cycled. A further one third of journeys are less than five miles. One small change can make a big difference. Challenge yourself to get active and start enjoying the benefits.”
Challenge registration is free and there are a range of fantastic prizes up for grabs including shopping vouchers, sports watches and Translink tickets.
Find out more about signing-up to the Active Travel Challenge by visiting getmeactive.org.uk or emailchallenge@sustrans.org.uk.
Keep up-to-date with all the latest ATC action on social media using #GetMeActiveNI.
Write a comment
Kx a division of First Derivatives has received the 2018 Google Cloud Global Technology Partner of the Year for Financial Services award.
Kx technology, incorporating the kdb+ time-series database, is a leader in high-performance, in-memory computing, streaming analytics and operational intelligence.
The award was presented last week by Google Cloud, at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco.
Kx was recognized for the company’s achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem, helping joint financial services customers involved in high-performance capital markets trading activities to scale resources quickly for burst processing and for modelling and backtesting purposes. In the financial services industry, where the procurement process for acquiring new hardware can take six to nine months, having the ability to quickly access kdb+ on GCP to perform essential time-sensitive analytics, and then spin those resources down when not needed, provides significant cost and efficiency benefits.
Glenn Wright, Senior Systems Architect at Kx said: “Offering our software on the GCP Marketplace provides several benefits to our customers. Our trading customers use kdb+ because they demand high performance and extremely fast speeds to maintain their competitive edge in market data analytics. That’s why the excellent results achieved in the STAC-M3 benchmarks on GCP in 2018 are so important to us. They prove the viability of running significant time-series based kdb+ applications in the cloud.”
“We’re delighted to recognize Kx as the 2018 Google Cloud Global Technology Partner for Financial Services for their innovative work on behalf of Google Cloud customers over the past year,” said Kevin Ichhpurani, Corporate Vice President, Global Partner Ecosystem at Google Cloud. “Our ecosystem of partners is driving tremendous innovation, and Kx’s solutions in financial trading and research are a great example. We’re proud to provide this award to Kx and look forward to continue building together.”
Write a comment
Local digital marketer, Patrick Cutliffe, is bringing free Facebook digital skills training workshops to Southern Regional College (SRC), Newry on Wednesday 1st May 2019. Patrick’s digital training company BuzzStart Academy has been selected by Freeformers and Facebook to deliver digital skills training across Northern Ireland as part of the platform’s Community Boost programme.
The workshops are highly engaging, face-to-face, practical workshops led by the best digital expert trainers in the UK and Ireland. They are designed to equip attendees with the hard and soft skills they need to succeed in a future digital economy workforce.
Patrick has worked in digital marketing training for years and recognises the skills gap within the market; "Employers are looking for marketers with a toolbox of digital skills as well as an understanding of the wider marketing landscape. Undergraduates and recent graduates are seeking new ways of learning and upskilling digitally. We see Facebook’s Community Boost Programme as an excellent fit, even if people don't have a marketing related degree".
Newry has an exceptionally bright future and our education system, teachers, lecturers, schools and facilities are world-class. Buzzstart Academy are partnering with a number of Further Education Colleges, Universities and Councils to deliver the Facebook programme throughout the region. Workshop modules include Innovation where you will work in groups to brainstorm your next big business idea, wireframe the idea and build a prototype tech solution all within 60 minutes. Other modules include: Social Media; Cyber Security; Web Presence; Artificial Intelligence and Data.
The modules are underpinned by Freeformer’s Future Workforce Model, which seeks to understand what employers want, what skills citizens need and bridge any gaps between the two. The model consists of 12 attributes, which research indicates are vital to workers being productive, engaged and ready for the future of work. Some of the soft skill attributes include: Self-Leadership; Resilience; Metacognition; Imagination; Integrity and Empathy.
Patrick says of the opportunities this training can bring: “We can build businesses today from our bedrooms. We don’t need to be in London or New York to find opportunities, learn skill-sets or build global tech businesses. However, we do need an introductory steer, some signposting and a sprinkle of valuable mentorship from world-class trainers and entrepreneurs. That’s exactly what you will get with these workshops delivered by our team of expert trainers.”
Keith Kilpatrick, Director of Curriculum at Southern Regional College commented: “The college believes this course will provide the latest thinking alongside practical knowledge and skills required for a career in the fast-paced digital marketing arena, SRC are delighted to be part of this exciting initiative and welcome the opportunity to enhance the digital skills and employability prospects of their students”.
Each workshop is 4-hours and participants will obtain a Facebook certificate of completion. "Our expertly selected team of trainers are the best in the UK and Ireland, and they work daily with Facebook, Google, Shell and Estee Lauder to name a few global giant brands" says Patrick. "You are getting the best entry-level digital skills training in the world in my honest opinion, for free.” If you are interested in attending or would like further information please contact mail_htbm@src.ac.uk or 028 3025 9632, alternatively log on to book your place www.facebook.com
Write a comment
Liverpool and Manchester City Premier League stars Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Raheem Sterling have invested in Newry's STATSports.
