A scene from the pilot of HBO’s Game of Thrones filmed in Tollymore Forest Park.

The increasing number of productions being filmed in Northern Ireland is making a big contribution to the economy, writes Symon Ross

Northern Ireland’s film and television production industry has returned £22m to the local economy in the past year, according to figures contained in Northern Ireland Screen’s new annual report.

The development agency for the local screen industries published its report for the 2009-2010 year as cameras were starting to roll in Belfast on US company HBO’s television series Game of Thrones – one of the largest ever to shoot in Europe.

Through HBO’s own channels alone, scenes shot in Northern Ireland will reach over 35 million people worldwide.

The report showed that – bucking the recession – Northern Ireland Screen’s main production investment fund had returned £22m to the local economy in the past year at a ratio of 5.5:1 on investment of £3.9m.

Your Highness, a major feature film from Universal Pictures, which was shot in the Paint Hall studio in Titanic Quarter and various other locations around Northern Ireland, brought in an impressive £11.78m of this.

Richard Williams, Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Screen said: “The economic, cultural and educational value of the screen industry and screen culture is beginning to shine through across the wide range of activities Northern Ireland Screen supports and encourages. Our highlight successes in attracting Universal Pictures and HBO to Northern Ireland strongly illustrate that, with vision and focus, the screen industries and the creative industries generally can play a pivotal role in the reimagining of our local economy.”

During the year Northern Ireland Screen also secured two major network television commissions – Mo and Christopher and His Kind. Mo, which aired in January, was Channel 4’s highest rating single drama for eight years and landed Julie Walters her sixth BAFTA TV Award and three BAFTA TV Craft Awards for members of its production team. Mammoth Screen, the super-indie behind Christopher and His Kind has since set up shop in Northern Ireland.

The publication of the agency’s report coincides with the publication of an evaluation by KPMG of Northern Ireland Screen’s three-year strategy Building on Success 2007-2010.

The evaluation was positive, citing “a very strong performance over the strategy period”, with the Northern Ireland Screen Fund exceeding its target, delivering an economic return of around £45m into the Northern Ireland economy – a ratio of 4.6:1, against investment of £9.8m.

The KPMG exercise also captured a very complimentary picture of how Northern Ireland Screen goes about its business, with consultees giving strong and wide-ranging praise of the work of the agency.
Northern Ireland Screen chairman Rick Hill said that as well as achievements of the screen agency the region has a wealth of creative talent that is giving Northern Ireland a growing reputation at home and abroad.

“We are in the worst economic recession since the 1920s and set against that rather gloomy backdrop, the achievements of Northern Ireland Screen are, I believe, all the more impressive. There is therefore still much to buoy our spirits,” he said.

“As we move into our next four-year strategy “Driving Global Growth”, and despite decreased funding, Northern Ireland Screen remains firmly committed to the development of a dynamic and sustainable screen industry and culture in Northern Ireland.”

Northern Ireland Screen is primarily funded by Invest Northern Ireland and part financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

Bombardier’s new demonstrator wing

The aviation market has been hit hard during the recession but following a sharp downturn in orders last year, Symon Ross reports that Bombardier Shorts is seeing some positive signs for the future

It has been a tough couple of years for Northern Ireland’s largest manufacturer.

Canadian-owned aviation giant Bombardier Aerospace has felt the knock- on effects of the recession on the profits of customers. As the number of people choosing to travel by air has declined sharply, many airlines that might have been clients have been left uncertain about their futures.

Factoring in order cancellations, particularly for business jets, Bombardier received a total of 11 net aircraft orders in the 2009/2010 year, compared to 367 the previous year – illustrating the extent of the global downturn. The higher number of business aircraft cancellations, as well as an overall lower level of new orders, resulted in a reduction in the order backlog by almost $7bn (£4.5bn).

Michael Ryan, Vice-President and General Manager of Bombardier Aerospace in Belfast, told Ulster Business it will take some time to turn this situation around.

“While analysts indicate signs of a global economic recovery, traditionally the aerospace industry lags behind any such recovery. We continue, therefore, to face challenges in the current year,” he said.

This year, Bombardier expects to deliver around 15% fewer business jets and 20% fewer commercial aircraft. Revenues, therefore, are expected to be lower at a time when the company knows it must continue to invest for the future.
However, there were positive signs at the Farnborough Air Show where Bombardier announced orders of some $1bn for business and regional aircraft. Belfast plays a role in all of the aircraft ordered.

The financial performance of the local operation in 2009/10 was one of its worst ever, but came at a time when the company was making its largest ever investment in Belfast. Despite just breaking even with a pre-tax profit of $0.2m, Bombardier invested a total of $164m in product development, R&D, training, and plant and facilities.

“We remain committed to investing in our long-term future in Belfast, in our capabilities and in our people. We are going ahead with our annual apprentice intake in September, and further investment is planned in developing new products and technologies, in particular the ongoing development of the CSeries wings and associated new factory,” explained Mr Ryan.

Of crucial importance to Bombardier’s Belfast operation is the development of the company’s CSeries aircraft, a new jet in the 100-149 seat category that will have its wings built at a purpose built factory on the firm’s existing Queen’s Island site.

“The CSeries aircraft programme is in very good shape both from a product development standpoint and from a sales point of view at this stage of its development. We are very confident about the 100-149 seat market potential, and there is a great deal of interest in the aircraft from airlines around the world because it offers customers much greater efficiency, operating costs, comfort and reduced environmental impact,” said Mr Ryan.

The aircraft is due to enter service in late 2013 and has already attracted 90 firm orders and 90 options. The company said sales discussions at the Farnborough Air Show in July “progressed well” and that a number of new discussions were started.

The composite wings for the CSeries will be assembled in Belfast at a new, 600,000 square feet factory. The first phase of the factory will be completed in the autumn with the first wing due to be delivered towards the end of 2011.
So far development of the wing is progressing to schedule, with a pre-production demonstrator wing developed in Belfast successfully passing a series of stringent tests.

“The £520m investment in the wing programme represents the largest ever single investment in Northern Ireland. It is of crucial importance to our operation’s future, and to the economy of Northern Ireland,” said Mr Ryan.

“In addition to over 400 construction personnel currently involved in the building project, some 360 Bombardier engineering and support staff are working on the wing development programme, and around 800 jobs will be generated during peak production years, with many more in the wider supply chain.”

