SEPTEMBER began with Caterpillar announcing its plans to shed 83 jobs in Larne. The US giant said the move was linked to a downturn in demand for its FG Wilson electric generator sets, manufactured at the site.
It came on the same day Patisserie Valerie confirmed its three branches in Belfast would close. Just 24 hours later, Belfast-based bakery chain The Cookie Box closed all its stores, telling staff the business had become “unmanageable” due to "immediate pressures".
The list of business closures continued grow throughout September, prompting hospitality leaders in the north to join their counterparts in Britain in calling for urgent support.
With inflation increasingly become the key story of business in 2022, a report from PwC found the average worker in Northern Ireland would be £2,000 worse off in 2022 as a result of inflationary pressure.
The north’s biggest grocery supply operation, the Henderson Group, announced in September that it broke the £1 billion revenue barrier during 2021, achieving a record £53m in pre-tax profits. But sales director Paddy Doody said the group was braced for multi-million pound increases in energy costs throughout its entire estate, meaning 2021 could well be a high watermark for the company’s profitability.
The north's largest financial services employer announced plans to add another 400 jobs. Citigroup’s UK head James Bardrick told Bloomberg that the Wall Street giant had already hit 3,700 staff in Belfast as of September. He said another 400 people would be recruited.
Meanwhile, US publisher Insider announced plans to create 50 jobs in a new Belfast technology and product hub.
The Irish News revealed the boss of the north's biggest IT company was stepping down. John Healy, who led the US-headquartered Allstate in Northern Ireland for more than six years, told staff he would depart in December.
The new owner of the listed former war memorial building in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter launched plans to redevelop it into a 120-bedroom hotel. Seamus and Orla Murray’s SOM Properties is behind the plans. Mr Murray is best known for his Toomebridge-based joinery business Edgewater Contracts, which specialises in hotel fit-outs.
Supermarket chain Lidl revealed it is targeting 25 new locations across the north as part of its long-term goal of reaching 66 stores here. The retailer, which has opened 41 stores in the north since 1999, said it had altered its location strategy, which will eventually see it open in towns with smaller populations.
Belfast's first working distillery since the era of Prohibition announced plans to open to visitors by the end of 2022. It represented a £7.6m investment by Titanic Distillers owners Norlin Ventures (headed by Richard Irwin and Stephen Symington) and Lottery millionaire businessman Peter Lavery. They have painstakingly converted the historic Titanic Pump House in Thompson Dry Dock, which was opened in 1911 to accommodate the massive White Star liners Olympic and Titanic.
Liz Truss succeeded Boris Johnston as UK Prime Minister in September, appointing close ally Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor. On September 23, the new Chancellor delivered what has become known as the controversial ‘mini budget’. Packed with tax cuts and borrowing, it sent the financial markets into turmoil.
Within days, the pound fell to a record low against the dollar, the cost of UK government borrowing surged and the Bank of England triggered an emergency £65bn bond-buying to stem the crisis, which had put entire pension funds at risk of insolvency.
More than 60 workers were made redundant at Ballymena manufacturer Nu-Track, which specialised in producing wheelchair accessible buses, minibuses, mobile libraries and horse-boxes. In a statement, Nu-Track said it is “with profound regret” that workers were being laid off, and said “every effort has been made to avoid closure”.