StatSports is a world leading provider of GPS player tracking and analysis equipment and the players move is part of a growing trend for elite athletes to invest in high-tech businesses in a bid to secure their financial futures once their playing careers come to an end.
The England internationals, who play for Liverpool and Manchester City, have become significant investors as well as global ambassadors for STATSports. Both players have used the body-worn devices since their launch, monitoring their fitness levels and performance in training and matches.
"Huge Potential"
Oxlade-Chamberlain said: “I have chosen STATSports above all potential investments. It’s a brand and product I have known and trusted for the last 10 years of my footballing career. Working with STATSports at Southampton, Arsenal, Liverpool and with England I know this is the best product on the market by far. From rehabilitation to matchday performance the STATSports technology makes a positive difference.
I am also excited to be involved in strategic decisions that will impact anything from product development to marketing.
Knowing the guys at STATSports, I am super excited for where this will go, the sky is the limit. I am delighted to have the opportunity to invest at this early stage of what I believe will be the Instagram or WhatsApp of wearables,” added Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Sterling said: “I use STATSports technology every single day for both City and England and have done for years, so I know how valuable it is for getting the best out of me for the team.
"STATSports has already made a big name for itself in the elite game but it’s clear to me that there is huge potential for the technology and that is why I’ve invested.
"Along with my advisors we were impressed with STATSports’ upcoming plans, I was delighted to have the opportunity to invest at this early stage valuation of £200 million. I see no reason that STATSports cannot be the next billion dollar plus wearable company.
"STATSports are just starting to make this product available for consumers and I see this as a big move for STATSports and football in general. It will allow players at all levels to use the same GPS technology as we use. This will only improve the grassroots game. In a game of small margins, believe me when I say this technology makes a difference. In addition the insights from the data will help improve the health of our nation by encouraging people to be more active ”
Client List
StatSports have a client list to envy. It includes, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Spurs, Juventus, and PSG, plus national teams including England, Germany and Brazil. Away from football they also provide the technology to many International Rugby teams including England, Ireland, France and South Africa. In American Sports with NFL and NBA clients. The STATSports GPS performance technology is FIFA approved to be legally worn on pitch, something that Apple, Fitbit or Garmin can’t claim for the 265 million registered football players worldwide.
Jarlath Quinn, Executive and Chief Global Strategist at STATSports, said: “The company has been profitable year on year without taking any investment since inception in 2009. What is even more remarkable is for a technology company to achieve global market leader status whilst being bootstrapped.
So without doubt this is a landmark moment for STATSports. The fact our first set of investors include top players such as Alex and Raheem, who know better than anyone the importance of our technology, is a ringing endorsement of our plans to cement our position in the B2B market whilst growing the huge B2C opportunity.”
STATSports also offer a consumer device for the everyday athlete so that they can track their own performance. Find out more at www.statsports.com
Write a comment
Conna Nagle from Enhanced Hair Studio, Merchants Quay, Newry has been listed as one of the 'NI 40 Under 40' by NI Business First.
The list comprises of 40 of Northern Ireland's most influential business leaders that are under 40.
Conna is the founder of Enhanced Hair Studio on Merchants Quay in Newry which specialises in solutions for people suffering from Hair Loss and thin hair.
New Zealander, Conna has over 18 years of experience and founded her Newry business in 2017.
The studio provides an innovative, cosmetic solution that is custom made for her clients to help them regain their confidence after experiencing hair loss or thinning.
Conna was a finalist in the Belfast Telegraph Business Awards for ‘SME Healthcare Business of the Year’ in 2018.
A winner is picked from the list as the People's Choice and you can vote for Conna at www.businessfirstonline.co.uk up until 26 May.
Write a comment
If you want to buy a house but are struggling to get a deposit or mortgage you should consider Co Ownership as a shared purchase option.
Adrian Doran, Residential/Valuer Negotiator with Best Property Services reports a significant uptake in the Co-Own option in the last year, for clients of Best's in Newry.
“The appeal for people wanting to get onto the property ladder is that they can share the purchase cost but they still legally ‘own’ the property and can buy out Co Ownership at a later stage if they wish to, should their financial situation change over time.”
In a nutshell, Co Ownership is a shared ownership plan – you buy the property together. You buy the share that you can afford – somewhere between 50-90% and Co Ownership cover the rest.
You pay the mortgage on the portion you own and rent the remainder from Co Own – which is set at lower than the market rate to ensure affordability.
“Through time, the property owner can increase their share bit-by-bit until you own it all. Should you decide to sell while still in a Co Ownership agreement, that is easily sorted too.