A number of local companies have already been engaged in the research and development phase of the wing programme, including the production of the demonstrator wing. As well as the local contractors involved in the new wing factory, a number of local companies are providing equipment for the facility and will have an opportunity to win work packages on the wing production in the coming months.

The boost the programme is providing to local jobs is welcome after the downturn in orders forced Bombardier to axe close to 1,000 contractors and full time staff in early 2009.

In September, the company will enrol 40 new apprentices through its annual intake – though it noted that there were 800 applications for just 40 places, far higher than in previous years.

With 5,000 employees Bombardier’s health has a huge impact on the local economy. The company has invested more than £1.4bn in its Northern Ireland operations over the past 20 years, including almost £140m in training and development of its employees.

Mr Ryan has also joined the newly established Economic Advisory Group (EAG), which was set up by Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster following a recommendation in the Independent Review of Economic Policy. Its remit is to provide independent advice to the Minister which will challenge and develop public policy and strategic thinking on the economy – something that will be vital as Northern Ireland tries to bolster its private sector in the face of impending public spending cuts.

“We support the Government’s aims to encourage the advancement of industry capabilities in Northern Ireland through R&D and innovation, to help companies move up the value chain and compete more effectively. It is important that local companies have access to UK and EC R&D programmes and that R&D tax credits are retained,” said Mr Ryan.
“While it is vital that Northern Ireland continues to attract foreign direct investment, we believe it is important that existing industry is still supported. To drive productivity, and even to simply maintain current workforce levels, companies need to continue to make capital investment, for which support is often necessary.

“It is important that Government support schemes, which have been successful, are maintained so that existing high value jobs are retained.”

Though it faces ongoing pressures, it appears clear that Bombardier will remain a key player in Northern Ireland’s economy in future. Mr Ryan adds that the manufacturer remains cautiously optimistic about its long term prospects.
“While we still have many challenges, the market fundamentals are strong in the long term. Bombardier is cautiously optimistic and we expect a positive future for an aviation industry focused on long-term economic growth,” he said.

Moy Park’s Nigel Dunlop (left) with O’Kane Group’s Billy O’Kane.

Poultry producer Moy Park has continued to expand with the acquisition of O’Kane Group earlier this year. Symon Ross caught up with chief executive Nigel Dunlop to find out about the company’s outlook for the coming year

One of the more recognisable names to viewers in Northern Ireland watching this year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa would have been Moy Park.

The company’s name was plastered on hugely visible billboards around the stadiums used for many crucial matches and would have been seen by millions if not billions of football fans around the world.
However, that a company based at Seagoe Industrial Estate in Craigavon should have such a global profile should not come as a surprise.

Itself one of the leading poultry suppliers in the UK and Europe the company is owned by the world’s fourth largest food group – Sao Paulo-based Marfrig, which was an official sponsor of the World Cup and keen to promote its brands ahead of the next competition on home turf in Brazil. Marfrig, which bought Moy Park in 2008, has 92 plants in 13 nations and exports to more than 110 countries.

Founded in 1943, Moy Park is Northern Ireland largest food processing company, supplying own label and customer branded fresh chicken and cooked chicken products to retail and foodservice customers across Europe and employing almost 7000 people at 15 sites in Northern Ireland (Craigavon and Dungannon), England, France and the Netherlands.

Moy Park’s chief executive Nigel Dunlop told Ulster Business the company is meeting its objectives of generating sufficient funds to keep investing in growth.

“In the kind of business we are in, selling into the retail food sector, we tend to be operating as a fairly low margin business. But we do try to make sure that we deliver margins that allow us to continue to invest in the business. We are keen to make sure that we keep the asset base and the farming base that we have very much up to date and fit for purpose in the future,” he said.

Earlier this year the company’s size was further swelled by the acquisition of Ballymena-based O’Kane Group, a leading local rival in poultry production. The deal – conducted for an undisclosed fee – created a company with a combined turnover close to £1bn and secured the future of many of O’Kane’s growers.
Moy Park and O’Kane Poultry currently sell around 200 million chickens and 1.5 million turkeys a year, and between them have contracts with around 760 local poultry farmers. The joint company has 8,500 employees, 5,000 in Northern Ireland.

“One of the big values we saw in the O’Kane business was that it brings Moy Park firmly into the turkey market. There’s a lot of investment going on in the O’Kane business to enhance the production of turkeys and make sure there’s capacity there to meet demand. We see all that going according to plan and progressing positively,” said Mr Dunlop.

One challenge facing Moy Park in future is a potential rise in commodity prices, particularly wheat prices, which represent a large portion of its feed costs. Prices have been in an expected range for the past 12-18 months but now there is evidence of a “more fundamental shift upwards” that will have to be addressed to maintain the firm’s strong cash position, said Mr Dunlop.

“Even in the last couple of weeks we’ve seen a significant jump in underlying wheat prices throughout the world. Although this is a harvest time for many of the big producers of wheat, because it has been a hot summer, some of the yields have not come in to the extent they were expected to. Looking to the next 12 months ahead, we have to be very mindful that we’re seeing potential for a significant jump in commodity costs,” said Mr Dunlop.

“We will have some challenges but we’ve faced these challenges before. We’d be confident with the support of our strong team of working our way through them.”

Mr Dunlop believes that being part of the global Marfrig group has been positive for Moy Park and has not detracted from its primary goal of producing fresh, high quality, locally farmed chicken, as some commentators had feared when the deal went through.

“When the transaction took place and Moy Park was acquired by a Brazil-based company, the question was always in people’s minds the extent to which the business would become focused on importing products from Brazil. Actually we have seen the benefit of being part of Marfrig, because we’ve had the freedom to continue to invest in our core business and under Marfrig we have grown our fresh poultry – and therefore the farming base that goes with it – by around 20% in the last two years,” he said.

“Equally, being part of a bigger organisation, means that if our customers want to have products that are better sourced from overseas, then you have a major advantage, because we can provide a supply chain through our business which links directly back to Brazil to provide a wider range of products. One compliments the other.”

Future growth of the company is expected to be driven from both its core business of locally farmed chicken and turkey and opportunities in new markets, said Mr Dunlop.

“There’s reasonable underlying organic growth in the chicken and turkey market, just because more customers are buying chicken or the same number of customers are buying more chicken. The other source of growth will be driven by new markets and innovating where we can introduce new products,” he said.

