Top Ten Companies 2008/2009

Victoria Square / Multi Development The opening of Victoria Square last spring was one of the business highlights of 2008 in anyone’s book. And it’s great to see it well populated, despite the severest of pressures on the retail sector. Take a walk around Victoria Square….then remember what the centre of Belfast used to be like! Convinced…..?

Meanwhile, in a clear statement of faith, Multi Development might not be directly responsible for the centre nowadays, but it has kept its UK operations base right here in Belfast, when it could have upped and gone anywhere else.

Stena Line

Airlines have come and gone, and so have ferry operators, but Stena (called Sealink back in the distant past) have been a stalwart of the travel scene here for many long years, providing an all-important link between Belfast and Scotland.

What's more, the Swedish-owned company hasn't just maintained its services, it has invested steadily in a travel link which we really couldn't do without. Much fuss is made of the possible loss of the Belfast-Heathrow air link…..Belfast-Stranraer is even more important.

Almac Group

The Almac Group – still led by Chairman Sir Allen McClay – continues to grow and show Northern Ireland in the best possible light…..! Just last month, Almac announced a major $100 million expansion at its Pennsylvania base in the US. These days, it comprises five divisions running through from R&D and clinical trial to commercial pharmaceutical manufacture, and supplies 600 customer companies including all of the world leaders in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.  The Group employs 2,200 worldwide and is headquartered in Craigavon.

Tayto
When Tandragee-based Tayto Group acquired the Staffordshire-based Jonathan Crisp brand, it was the fourth major acquisition in three years for a local company which has previously led a relatively quiet life. Founded by the Hutchinson family and still privately owned by them, Tayto has grown to become the UK's third largest crisp and snack manufacturer, producing six million bags a week. Turnover has grown from £15 million to £150 million.
Two years ago Tayto bought the then struggling Golden Wonder crisp brand and saved more than 500 jobs at plants in Scunthorpe and Corby in England.

ASDA

The retailer has become a serious rival to the bigger guns of the supermarketing sector in the relatively short time that the ASDA brand has been here. It has also picked up a series of awards for the innovative conditions that it provides for its full and part-time employees….or 'colleagues' as it calls them in all of its communications. And here's a little gem of information which says something for this region at the moment…..ASDA'S Enniskillen store was recently named at the fifth busiest in the entire Wal-Mart empire (the good ole' USA included).

ST+D

ST+D is the Belfast company behind a world-leading medical technology device which could transform the way doctors monitor their patients' hearts and other vital signs. The device can be fitted to a patient and used to monitor them wherever they may be via wireless technology. It has been trialled alongside the Royal Victoria Hospital with funding from the Wellcome Foundation. ST+D's three directors are all professors at the University of Ulster's Nanotechnology & Integrated Bioengineering Centre, and the fledgling firm's Chief Executive is Michael Caulfield.

Dunbia

Founded in 1983 by Dungannon butchers Jim & Jack Dobson, Dunbia remains headquarters in the town, but has grown to become a Europe-wide meat industry giant. In addition to its three meat plants in Northern Ireland (now four following the acquisition of the Stevensons pork business in Cookstown), Dunbia owns two plants in Wales, two in Lancashire, two in the Republic of Ireland, two in the North of Scotland and a Paris-based French trading base.

Resource

Terence Brannigan's Resource has charted a remarkable rise since the Holywood-born entrepreneurs acquired the old Maybin outsourcing business three years ago. Since then, it has acquired companies in Belfast, Dublin and Munster to take a major share of the Irish marketplace, and grabbed more headlines by taking over the GB-based Pall Mall Group to embark on a serious campaign to lead the market on both sides of the Irish Sea.
But 15,000 employees, a £150 million turnover and a £250 million target are the stats that say it all…..

Allstate Northern Ireland

Allstate NI was know as Northbrook Technology since its inception, but the new name identifies it more closely with its parent company and sole customer, the US-based insurance giant Allstate. Despite troubled times for insurance back in the US, the Belfast-based IT back office continues to thrive under the stewardship of the experienced Bro McFerran, and – alongside Bombardier – is one of precious few organisations still recruiting in the current climate.

Hawk Protection, Fivemiletown, Co. Tyrone

This niche manufacturing firm makes bullet and stab-proof vests and other protective equipment for the police and defence forces marketplace. Hawk landed a £6 million contract late last year to supply body armour to the Scottish Police. Part of the Cooneen Group, Hawk employs 110 in Fivemiletown, and lists the US Army amongst its list of customer organisations.

Hawk is a brand name of the Fivemiletown-based Cooneen Watts Stone (CWS) led by Managing Director, Eugene Greene. CWS is a leading supplier of uniforms to defence and police forces.
 

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