“Co Ownership value the property (adjusting for improvements you have made) and the sale value of the property is divided, based on the percentage that you own,” Adrian adds.
They also have new product tailored for people who have poor credit rating for whatever reason and can’t secure a mortgage.
“It might be an old student loan or a credit card with a retailer that was defaulted for a time that is giving you a negative score when mortgage companies look into your application. Co-Own have experience in that sector and have products to support you in purchasing a home,” Adrian said.
Co-Own is open for applications for both new build or purchase of an existing property within Northern Ireland. The maximum price that can be considered is capped at £165,000 – but each applicant will be assessed on application based on their personal financial situation.
The scheme, founded in 1978, is very well established and has helped over 28,000 own their own home to date.
For more information, please contact Adrian Doran, Best Property Services
Residential team tel 028 3026 6811 or email adrian@bestpropertyservices.com
Write a comment
A Japanese industrial gas company Nippon Gases is to establish a major liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) import and distribution terminal at Warrenpoint Port in a £9.5M investment at the facility.
It's the first major investment in Ireland by the firm since it purchased Praxair Gases Europe in December 2018.
The facility which will store liquid CO2 for the food and drinks industry across Ireland, aims to significantly improve security of supply for the gas on both sides of the border, and also lead to a major reduction in carbon emissions by minimising the need for road tankers.
Work is due to commence this summer on the construction of the facility, which is expected to become operational in Q2 2020.
Clare Guinness, CEO, Warrenpoint Port, commented “This investment by Nippon Gases is a major endorsement of Warrenpoint Port and recognises the benefits provided by our unique position equidistant between Belfast and Dublin that ideally places the harbour to facilitate the distribution of goods across the whole of Ireland
“The commencement of construction work on the terminal soon will signal the final stage of a scheme that we have been working on for some time.
“The project represents another important element in our efforts to enhance Warrenpoint Port’s offering and cement our position as a catalyst for economic growth in the local region and further afield.”
The establishment of the liquid carbon dioxide import terminal, which will have the capacity to hold approximately 2,500 tonnes, follows a major shortage of the gas experienced in Ireland and United Kingdom during the summer of 2018.
Gerard Dore, Commercial Manager, Nippon Gases, added “CO2 is a key ingredient in the production of food and beverages. People know that it adds the fizz to drinks. Many are not aware however that it is also used in the processing of meat and food products. Food applications include modified atmosphere packing, chilling and freezing of foods. It is also used in the production of dry ice which is used in airline catering, online food sales plus transport of pharmaceutical and clinical products.
“However, with no significant native source of liquid Carbon Dioxide on the island of Ireland. All liquid carbon dioxide is currently imported by all the industrial gas companies daily into Ireland via road tankers coming across the Irish Sea.
“Nippon Gases already own a number of CO2 terminals and ships in North West Europe. With this investment in Ireland, Nippon are changing the supply chain radically for their Irish customers by importing via ship rather than road tanker. It is worth noting that one ship will be the equivalent of 90 road tankers coming across the Irish Sea. The carbon footprint reduction is very large. In addition we are also linking in with the more abundant CO2 source region of continental Europe, namely Netherlands. This is important as the British Isles currently do not produce sufficient quantities of CO2 for their annual usage.
“This facility will ensure we can continue to guarantee into the future food grade, completely traceable liquid Carbon Dioxide that Irish industry both North and South of the border desires.
“We are delighted to be working with Warrenpoint Port on this exciting venture and look forward to commissioning the terminal next year.”
Warrenpoint Port also recently annnounced a £4m capital investment programme that includes a reconfiguration of internal infrastructure and the regeneration of the landmark Town Dock House building that will re-establish an interface between the harbour and the town.
Write a comment
Newry company First Derivatives have published their full year results for year ending 28 February 2019 and they mark a 17% increase in revenue up to £217.4M. Gross Profit is also up by 16% to £91.3M.
Helping revenue software license income grew by 28% with FinTech revenue up 17% helped by new contract wins including the Canadian Securities Administrators, BitMEX and a major Japanese bank. MarTech revenue was also up 8%
High-profile new clients for FD include Fingrid, BISTel and Survalent and significant contract expansion and appointment as Innovation Partner with Aston Martin Red Bull Racing. The company also enhanced their partnership and collaboration activity including with Amazon Web Services, Google, H20.ai and CGI.
Seamus Keating, Chairman of FD, commented: “We have delivered another year of strong growth while investing to scale our business and secure growth in new markets. Customers across a wide range of end-markets are waking to the transformative power of Kx technology to unlock data, drive value and secure their own long-term success. Our investment programme has helped to deliver a number of important new contract wins, as well as OEM and partnership agreements that will provide a solid platform for growth in the years to come. As we look ahead, we are excited by the growing pipeline of opportunity across our business and are confident of achieving another year of strong organic growth.”
 |
 |
 |