“Beyond that we look at Europe. As part of the Marfrig group we are effectively the European division of our parent company. While we focus on our local strengths we will also be trying to develop businesses across continental Europe, either by growing organically or possibly joint ventures. We already have businesses in France and Holland so we see those as a platform for us to look at expansion opportunities into continental Europe as well.”

A new world

Neil Gibson, director of Oxford Economics, believes difficult questions about Northern Ireland’s economy still need to be asked

The Northern Ireland economy is facing a new, and some might say more challenging, future. The era of excess spending, both by consumers and by the public sector is at an end with pay freezes, cuts and even redundancies dominating the headlines in economic columns at present.

The prospect of a fall back into recession for Northern Ireland cannot be ruled out and the labour market may take a decade or more to recover depending on how severe the public sector job cuts become. Oxford Economics’ base case has jobs recovering by 2016, but a lower scenario in which the private sector struggles to gain traction sees this extend to 2022.

In this climate it is hard to see the positives, yet many of the region’s major exporters have performed strongly and the number of firms to close during the recession has been small, suggesting a real desire for firms to remain in the region if possible.

It has often been said that Northern Ireland is too public sector orientated, that the high wages paid and sheer volume of jobs was crowding out private sector activity.

Perhaps the period of contraction in public services will help to reduce the pay differentials and encourage growth in the private sector. This process might be accelerated if the public sector looks increasingly towards a private sector-led delivery of services – though it remains to be seen if there is sufficient political appetite for such a transformation. Is there a possibility to sell off activities like government statistics production, public transport, elements of business support? There are of course pros and cons – but surely the severity of the situation requires that these questions need to be asked?

In the depth of recession the prospects look bleak in almost every sector and the question everyone asks is where will new jobs come from? This is a hard question to answer but there are opportunities in a wide range of sectors, including professional services, advanced manufacturing, care for the elderly, tourism and green technologies to name but a few.
Many firms who previously relied on the public sector, particularly the professional services arena, will need to look further afield and with a competitive cost base, relatively skilled labour, low turnover rates and a relatively strong telecoms infrastructure there are reasons to believe many of these firms will be successful.

As is often the case when looking back over economic history, necessity may prove the mother of invention and, painful as it seems, Northern Ireland may emerge leaner, stronger and more efficient when this recession lies behind us.
In times of limited funds governments are necessarily constrained in their ability to prevent the impact of global and national pressures being felt. However there is clearly scope to both reduce waste and use the tax system more effectively that can make a contribution toward debt reduction. Using the tax system to encourage desired behaviour and closing tax loopholes is one way of increasing income (even if not all of the receipts would accrue to the Executive).

For example:

• Red diesel – Could the illegal use of red diesel not be removed by abolishing it and allowing farmers to instead receive a tax rebate based on the size of their holdings?

• Commercial rates system – Could the rates system not be used to encourage landlords to maintain buildings to certain environmental and physical standards to ensure our towns and villages do not fall into disrepair and to support the ailing construction sector?

• Domestic rates – Given the abundance of opulent properties that have sprung up all over the countryside in recent years is there any reason to cap domestic rates as they are currently?

• Revisiting ‘giveaways’ – Should recent giveaways be re-assessed, such as prescription charges, travel passes, rate freezes and water charges?

In themselves none of these will ‘square the circle’. The region is looking at real price spending cuts of well over £1bn over the next four years. But as the saying goes – every little helps.

Transactions in the local mergers and acquisition market were one of the biggest casualties of the global recession with the handful of recorded deals either forced and/or carried out at reduced values. But, having ravaged the storm, buyers are putting their heads above the parapet once more with recent deals confirming a healthy appetite, writes Paul McBride, a partner in the corporate team of McGrigors Belfast LLP.

Pre-Lehman, Northern Ireland witnessed an unparalleled period of growth in corporate transactional activity across all sectors and at unprecedented values. The period from 2001 to 2008 reflected major investment in the region representing a huge vote of confidence in the economic potential in Northern Ireland and an endorsement of developing political stability. Much activity was driven by major UK or other foreign multiples investing in Northern Ireland by way of acquisition particularly across retail, agri-food and construction but also in investments in secure infrastructure assets and opportunities.

In converse, the 12 months post-Lehman witnessed virtual inertia in corporate activity in the region with transaction volumes and values decreasing to levels more akin to pre-1998. Transactions were fewer, at more reduced value levels, and often involving distressed or formal insolvency situations.

However, Northern Ireland now seems to be entering a period of renewed optimism. Mature local corporates have remained strong and have to some extent been protected from the ravages of the recent recession by their local market dominance, strong business models or their targeting of overseas and emerging markets. These corporates are likely to now begin acquisition strategies, particularly where potential targets have retained strong asset bases, or a developed and capable management team or valuable intellectual property rights. There are also signs of consolidation within certain sectors as former competitors look to combine resources to produce efficiencies. However, deals are more likely to reflect the new economic world with future, rather than historical, performance being much more in focus and earn out and deferred payment arrangements becoming common place. Certainly, the highly debt leveraged transactions of the “boom” years are unlikely to be repeated, with asset prices still low.

Accordingly, more significant and hopefully more sustainable transactional activity is beginning to take shape, not least the recently announced proposed merger between Moy Park and O’Kanes. Other deals by major corporates such as Henderson Group or involving high value businesses such as Survitec are again signs of increasing confidence. The local venture capital market is also showing signs of gathering momentum, the Crescent Capital backed recent management buy-out of the Speechstorm division of Kainos being an excellent example.

However, there remains no room for complacency and there is still the need for significant political intervention and support. The pre-election commitment to consider Northern Ireland as an enterprise zone, turning the region into an increasingly attractive area to invest in, seems key to this process, as is early clarification and pragmatism on capital gains tax. That type of political stimulus is necessary to overcome the prevailing mood of uncertainty and pessimism over recent times caused by global economic conditions and the local impact of those conditions (for example, in the establishment of NAMA).

As with most other corporate law practices in Belfast, McGrigors LLP are seeing this renewed optimism. The commitment from politicians both nationally and locally to actively support the region and the signs that certain of the local banks are willing to support transactions on a selective basis are also welcome indicators of an improving trend back to more normal levels of transactional activity. Whilst there may not be an immediate return to the heights of 2007, there are clear signals that confidence in Northern Ireland as a place to grow or to invest in remains strong.

As HP approaches the 35th Anniversary of its establishment on the island of Ireland we speak with Martin Murphy, Managing Director of HP Ireland.

