:: Independent News & Media, the parent group of the Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Life newspapers as well as the Irish Independent, Sunday Independent, the Herald and Sunday World, accepted a takeover offer by a Belgian media group for €145.6 million (£125.7 million). Mediahuis is a private European group that was founded in 2013. It currently employs 3,200 people and had a turnover of €819m (£707.2mn) last year. INM is Ireland's largest media group.
:: Japanese gas company Nippon announces plans to build a £9.5 million liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) hub at Warrenpoint Port. The new 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 contribute to a major reduction in carbon emissions by minimising the need for road tankers. The facility expected to be operational by June next year and represents Nippon's first major investment on the island of Ireland.
:: Comber-based farming enterprise Mash Direct has launched a new e-commerce site, enabling it to bring its award-winning vegetable side dishes direct to customers' doors. People can now order their farm fresh vegetables from the comfort of their own home and have it hand delivered. Launched by Martin and Tracy Hamilton and their sons Lance and Jack in 2004, Mash Direct grows and produces more than 40 convenient ‘field to fork’ vegetable and potato dishes which are sold in major supermarkets including Henderson's, Musgrave, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and independents.
:: Italian wind operator ERG bought the 25 megawatts Craiggore wind farm in Co Derry from RES. The total investment for the subsidy-free 10-turbine facility is €41 million (£37m). Located in the townlands of Moneyguiggy and Craiggore Forest at Belraugh Road near Garvagh, the wind farm is expected to start operating in early 2021, from which time it would provide enough electricity to sustain an estimated 21,500 households.
:: Belfast bars czar Willie Jack injected £1 million into a creative Irish poetry courtyard at Commercial Court to complement his existing offering of high-end tourism and hospitality must-sees in the city. An Irish oak tree has been illuminated via a laser-cut corten steel base featuring the words of Seamus Heaney's 'Wishing Tree'. Heaney's words, and those of others like Louis MacNeice, WB Yeats and Oscar Wilde, are reflected in our courtyard, where new murals also tell the story of the recent troubles in a humorous and non-partisan way.
:: Shirt-maker Smyth & Gibson, which has manufactured garments for leading brands including Marks & Spencer, Fred Perry and Margaret Howell for the past 15 years, said it was closing its factory in Derry with the loss of 34 jobs. The factory in Derry had been one of the last remaining traditional handmade shirt makers in Britain and Ireland, but the owners said a volatile retail climate meant its current business structure was simply no longer viable.
