Business

Business review of 2019 - JULY

Brian Conlon was chief executive of financial software firm First Derivatives
Brian Conlon was chief executive of financial software firm First Derivatives Brian Conlon was chief executive of financial software firm First Derivatives

Brian Conlon, one of the north’s most successful business figures, died two months after it was revealed he was battling cancer. The 53-year-old Co Down businessman, who founded the globally successful Newry financial software company First Derivatives, passed away in hospital on July 28th. His business empire, which now employs almost 2,500 people worldwide and is valued at £1bn, was born after his Gaelic footballing career was brought to an abrupt end through injury.

Pork giant Karro Food Group, whose plant in Cookstown processes 1.2 million pigs every year, announced a move into fish. Its investment company owner CapVest Partners reached an agreement to acquire Young’s Seafood Ltd after previous attempts floundered due to disagreements over valuation. The combined operation will sales of around £1.2bn (Karro's 2018 sales were £638m while revenues at Young’s were £545m) and employ more than 5,000 people across the UK and Ireland. The companies will operate as two separate entities within the enlarged group and will continue to focus on providing food products to customers across the pork and seafood sectors.

Plans have been drawn up to build a 280-bedroom hotel in the shadow of Titanic Belfast. Hospitality specialists the JMK Group, which has been investing in luxury boutique hotels in Ireland since 2013, believes the hotel in Hamilton Dock can be up and running by summer 2021. And it says the facility would enhance the Titanic Quarter’s status as a world class tourist destination. For the family-owned JMK Group, headed by dynamic entrepreneur John Kajani, it will be its first investment in Northern Ireland.

Co Armagh-based Linwoods announced it is to close its bakery division at a cost of 70 full-time jobs. The family business, which cut approximately 90 staff last year after culling its van sales distribution business, is to close its Armagh bakery on the Monaghan Road in mid-October due to a "significant and long-term decline in market demand". Linwoods joint managing director, John Woods said the decision to close the bakery was regrettable, but unavoidable.

A Lisburn-based manufacturer is creating 132 new jobs as part of an £11m investment in operations. Plastic fabrication specialists, Creative Composites, whose extensive client list includes some of the biggest names in the automotive industry, has announced the purchase of new state of the art machinery, as well as a major expansion of its Ferguson Drive premises.

Plans have been revealed for a new £10m marine tourist attraction in Belfast's Titanic Quarter. English firm ReefLIVE is behind proposals for an "aquarium for the 21st century" on the Queen's Road, just a stone's throne from the award-winning Titanic Belfast attraction. Due to open in early 2021 if granted planning approval, the proposed aquarium, to be located opposite the Titanic Hotel, will be the largest ocean visitor attraction on the island of Ireland and is expected to attract more than 300,000 people each year.