How important is the Northern Ireland market to HP?
Norther Ireland continues to play a vital role in the development of HP’s business across the island of Ireland, and this isn’t just from a revenue perspective. Our work locally has enabled us to design and develop new products, services and solutions which are generating new intellectual property for HP. The HP Ireland brand encompasses our work across the island of Ireland, reflected in the fact we are now the largest IT and services provider employing over 4,000 people between Belfast, Galway and Leixlip. In Belfast, we have created high value jobs which focus on consultancy in the public and private sector. We’ve recently invested in our business continuity and recovery site located in Newtownabbey, extending our site to 35,000 sq feet due to growing demand by businesses requiring business continuity facilities. Our expertise and capabilities range from ICT consultancy to a global Centre of Expertise for Cloud Computing Services in product track, trace and authentication – so peoples view of what HP does is continually evolving.

How is your business split in terms of private versus public sector?
There’s no doubt that HP carries out a high proportion of its work in the public sector. In the last year however we’ve won contracts in the public and private sector worth in excess of £100m, ranging from a £24m extension for the supply of ICT services in support of Classroom 2000 (C2k), a £75m framework agreement with the Department of Health to our ongoing work with companies ranging from Almac, Seagate and Harland and Wolf. Our work with private sector companies like Almac has spanned the last 15 years has delivered significant results with HP’s software being used to reduce the time required to put new drugs through clinical trials meaning drugs for cancer and other illnesses can get to patients faster.

What will a reduction in public sector spending mean for HP’s business in Northern Ireland?
There surely will be a recalibration in spending within the public sector and spending on ICT services could be hit. But I believe that technology can be part of the solution through creating efficiencies, reducing bureaucracy but still helping to deliver high quality public services. Like all companies working with the public sector, HP will have to continue to show how its products and services create public value. We can certainly point to recent projects with the Northern Ireland Civil Service, such as the TRIMM project where a HP solution ensured a common approach to records management reducing bureaucracy and providing better access to information.

How progressive is the Northern Ireland ICT sector and how could it improve?
I am very proud of what the ICT sector locally has achieved. During the last five years collaboration between a range of ICT players locally, including HP, has produced a single educational network known as C2k, the world’s largest online learning environment. This solution was designed and delivered through Managed Service partnerships with major private sector partners. I think the focus going forward is to harness this partnership approach across the ICT sector to feed into the development of a digital strategy for the Northern Ireland economy.

Is our ICT infrastructure ready for the next generation of ICT development?
We can see how the infrastructure has been improved with 100% broadband coverage and the NI Science Park continuing to provide excellent resources and infrastructure. However, there needs to be a greater focus between the private sector and Government in the development of a digital strategy which would provide a programme to develop a digital infrastructure and services for the future success of the local economy. We’ve seen how countries like Estonia which has roughly same population as Northern Ireland have produced companies such as Skype and there is no reason why such companies can’t be created locally. By putting in place the right digital infrastructure Northern Ireland can create and attract companies in new areas such as cloud computing, new media and environmental technologies, providing a new dimension to the private sector and economy locally.

Exporters in Northern Ireland have managed to benefit from a slide in the value of sterling but the benefits have been dampened by global recession. Symon Ross takes a look at which areas of our local export industry are coping best.

While some of Northern Ireland’s exporters have managed to thrive in the weak sterling environment of the past 18 months, many others have struggled.

Where the pound’s decline made their products and services cheaper abroad, the financial crisis and the recession it left in its wake meant the bottom fell out of many of the markets into which local export-minded firms were selling their goods.

Worse, some found that business customers abroad, well aware of the windfall profit caused by the weak pound, began asking for prices to be cut even when contracts were already signed. Firms supplying the hard hit sectors like construction and property may not have been paid at all.

There have been signs that the UK economies are beginning to level out and grow again, and that opportunities were beginning to present themselves again. Firms such as Wrightbus, which had reduced production amid slow demand, has received a number of new orders from Asia, and from Boris Johnston for London’s new red bus.
And the latest Ulster Bank Purchasing Managers Index survey showed new business in the beleaguered manufacturing sector picking up for the first time in almost three years.

But just as conditions are right for local exporters to make the most of their currency differential, euro weakness looks like eroding that competitive advantage before they get the chance, as fears that the Greek debt crisis could spread across Europe have put the single currency on the back foot.

“It is especially a factor when our companies are competing outside of Europe – for example in the Far East or Middle East. It used to be that the Europeans could slide in under you to win contracts, and I suppose the weaker euro could bring that back,” says Robert Hamilton from the Northern Ireland Exporters Association, or NIEA.
He adds however that the exchange rate is only one of several factors facing export-focused businesses.
“There are sectors that have benefited from the exchange rate – the food industry or people who don’t need to import much, such as the software firms, have been riding out the recession much better than others as they don’t have raw materials to bring in,” he adds, referencing the difficulties faced by manufacturing, engineering and construction.

Even if the exchange rate moves in the favour of European competitors, Hamilton believes many exporters are more optimistic given the improving economy in general.

“There’s always been a level of confidence,” he says. “Even though you get the likes of Hughes Christensen – and you might find some of the other big boys leave too – you have hundreds of SMEs (small and medium enterprises) still exporting from the island. Manufacturers will come out stronger.”

In fact, 15 of those SMEs recently won new business in the Republic following a recent sales exercise run by NIEA in association with Invest NI, and Hamilton believes local firms cannot afford to miss opportunities so close to home.

Ulster Bank economist Richard Ramsey agrees cross-border trade remains a key advantage which local firms hold over competitors in Great Britain who have to transport goods by air or sea to deal with the eurozone.
“There are really only two sectors within manufacturing showing growth – pharmaceuticals and food and drink. Pharma is independent of the trends because it is relatively recession proof. You have the likes of Almac, Randox and Norbrook which are expanding anyway,” he said.

“But it is interesting that food and drink hasn’t grown in the UK but has in Northern Ireland. The proximity of the Republic is key, with 40% of what we export there in the food and drink category,” he adds.
The economist notes that while the April PMI showed the manufacturing sector is slowly picking up, orders are still low in most export categories.

“In engineering demand has collapsed. We are back at levels not seen since 1995. In that situation it doesn’t matter what the exchange rate is because there is no demand,” adds Ramsey.
The latest figures from Belfast Harbour provide a more upbeat snapshot of where things stand for exporters. Trade through the port was down 4% in 2009.

