GORDON Lyons became the third economy minister in the space of a month in early July after new DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson demoted Paul Frew. Mr Frew had only been in the post since mid-June when Edwin Poots sacked Diane Dodds.
A MAJOR hybrid residential and commercial regeneration project for Belfast’s Gasworks took a significant step forward. Plans include 94 homes built close to the city centre in a £13m social housing-led investment by Radius, described as the largest housing development in the inner city for a generation. Meanwhile Belfast City Centre is seeking outline planning approval for an expansion to the office end of the Gasworks site, that will open the door to new commercial development.
DANSKE Bank announced plans to close branches in Ballygawley, Hillsborough, Mallusk and at University Road in Belfast, leaving the lender with just 32 branches here, 51 below its branch network from 2010. Danske Bank also reported a pre-tax profit of £38.1 million for the first half of 2021. It compared to a profit before tax of just £2.9m declared for the same period in 2020.
AIB announced plans to close eight of its banking branches across the north in 2021 in a move that would leave the lender with just seven NI outlets.
PUBLISHING and education giant Pearson confirmed it would vacate its extensive office headquarters in Belfast city centre in favour of flexible workspace. The former owner of the Financial Times officially opened a finance services centre in Belfast in 2017, in a move it said could eventually lead to the creation of 300 jobs.
ACTOR James Nesbitt’s property company launched plans for a new £5 million luxury hotel close to Malone Golf Club on the outskirts of Belfast. The proposal for the boutique hospitality venture, which will be known as Drumvale Hotel, centres on an extensive swathe of land along the River Lagan, just across the river from Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park.
TRIBUTES were paid to Newry businessman Louis Boyd, who passed away in July aged 88. The fashion entrepreneur, who opened his first menswear store in Newry in 1960 at the age of 26, became popular for the range of brands and styles he brought to the city.
EXPORT sales by Invest NI-backed companies contracted by almost £1 billion in 2020, the economic support body said in July. Publishing its performance results for the year ending March 31 2021, Invest NI said the global Covid-19 pandemic had caused significant disruption for many of the 1,700 businesses it works with.
THE Executive was urged to consider new measures to allow hospitality and retail workers to use Covid-19 testing to return to the workplace in July. It came as businesses across the north were increasingly forced to close due to staff testing positive or being forced to isolate due to close contact notifications.
THE reopening of the north’s hospitality industry resulted in a £32m fall in the amount of alcohol bought in supermarkets. Retail monitor Kantar compared the spend on booze at checkouts here in the 12 weeks to July 11 with the same period last year.
GERMAN company Cancom, which acquired Belfast IT firm Novosco in a £70m deal less than two years ago, has sold its UK and Ireland business to Madrid's Telefónica Tech for €398m. It put the company's 350 staff in Belfast under new ownership for the second time in less than 22 months.
