Business

Business review of 2021: August

Richard Ryan displays his company's Black Irish Whiskey outside the Duke of York pub in Belfast.
Richard Ryan displays his company's Black Irish Whiskey outside the Duke of York pub in Belfast. Richard Ryan displays his company's Black Irish Whiskey outside the Duke of York pub in Belfast.

BALLYMENA bus manufacturer Wrightbus announced plans to create 300 new jobs following a string of fresh orders from the UK and Ireland. The company said it would also make another 120 temporary roles permanent in a bid to ramp up production. The recruitment drive is set to take the bus-maker’s workforce to 930 in 2022.

A CO Down shopping centre, vacant since 2019, was sold out of administration to a local developer in what was described as a “a multi-million-pound deal” in August. The Flagship Centre in Bangor’s Main Street was acquired by Brookland Property, just over two years after the collapse of the investment vehicle behind it, Bangor Investments LLP.

A SURVEY from PropertyPal showed activity in Northern Ireland’s housing market running at rates not seen in 13 years. The market recovery in the north “rebounded at a pace beyond the most optimistic of expectations” according to the online portal.

MORE than two-thirds of workers in the north say they are re-thinking their career following the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new survey. Online recruitment website NIJobs.com said the research, which analysed data from around 1,200 people, showed 68 per cent admitting that the past year had made them reassess their work.

RYANAIR laid the blame squarely at the UK Government and Stormont over its decision to pull its remaining services in Northern Ireland over the winter. The Irish carrier had already pulled all flights to Britain back in January as part of a long-running fall-out with the UK's Civil Aviation Authority. But in August, it announced its remaining services from Belfast International Airport would end on October 31, with eight summer routes from Belfast City Airport ending early.

TEXAS-based workforce management company Workrise announced plans to set up a technology engineering centre in Northern Ireland during August. The company said it will offer “top of the market” £40,000-plus salaries to 153 new recruits.

DERRY technology specialist Elemental Software is under new ownership after being acquired for an undisclosed sum by a health informatics company based in Sheffield. Servelec, which supplies digital care software across health, social care, education and youth services, says it will be supporting Elemental Software to accelerate its plans for growth.

A SUBSIDIARY of the Kilmona property investment group headed by Belfast developer Paddy Kearney has paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Hilton Hotel in Templepatrick. Purchaser Loughview Leisure Group plans to rebrand the hotel to DoubleTree by Hilton, the first of its kind in Northern Ireland (DoubleTree is one of the premier brands within the Hilton collection).

TWO Belfast-based drinks veterans became embroiled in a trademark battle with Mariah Carey over Black Irish, the name the global pop superstar has selected for her new cream liqueur. Steven Pattison and Richard Ryan are the co-founders of drinks brand and design company Drinksology Kirker Greer. They’re also the co-founders and directors of Darker Still Spirits, which last year launched Black Irish, a new drink blending two of Ireland’s most famous exports: Stout and whiskey. Mariah Carey announced her new Black Irish Cream Liqueur in an August Instagram post.

FAST food giant McDonald's insisted its Irish restaurants were not hit by the same supply chain problems faced by outlets across Britain in August. The burger chain admitted that it had run out of milkshakes and bottled drinks in all of its restaurants in England, Scotland and Wales due to supply chain problems. But a spokesperson told The Irish News that the same issues had not been experienced in Northern Ireland or the Republic.