However, the early part of 2010 has seen an increase in both imports and exports. In the first quarter trade was up 7% on the same period a year ago, leaving the harbour’s forecast of a 0.1% increase in tonnage for the year looking very conservative.

“Four months in we are gloriously wrong. But we are a bit loathe to make the jump that its up and therefore it is a leading indicator of the economy because there are a lot of complications,” said chief executive Roy Adair.
“There is undoubtedly a restocking element among manufacturers and that will cease if the order books don’t result into people consuming those stocks.”

Mr Adair concurs that the agri-food sector is “absolutely soaring” – with dry bulk trade such as grains and feeds up almost 30%. With that removed however, a recovery is less certain, with other categories still only “bouncing sideways”, but they are at least not in decline.

Brian Telford, head of markets at Northern Bank, says that while exporters were not able to take advantage of the pound trading at relatively low levels against the euro and dollar in 2008 and 2009, the falling currency has helped certain firms survive.

A slight reversal of the situation is unlikely to prove fatal now.
“Although we have had tough times in the UK, consider the situation in Latvia, where GDP fell at a rate of 18% in 2009 and where unemployment is almost 25% – things could be worse,” says Mr Telford.

“Over the past year, more economists have come to believe that a floating currency is one factor which may help the UK weather the storm better than some of our European neighbours.

“The pound has strengthened since the election and there might be concern now that exporters will start to struggle. These concerns may be overdone. While the pound has risen, compared to the dark days of early 2009, it is still at much more competitive levels than it was two years ago. As economic activity starts to revive, UK exporters are as well-placed as anyone to take advantage of it.”

eircom Northern Ireland has been making waves in the local telecommunications market with its fresh, highly-skilled approach and strong service ethic. Ulster Business spoke to General Manager Darren Lemon to find out how the company is able to fully exploit available communications technologies to maximise efficiencies for Northern Ireland businesses.

Dark clouds spoil the view from Darren Lemon’s fifth floor office at eircom Northern Ireland’s headquarters in Belfast as he contemplates the next move in the telco’s continuing growth since it entered the market place several years ago.

Working closely with both the public and private sectors, eircom NI has rapidly become a major player in the delivery of integrated communications solutions.

But every cloud though, they say, has a silver lining, and perhaps in the months and years ahead it is to metaphorical skies that businesses and public bodies will look as they seek to reduce cost in an age of austerity.

Darren Lemon, General Manager of eircom NI, certainly believes the growth of so-called cloud computing will have an undoubted impact on the way companies go about their business and the way the public sector generates efficiencies. More about that later.

It shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone that the growth in Northern Ireland of the Republic’s indigenous telco has been anything other than an on-going success since it made its first calls here about 30 months ago. A market, starved of genuine competition for years, today has several major players, and businesses large and small, as well as government departments, have plenty of choice when hiring new suppliers or embarking on ambitious projects.

“That level of competition has to be good for everyone,” said Darren. “Indeed it’s that sort of competition which keeps costs down and in such an ubiquitous industry as telecommunications that’s especially important.”

The telecommunications industry has always been a vital cog in the wheels of Northern Ireland commerce but now, as our ability to utilise the latest available technology increases, it is fast adopting an even more essential role in the day-to-day running of our businesses.

In addition to fixed telephone lines, providers also act as internet service providers, mobile phone services and often take responsibility for installing their own infrastructure in the form of fibre optic cabling.

“And now we’re entering a new era. Where we used to talk about convergence as the rapid integration of all of these products and services we now look to the development of cloud-based services as offering businesses the opportunity to significantly reduce IT costs, provide greater integration and avoid huge capital expenditure.” said Darren. “These are services where the hardware you would normally find in a business disappears and is replaced by internet-based services that are off-site or up in the clouds, so to speak.

“However if companies, and indeed the private sector, are to take advantage of what cloud-based services have to offer then they have to have absolute confidence in their network and its ability to support their mission critical business applications. That’s where we come in!”

Two-and-a-half years ago eircom came to Northern Ireland in an effort to supply two sectors it felt were under serviced: government and medium-to-large businesses. The former currently makes up around 70% of the company’s business and covers many different areas of the public sector including a £70 million Network NI contract for the Northern Ireland Civil Service along with others for Northern Ireland Water and power provider Viridian. Products range from managed network services for LAN and WAN to Unified Communications and High Definition Video Conferencing solutions.

“We initially got into the public sector on the back of an innovative commercial offering which has huge expansion capabilities,” Darren said. “Government demands move fast and we have the inbuilt capacity to meet that if the need arises.”

Along with keeping its technology and its capacity ahead of the curve, eircom NI has also invested heavily in high-end skills within its workforce to provide an innovative and intelligent service to back up its system capabilities. This means it is able to deal with the most thorny problems as a matter of course.

“The greater the complexity of the requirement, the better the fit for us,” he said. “That’s the sort of business we thrive on.”

For any business servicing public sector contracts, the obvious worry is the expected cut in government spending in the coming years but Darren said eircom NI’s technology can offer savings across the board.

“So for instance, a recent report from the Northern Ireland Civil Service showed that Network NI has reduced the average cost per megabyte of information by 45 per cent,” said Darren. “Imagine then what impact this could have if for example all schools in Northern Ireland were connected via Network NI? The savings would be substantial.

“Of course our experience in delivering savings and efficiencies is encouraging us to expand into other areas of the public sector. There’s the new Department of Justice and many other more established parts of government where we can help make a considerable difference.”

eircom NI is also making waves in the private sector, most notably with Hastings Hotels, United Dairy Farmers and Northgate Managed Services.

Proving its capability hasn’t been difficult – “our biggest endorsement is that the government relies on us,” Darren said – and the private sector has welcomed its service-led approach.

“We’re delivering service in a different way by tailoring and designing it to suit the customer’s needs and managing it from right here in Belfast,” he added. “Our investment in service provision is managed in a way which supports our clients’ business demands.”

In these ever changing times for the economy, this means being flexible when it comes to contract terms and keeping in close contact with customers to gauge their needs; taking the lessons learned in the public sector and replicating these with private companies.

While quality and service are an integral part of the eircom NI business, being able to deliver cost savings to customers is also paramount.

“There are clear cost challenges and we’re in no doubt that we have to deliver solutions that help our customers reduce costs and improve the effectiveness and competitiveness of their operations,” Darren said.

eircom’s commitment to Northern Ireland business is demonstrated by its recent investment in local infrastructure where it initially spent £10 million installing a fibre cable network. Recently a further £1.5 million was invested in the construction of Next Generation MPLS technology which provides customers with high bandwith connectivity allied to low latency.

