A GLASGOW company behind a large number of awards events held across the island of Ireland and Britain has continued to evade questions over the registered name of its trading business.
The Oceanic Group, which operates as Creative Oceanic, Oceanic Events, and Oceanic Media, is behind numerous events including the Northern Ireland Hospitality Awards, the Northern Ireland Restaurant Awards, and most recently, the Northern Ireland Wedding Awards.
Its events have proved controversial after non-trading businesses were nominated in some award categories.
The company’s latest promotion in the north, the ‘Northern Ireland Wedding Awards 2024’, lists more than 600 nominees.
Like similar award events, some of the nominees include non-trading businesses, such as Cookstown’s former Tullylagan County House Hotel, and some businesses which do not appear to meet the criteria of the category in which they are nominated.
Questions over the ownership and name of the company resurfaced in recent days after a business called Oceanic Events Ltd was dissolved on Companies House via a voluntary strike off.
Read more:
- Non-trading businesses still listed as finalists for controversial hospitality award events
- Glasgow firm behind controversial awards events refuses to disclose details of ownership
- Caution urged over NI hospitality awards after hundreds of finalists named - including restaurants that are shut
When contacted by The Irish News, a spokesperson for Oceanic Events in Glasgow distanced its company from Oceanic Events Limited, which had a registered address at a flexible office provider in north London.
“Our company has no connection [to] that Oceanic Events,” said the spokesperson.
“Rather Creative Oceanic and Oceanic Events are all under the banner of the Oceanic Group, which also includes Oceanic Media.”
But the company declined to respond to any further questions on its actual registered name or number.
Under the Companies Act 2006, UK businesses are required to display their registered name on all company websites.
Companies House has records for Oceanic Group Ltd, Creative Oceanic Ltd and Oceanic Media Consulting Ltd.
All have addresses in Glasgow, but all three were dissolved between 2012 and 2015 and shared the same director, Irfan Younis.
Companies House links Mr Younis to more than a dozen dissolved entities bearing the Oceanic name.
In correspondence to The Irish News earlier this year, Creative Oceanic/Oceanic Events stressed that Irfan Younis was not the owner of the current trading business.
But according to his LinkedIN page, Irfan Younis remains much part of the Oceanic Group and continues to speak on behalf of Oceanic Media.
He is also described as founder of the Connect Publishing Group, another Glasgow-based business with ties to Oceanic.
According to Companies House, Connect Publishing Group Limited, based at Bath Street in Glasgow was dissolved on October 4 2022.
Two weeks later, a company with same name and owner, but with a different company number, was registered with Companies House at Craighall Business Park in Glasgow.
In both cases the owner was listed as Yasmin Mahmood.
On her own LinkedIN account, Ms Mahmood is named as the CEO of Connect Publishing Group and a non-executive director of Oceanic Events.
