With the Profit 200 rankings revealed, it’s all eyes on Northern Ireland’s biggest profit-makers. But according to Michael Drumm, Partner in Cooper Parry’s Deals team, profitability is born from much more than one good year or standout decision.
Instead, it’s the product of businesses consistently making better decisions, adapting faster to change and investing for the future before circumstances force their hand.
Drumm advises ambitious business owners through some of the most important moments in their growth journeys, from raising investment and making acquisitions to succession planning and business exits. Working with entrepreneurial businesses across the UK and overseas, Cooper Parry helps founders create value, scale their operations and prepare for the next stage of growth, with three complementary ‘engines’ spanning professional services, digital transformation and wealth management.
Having worked alongside many of Northern Ireland’s most successful companies, Drumm believes the strongest businesses share some common characteristics.
“The businesses that consistently outperform aren’t necessarily the biggest, the oldest or even the fastest-growing,” he says. “They’re the ones that spot change first and do something about it.
“This trait matters more today than it did five years ago. The businesses in this year’s rankings have faced tests across input costs, wage inflation, borrowing costs, supply chains and significant political and economic noise.”
This change can take countless forms, too: a customer who’s suddenly buying less, a contract that looked profitable two years ago but no longer stacks up, or a new opportunity emerging in a market competitors haven’t noticed yet.
The difference, says Drumm, is that the best businesses don’t wait until year-end accounts arrive to tell them what happened six months ago.
“They know where they make money. More importantly, they know where they don’t.
“Lots of businesses can tell you what profit they made last year. Far fewer can tell you exactly which customers, contracts or product lines created that profit and which ones are quietly eating cash and management time.”
That level of visibility can prompt some uncomfortable decisions. While many businesses become fixated on growing turnover, the most profitable businesses are more selective.
“Revenue gets all the headlines, but not all revenue is good revenue,” says Drumm.
“If you’ve got work that’s tying up your best people, consuming cash and producing very little return, that’s not growth. Sometimes the smartest thing a business can do is say no.”
It’s a theme Drumm sees repeatedly among Northern Ireland’s strongest performers. They’re ambitious, but disciplined. Growth matters, but profitable growth matters more.
Another trait that stands out is management depth.
Northern Ireland is home to a remarkable number of entrepreneurial and founder-led businesses, many of which have grown from kitchen-table ideas into market leaders. But as businesses scale, founders need to avoid becoming the solution to every problem.
Drumm laughs when he offers his own test.
“What happens when the owner goes on holiday?
“If the answer is that everyone waits until they’re back before making a decision, you’ve got an issue.
“The strongest businesses can keep moving, keep growing and keep making decisions without everything flowing through one person.”
That’s particularly important as more Northern Ireland businesses begin considering investment, acquisitions, succession plans or eventual exits.
And according to Drumm, that’s exactly what’s happening.
“We’ve got a generation of founders who have built exceptional businesses and are now asking what’s next.
“For some, that’s another phase of growth. For others, it’s acquisitions, external investment, succession planning or ultimately stepping back from the business they’ve built.”
Those conversations are happening against a backdrop of growing interest in Northern Ireland from investors and acquirers.
Drumm says the region’s reputation has changed significantly over the past decade.
“There are some outstanding businesses here operating in specialist sectors across international markets, and increasingly they’re getting noticed. We work with the likes of Lagan Energy, Tierco Group and Lough Erne Investments, owners of Ready Egg, that are all prime examples.
“We’re also seeing interest from buyers and investors who wouldn’t have seriously considered Northern Ireland ten years ago. The high quality of businesses hasn’t changed, but the market has. Northern Irish businesses have been bought by UK and international acquirers and by private equity, and those deals have performed.
“Buyers follow other buyers, which is creating fantastic opportunities, but it means owners need to understand all of their options rather than simply reacting to the first approach that lands on the desk.”
However, one misconception persists.
Many owners assume value is created when a deal process begins. In reality, Drumm says, much of the value is won or lost long before that point.
“Buyers don’t pay for last year’s profit. They pay for confidence in next year’s profit and beyond.
“They want to know that earnings are repeatable, that they turn into cash, that margins can be maintained and that growth doesn’t depend entirely on one customer or one individual.”
He points to customer concentration, weak reporting, poorly evidenced forecasts and founder dependency as some of the most common reasons businesses leave value on the table.
“At an eight-times earnings multiple, even a relatively small adjustment can have a very big impact on value.
“The businesses that achieve the best outcomes aren’t perfect. No business is. They just understand their business well enough to answer difficult questions before somebody else asks them.”
It’s those qualities, and the opportunities they create, that have fuelled Cooper Parry’s continued investment in Northern Ireland.
After acquiring CavanaghKelly in the summer of 2025 and opening a new office in Dungannon’s The Linen Green this September, the firm is expanding its regional footprint with a new Belfast office at Jacquard, one of the city’s newest and most ambitious workspace developments.
The move reflects Cooper Parry’s confidence in both the Northern Ireland market and the calibre of businesses operating within it.
“We tend to get on well with ambitious businesses because we’re one ourselves,” says Drumm.
“There’s a huge amount of entrepreneurial energy here. Companies are thinking bigger, looking at new markets, considering acquisitions and exploring investment opportunities.
“We want to be closer to those conversations.”
That investment extends beyond office space. Cooper Parry is actively recruiting across Northern Ireland as it continues to build its team in the region. This move combines on-the-ground expertise with access to the firm’s 2,000-plus people and wide-reaching specialisms, ranging from audit, tax and deals to legal, digital transformation, wealth management and finance recruitment.
For Drumm, the rationale is simple.
“The qualities you see in Northern Ireland’s most successful businesses are exactly the qualities that make the region exciting in the first place. Ambition. Resilience. Adaptability. People who aren’t afraid to back themselves.
“The businesses that make the biggest impact are the ones that spot opportunities sooner, tackle challenges earlier and act while everyone else is still debating it.”
And if there’s one lesson to take from this year’s Profit 200 rankings, it may be that profitability isn’t just about what a business achieved yesterday.
It’s about how prepared it is for tomorrow.