Using its own infrastructure such as this – along with that already in place in Northern Ireland – to the optimum, is a key part in boosting the capabilities of businesses here and, crucially in these straightened times, cutting costs.

“Northern Ireland is starting to reap the benefits of significant investment in communications infrastructure by ourselves and others over the last few years and the economy is now ready to take full advantage of it,” Darren said. “The key now, as far as choosing a provider is concerned, is service provision, and our effort to innovate in this area of the business is as intense as the way we go about developing and introducing new technologies. For us, you can’t talk about total or unified communications without talking about quality and flexibility in how we interact with the customer.

“It is not cliché at eircom NI to talk about the needs of the customer. It is at the very heart of our thinking and around that we place our technology!”

A good example of this is the company’s Telepresence video communication technology. A visit to the Telepresence suite at eircom NI’s Belfast headquarters dispels any cynicism toward this type of technology through its lifelike, high quality picture and crystal clear sound.

In conversation with an eircom employee in Dublin, even Ulster Business got over early camera shyness and soon forgot the 100 mile distance between the two offices.

The uses for this type of conferencing are too numerous to mention and it is surely a piece of technology that should be seriously considered by local companies, particularly in light of the recent disruption to air travel, the need to keep costs to a minimum and a desire by all companies to reduce carbon emissions.

This is just one of the services optimising the improved telecoms infrastructure on offer in Northern Ireland which eircom NI believe can not only save money for Northern Ireland’s businesses but also improve the efficiency of their processes.

By replicating its success in the public sector, Darren believes the company has considerable scope to help in the recovery of the local economy by delivering enabling technology and allowing businesses to reap the financial benefits which follow.

If in doubt, just look to the clouds!

Home-grown business success stories tend to reveal individuals with the ability to adapt to a changing environment as much as those with an eye for the bottom line. Ulster Business found that Ashley McKinley and Jim Hodges, founders of Nichem Group, prove no different, having steered their business toward growing markets. We hear more about the Belfast-based company…

Having your own swimming pool is a luxury many of us would love but few feel we can afford. But local company Nichem Group, through its subsidiary Nichem Pools and Leisure, is proving the private pool is more popular than ever in Northern Ireland and more affordable than you’d think.

The fact the business has put in a bumper performance against the current recessionary backdrop says a lot, both about the passion and hard work of Nichem’s personnel and the affordability of some the company’s pools.

This latter factor doesn’t mean a concession on quality. In fact, the use of Italian pool manufacturer Proteus’s technology means Nichem can offer an unparalleled level of integrity – in terms of the pool’s construction – and a number of standard features which would be additional costs using other build methods.

As opposed to the traditional tile construction, the Proteus pool is made from stainless steel panels or, in some cases, a single stainless steel shell. Advantages include a much faster installation process, a 15-year warranty, less maintenance, the ability to create more complex shapes and overlapping infinity edges. It’s with such attributes that Proteus has been awarded a contract to supply seven of the 12 pools for the 2012 Olympics.

Installation for outdoor pools starts from £15,000 while indoor packages begin at £35,000, but the canny pool buyer knows that running costs are as important as the initial outlay. It’s for this reason Nichem can carry out an energy management survey to keep electricity usage to a minimum while also incorporating a number of green features, such as highly efficient insulation, renewable energy water heating and water recycling.

“We have surprised a lot of people with the figures,” said Commercial Director Ashley McKinley in an interview with Ulster Business at the company’s headquarters in the Castlereagh Hills. “It’s not as expensive as you’d think to run and needn’t be considered a luxury.”

Not that the pools don’t feel like luxury as anyone visiting Nichem’s show pool at the Mill Village development in Comber will testify. The facility here is the Gold Proteus pool package and includes a spa, sauna and gym and shows off Nichem’s attention to detail.

“Who else in Northern Ireland has a show pool they can take potential customers to?” said Operations Director Jim Hodges.
With most competitors based outside Northern Ireland, the local presence is particularly important to Nichem and helps maintain a high level of customer service, a fact reflected in the large number of word-of-mouth referrals the company receives.

Added to this are the ancillary benefits gained from building a swimming pool in a home, not least of which is the fact it will add value but also the fact a pool can be a social hub for all the family.

“Family values are changing for the better,” Ashley said. “It’s not about the rat race any more but is about sharing time with your family and a pool provides the ideal place to enjoy being together.”

As a result, Nichem’s customers range from young families to retired couples who want to provide a place of enjoyment for their children and grand children, to ‘swimming fanatics’ who realise owning a pool isn’t out of reach.

Adapting to change
While riding this wave of popularity in the leisure industry has paid dividends, the company hasn’t rested on its laurels and has continued its trend of diversification. For a company which started out trading in chemicals, the move into swimming pools may seem a big jump but made sense given Ashley and Jim were providing chlorine to local pools.

And so it is with the company’s other subsidiaries, one of which, TrainDirect, identified a need in the fitness and beauty markets for fast track accredited training courses.

Started in 1998, TrainDirect offers a comprehensive range of courses which lead to nationally recognised qualifications, the majority of which are approved by the Qualifications Curriculum Authority and/or are accredited in the National Framework of Qualifications. Awarding bodies include Oxford, Cambridge and RSA, Vocational Training Charitable Trust, Central YMCA Qualifications and City and Guilds.

The secret of the company’s success in this area is the intensity of its courses. A fitness instructor or beauty course which would take a year at a college can be compounded into two weeks at TrainDirect but both result in the same qualification.

“It’s a fast track career option that results in an almost guaranteed job,” said Ashley.

Training needs
Another subsidiary identified a need for a portable multi-sports stadium aimed at children and with the help of InvestNI has taken to market.

Sportstada consists of a 10-by-five metre structure made up of interlocking plastic panels and can come complete with safety surround nets, viewing steps and flood lights. It allows children to play everything from football to netball to cricket in a safe environment yet is completely mobile, making it perfect for sports clubs and leisure centres.

“Sport will change a child’s life for the better,” said Ashley. “Children who play team sport learn so many lessons to help them in later life. We see this product making a difference.”

