OCTOBER marked the start of the post-furlough era, but the north’s labour market weathered the end of the scheme without a spike in redundancies official data later confirmed. Just over 26,000 people were still registered on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme here when it closed on September 30.
Some 1.43 million applications were submitted for the Department for the Economy’s Spend Local scheme, which offered £100 pre-paid cards to every adult in the north.
One of Northern Ireland's best known hotels was sold in October. The Hastings Group sold the Slieve Donard Hotel in Newcastle to Nashville-based AJ Capital Partners for around £40m. The US group already owns three hotels near golf courses in Scotland.
RISING costs have left the average consumer in the north paying £1,000 more for energy than last year, amid the worst price shock since the 1970s. Northern Ireland’s Utility Regulator warned that soaring wholesale gas costs mean domestic gas bills could increase by another 50 per cent, or £300, in the winter, with electricity bills set to rise 20 per cent.
THE record price of wholesale natural gas hit businesses in October. Derrylin glass container manufacturer Encirc, revealed the firm, which normally spends £40m per year on energy, could pay £100m in 2021. Home heating oil, used by two-thirds of households in the north, is also at a three-year high after doubling in a year.
IRISH movie chain Omniplex confirmed plans to open a nine-screen luxury cinema in the former Debenhams unit at Belfast’s CastleCourt. The new venture, which will include a licensed bar and “super comfort seating”, is expected to be operational before Christmas 2022,
TESCO vacated its Metro store on Belfast’s Royal Avenue after 25 years in October. Belfast City Council later sealed a deal to buy the listed former bank building, establishing a new cultural hub in the centre of the city.
SAINSBURY’S announced plans to close its store and filling station at Rushmere Shopping Centre in Craigavon in early 2022. The company said it was working to find alternative roles for staff within Sainsbury’s as a union warned that it could result in up to 109 job losses.
THE Irish News reported Scottish company DNG Media was close to a deal to save the Banbridge Chronicle newspaper. The independent publisher based in Dumfries and Galloway, emerged as the front-runner to acquire the long-established Co Down newspaper from the Hodgett family.
THE Co Antrim company which bought the composites business from Wrightbus has announced plans to create 150 new jobs. Jans Composites was set up in October 2019 after Lisburn investor Peter Drayne acquired the Wright Group’s mouldings and metal fabrication division out of administration. The new manufacturing enterprise has now spawned a group of companies based out of a 10,000 sq metre facility at Caulside Drive in Antrim.
Ryanair ended its short-lived hiatus from Northern Ireland, announcing a new route from City of Derry airport to Manchester. Scottish carrier Loganair later announced plans to launch a new Derry to Edinburgh service in 2022.
RISHI Sunak's October spending review “creates significant challenges for public services here” Stormont’s finance minister Conor Murphy said. Dismissing UK government claims that an additional £1.6 billion a year will be made available for Executive departments, he said: “When compared to the Executive's 2021/22 budget there will be an additional £450m, £670m and £866m for day-to-day spending against growing demand for public services. This represents a marginal 0.9 per cent real term increase to the Executive's Budget next year, turning to a zero real terms change by 2024-25.”
