:: Electronics manufacturer Seagate Technology announced a £57.4 million investment in its Derry operations, which it set up back in 1994. The US company, which provides data storage solutions for companies across the world including read-write heads for hard disk drives, is investing £47.4m of its own money in R&D at its wafer manufacturing plant at Springtown, which will create 25 highly skilled new jobs. Invest NI is chipping in with £9.95m.
:: Three Northern Ireland companies between them employing close to 200 staff - Edge Innovate in Dungannon, Yelo in Carrickfergus and Shnuggle in Newtownards - are among an elite group of organisations recognised as winners of the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. Running since 1966, the awards recognise outstanding achievements in the fields of innovation, international trade, sustainable development and promoting opportunity through social mobility.
:: Belfast-born entrepreneur and online betting pioneer Vincent Caldwell (58) scaled the last hurdle in his bid to have his new 'virtual racing' product fully licensed and 'live' for punters in the US. His Isle of Man company Virtual Software (VS) has developed a world-first virtual racing software that creates races in real time. Vincent secured the exclusive rights to multiple iconic real-world tracks such as Derby Lane, Palm Beach, Hawthorne and Tampa Bay Downs, and his will be the first virtual racing product range to operate under Tote rules, tapping into a potential €100 billion US betting pool.
:: Poultry firm Moy Park confirmed it is proposing to temporarily cease processing live birds at Ballymena due to "challenging market conditions". The American-owned operation, which turned over £1.5 billion and cleared £60 million in profit, said it hopes to re-open in 2020. In line with this, the North Antrim hatchery will temporarily cease hatching. Trade union Unite said it is highly concerned by the closure, which could impact 400 jobs.
:: A veterinary practice operating under the Vets4Pets brand in Northern Ireland is set to close. All 10 staff at the Stormont branch in east Belfast will lose their jobs as part of the move by its parent company Pets at Home. It plans to buy out 55 of its 471 joint venture pet practices across the UK and will put around 30 of those under review for possible closure. The Vets4pets clinic at Craigavon and Ballymena also closed. It came after Pets at Home announced a dramatic slump in performance, with pre-tax profits crashing by 80 per cent as its bottom-line was hit by £29m in costs from vet practice changes.
:: Belfast-based IT services firm outlined ambitious plans to create 400 new jobs in the city and potentially expand into Derry. Dublin-headquartered Version 1, which set up in Belfast in 2012, welcomed its 100th staff member to its Cromac Place office. Head of operations in the north Lorna McAdoo said: "While my personal goal was always for 150 staff in Belfast, this will probably go to the guts of 500 people in Belfast over the next five years."