Ashley and Jim have showcased the Sportstada at Manchester United’s ground Old Trafford and have already secured a number of orders while also fielding enquiries from throughout the UK and further afield. As recently as March the two even pitched the item on national television on the Dragons’ Den Sports Relief special and, although not managing to secure investment, came away with excellent exposure for the product and sound advice. Future developments for Sportada include a roof dome and the possibility of changing the stadium into Icestada for ice hockey.

So with a number of differing, yet closely linked products under the Nichem Group’s umbrella, it looks like the company will continue to make waves in future while adapting to the changing business environment.

One of the most exciting and vibrant industries in Northern Ireland is undoubtedly the ICT market. Apart from the growing presence of some of the world’s biggest ICT companies on these shores, we’ve also managed to foster an environment where our home-grown creative ICT talent can blossom.

But no matter how progressive we feel we are, we can always do better and for that reason Tughans and Ulster Business brought together some of the key players in the industry over a cup of coffee to tackle the big issues facing our youngest sector. There were innovative ideas, there were controversies and there was even the odd joke. What follows is an edited version of the morning’s debate.

David Elliott: How healthy is the Northern Ireland ICT market and where do we sit compared to the rest of the world?

Michael Orr: From a PwC perspective, we are consultants to IT so clients ask us for help. Public sector would come to us for technical advice and the local ability to supply large scale and small businesses can be serviced from NI and serviced well. I think Meridio is a good example of a data management solution developed on local shoulders which government has bought. But in some respects we in Northern Ireland don’t sell ourselves particularly well as small IT businesses.

Dennis Murphy: I think there are some really hopeful signs. We have world class early-stage infrastructure to support our new commercial market and that includes the work that Steve Orr (from Northern Ireland Science Park) is doing with NISP Connect. Steve came home from San Diego and implemented a model here which has been a huge influence. The other key is Alan Watts (Director of halo at NISP) who has made our halo network here world class. That, combined with Invest NI support, gives very powerful early stage support for entrepreneurs and the amount of companies that are getting funded through that process is very positive. But the reality is that it is going to take a while for those companies to come through the development process. We have unbeatable government support for the venture capital industry and the early stage infrastructure that has been put in place – along with Invest NI getting funder funds in place – will really support the development of early stage companies here and lead to the transformation of the industry.

Colin Walsh: I would say we have to be realistic; we can’t be good at everything. We are a very small piece of territory and should leverage where we are strong and not try to, as the Americans would say, “swing at every ball that comes at us.” But in NI we do have particular strengths. At Crescent Capital we would tend to see people who have a belief they can leverage what they have got onto the international market. So we wind up by default investing in businesses that take that opportunity on. Typically, companies we back have 10, 20 or 30 people in them; they have a niche where they have already established some credentials. They’ve maybe got £0.5 million or £1 million of sales and have a shot in turning that into a £10 million company. We try and pick through, eliminate the ones where we think the management are not going to cut it or where they don’t really have any competitive advantage to achieve that objective, and back the ones that we think that can.

Nic Stirk: If you look at the NI ICT market it is not great and the primary reason for that is because the dominant industry in NI is in IT services. I think the opportunity is around export and it is around the strong technologies that have been developed. There are lots of good pockets of intelligence and clusters of real expertise in strong technology companies. The market is export as far as SLA Mobile (SLA Mobile exports 100% of its business) is concerned. Indeed, we see the market place as global. The second part of the question in terms of how do we sit compared to the rest of the world? Again, I don’t think we sit well compared to the likes of the Chinese.

Ian Coulter: Two positives and two negatives. First positive is early stage support has never been better. We need to get that message out to more people who are thinking about doing business in NI. Second, we see the contracts that come through so we see the actual output. We now see contracts in the UK and internationally as the norm not the exception. There’s a much more outward focus. The two negatives are we still don’t co-ordinate enough. Actually our greatest weakness could also be our greatest strength in that we are quite small so we should be quite agile. Between us around this table we can put 100 people down on a piece of paper that need to be involved in something like this. That said, we need to focus on selling NI as a Technology Centre of Excellence. I don’t think there’s enough collective co-ordinated thought toward developing that. The second negative is that we see some super ideas but they get to a certain size and then hit a glass ceiling. We have to try and think how we break through that ceiling.

Brian Baird: Most of the people who work in the ICT market in the private sector are working in some sort of support for public sector contracts and that has been good for the sector since the early 90s. In the early 90s, government stopped doing things for themselves and started outsourcing to the private sector. Ever since then there has been confidence building up in system integration companies such as Fujitsu, Capita and HP and they have employed some of the best talent in the province. I think the future is in innovation and using top technology to understand the rest of the market that’s available and get new products in play. It takes a small, concentrated and well-networked community to do that.

Greg McDaid: Fujitsu is the third largest ICT company in the world so there are 180,000 of us spread over each of the continents around the world. You can basically consider Fujitsu as a company in two parts. There is a part of the company that manufactures and makes things, innovates and does research and development. The other part of the company runs things that other people have built. Essentially, outside Japan there isn’t an awful lot of the first part of the company, the company that builds things. They spend $1.1 billion per annum on research and development and practically none of that is spent outside of Japan. To put it bluntly, NI is subscale for us and to put any of that R&D here, well, it is just not going to happen. There isn’t sufficient scale to do that. If you take the question of the world market, well we are not competing in a world market because we are essentially supplying support in eight hour chunks. Eight hours when its in the Middle East, eight hours when it’s in Europe and eight hours when it is in North America. Our competitors are not local, it is not the sub-continent, it’s not the far east, but is actually Poland, its Portugal, its South Africa and in that respect NI can hold its own extremely well. Our difficulty comes from the fact that in our services business we speak one language and one language only. Provided your customer’s predominant language is English, NI can do well.

Adrian O’Connell: The innovation that is coming through has come on leaps and bounds in my view and what I am dealing with now in terms of capturing contracts is much more exciting. However, that is only one side of the equation, the other side is actually translating that innovation into sales and that is where I feel the problems still lie. There is an inherent lack of confidence and also that vital skill set seems to be missing. I just can’t see the talent coming through.

Sean Nelson: We deal in the University with technology that is at a very early stage. I know people talk about taking these projects global but we have to teach that. We need to get projects we can validate and I believe there is a group of people, entrepreneurial people who will take them to the market. The one misperception I believe is to take academics’ great ideas and build businesses with them. That doesn’t work, academics are academics. They are researchers, they like studying but they don’t like the risk. There has been a great progression in terms of the available support but what we need to be doing is to find those good ideas and support them at a very early stage in their lives. The university academia needs to realise what they’re good at and what they’re not. It is a very difficult, dirty task to get a small company in technology moving to convince investors to part with a cheque.

DE – Are Northern Ireland’s technology companies too dependent on public sector business?

MO: From our perspective, the large technology companies in NI and the technology consultancy companies do service the public sector more than the private sector. But looking at demand going forward, we’re probably not too dependent on the public sector. There’s a certain amount the government will spend on technology and that figure will probably stay the same. It’s not a growing market and NI’s technology companies are concerned about that. Over the last six months of the year there has been a slow down on the big projects as the funding issue hits. So I think yes, there is a dependency but we have lessened that dependency simply because the markets in the public sector isn’t going to grow. I have a big practice and I need to make sure that our guys are learning but I also need to make sure we are a technology centre of excellence. As a result of all the tech work we’ve done I’ve been able export that into the UK, Middle Eastern and European markets where the demand currently is.

DM: Yes I think we are absolutely too dependant on the public sector. A large part of that business is going away so in the future we have to develop new client confidence. It hasn’t been a bad thing to have had a lot of concentration on the public sector as it was giving huge employment, I think to around 800 people, that’s an amazing number. But we definitely have to change our whole strategy around the public sector in the future; its going to be for a very much smaller part of the sector.

CW: We see less dependency on the local public sector as some businesses are selling to public sectors abroad. My experience has been that it is a credibility issue for small companies here to sell to public sector. But in the public sector decisions may take longer and that doesn’t sit well with venture capital backing where you want the clock to go faster. We tend to back businesses that are going after sales to the private sector where the gestation period is shorter. If 5% of the sales in the Crescent Capital portfolio happens in the UK then maybe one or two per cent of that is public sector.

BB: Technology centres in NI have in the past been driven by public sector accounts and therefore NI has got a lot to be grateful for. It has brought some talents into the NI sector which are world class, mainly around solution architecture. We have a massive amount of talent and some organisations have benefitted up as a result of the public sector here.

GMcD: One thing about the public sector is that its highs are never so high and its lows are never so low, so it does provide a stabilising effect on our economy. But sometimes I don’t think we are necessarily as grateful for that as we should be. It provides an anchor for businesses such as ours. It gives you the platform for which to do the other things so I don’t know we could run a business such as ours well without it.

DE: What other growth areas are there for ICT companies in the private sector?

DM: Look where venture capital is going; it’s going to areas like Clean Tec, Connected Health etc. We can’t be good at everything so I would really like to see end-to-end strategies put in place. If you look at the Clean Tec space in Germany, 10 years ago they created all sorts of incentives to change policies and today 80% of the world of Clean Tec exports come out of Germany. We can definitely make a big difference if we co-ordinate.

IC: To grow an IT business you need the talent and you need the money; in the IT sector in Northern Ireland we have got the talent but maybe not the money. Once you take your companies to a certain stage and try and break through the ceiling, it’s like pulling teeth. We need to find a way to get serious investment and that stage.

BB: Most technology companies identify a gap in the market and want to exploit the market in that window of opportunity before the gap closes. Most of the companies I have worked with or looked at understand that gap reasonably well and none of them have got the money to exploit it in that timescale.

IC: If we could get a mechanism whereby an investor puts money into a private limited company in Northern Ireland and capital gains tax is only 5% or zero then we’ll begin to attract real investment. We’ve got to get the money over here and until we do that we are only going to reach a certain level no matter how good the talent is.

CW: I fundamentally disagree with the Ian’s contention about the lack of capital. I have been involved in backing two dozen businesses here and I started off in a previous life in a venture fund in the UK. In that time I haven’t come across a business yet where the team was good enough and the proposition was good enough but they couldn’t get the money. Mobile money sitting will come and will back good teams if the proposition is good enough. I have been involved in taking two companies to the market and you know the investors in the stock market will put money in for relatively modest returns, again if the proposition and the team is good enough. There is no glass ceiling.

GMcD: Government can probably stimulate the SME market by making those large companies tell them how much they spend locally. If they actually started to score procurements, the amount of money spent locally will jump much quicker than any amount of investment on R&D and speculation.

NS: At the moment the government is all about social engineering and it is all about generating jobs (rather than wealth) so there is a disconnect there.

GMcD: What they do is they confuse the outcome from the two. Wealth generation does create employment and it can actually create a sustainable sector that will generate employment for generations. Employment generation through multinationals generates short-term employment. We provide employment but the profit is taken somewhere else whereas you guys create wealth within this economy which then creates employment which in turn creates further wealth. We perform two quite different functions here and we need folks in Stormont to start to recognise the difference and start to use the levers they have to incentivise the large multinationals.

NS: But it’s the big boys that will get an investment for jobs, who will poach my engineers.

GMcD: The amount of subvention in the employment market by the public sector either directly or indirectly is alarming. Pay in the public sector today is on average 20% higher than in the private sector in Northern Ireland and then we wonder why people become doctors, solicitors, lawyers, judges and whatever.

DM: I think there is a point here that we are all missing. Northern Irish executives are hugely successful around the world and we have to bring those guys home. We have to create a kinds of entrepreurial culture here.

NS: We also need to encourage them to market their roots. There’s a lot of goodwill out there to NI and if we could harness it and bring it all together it would be quite a force.

MO: Is there not a question asked why? Why haven’t these ex-pats capitalised on their roots? Perhaps they’ve looked at it but it’s a struggle commercially.

DE: Do we have enough skilled labour in NI?

DM: There are key deficiencies in sales.

CW: We have to be a bit cute in trying to get talent into business. Sometimes you can capture someone like the engineering and product people from other larger multi-nationals that have an operation here. The sales thing is a particular challenge and we tend to look to the NI ex pats which have gone away and have learned those skills somewhere else because there is not that many large business here that have really strong selling hubs. Some of the best sales talent that I see in some local companies are returners. But it’s a bespoke one-at-a-time activity as opposed to trying a programme to bring them all.

BB: There is some incredible talent inside Fujitsu, Northgate etc. If those people were actually harnessed into heavy wealth generating companies who were going for it in the international market there is enough talent in NI to cover that stage. My view is that if we could create an attitude change and get great talent that does gravitate towards high wealth generation then we would transform the NI IT industry overnight.

CW: What you are describing is maybe where are all in agreement. If well-funded, indigenous businesses with legs were able to offer well paid propositions we can draw some of that talent across.