Belfast Telegraph

Opinion

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John Simpson

Homeowners pay 24% of income on their mortgage

Many housebuilders are facing frightening losses as market prices have fallen to the point where past costs cannot be covered at realistic prices. Where does blame fall: greedy or careful developers trying to anticipate the market place? Planners because they have over restricted the issue of planning approvals?
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Inside John Simpson

Civil Servants, members of NIPSA, picket at the front gates of Stormont as part of their one-day strike

Resolving workplace disputes

Tuesday, 30 June 2009

An employer who dismisses an unsatisfactory employee must be ready to explain the reasons and answer any accusation of unfair dismissal.
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Company Snapshot: Harland & Wolff Group plc

Tuesday, 30 June 2009

Although Harland and Wolff is now a much smaller business than it was as a major shipbuilder, nevertheless it has now established a continuing diverse enterprise using the facilities formerly used for shipbuilding.
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Tourists, who provide a major boost to the local economy, drive past one of Belfast's newest landmarks, Victoria Square

Recovery on the cards

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

North and South on this island, the impact of the recession is all too obvious.
Comment: 1

Company Snapshot: Carvill Group Ltd

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

In the recent past, the Carvill Group has mainly focused on the development and sale of residential and commercial buildings in Northern Ireland, Scotland, North East England and in Germany.
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Arlene Foster, minister in charge of DETI and (inset) University of Ulster vice chancellor Richard Barnett

Review of economic policy

Tuesday, 16 June 2009

Invest Northern Ireland is overdue for a five-year management review of its relationships with the Department of Enterprise Trade & Investment (DETI).
Comment: 1

Company Snapshot: HCL BPO Services (NI) Ltd

Tuesday, 16 June 2009

HCL BPO Services is a subsidiary of an Indian owned parent company which several years ago purchased the call centre premises in Belfast formerly developed by BT.
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Significant Government funding goes into housing provision

Housing poses many questions

Tuesday, 9 June 2009

There are over 707,000 houses in Northern Ireland, of those 488,000 are owner occupied, 81,000 are rented from private sector owners and 93,000 are rented from the Housing Executive.
Comment: 1

Company Snapshot: Thales Air Defence Ltd

Tuesday, 9 June 2009

Thales Air Defence is an advanced engineering company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of the French parent company of the same name. The Northern Ireland subsidiary is, in turn, the main shareholder in Thales Close Air Defence.
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Alan Smith, supply chain director, Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and N. Ireland, Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson, plant manager Katharine Strain, Economy Minister Arlene Foster, Maire Campbell, head of public affairs and communications, Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and N. Ireland and Gokhan Bilgic, managing director, Coca-Cola HBC Ireland and N. Ireland

Investing in a better future

Tuesday, 2 June 2009

In the financial year 2008-9, Invest NI had a better story to tell than had been feared.
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Company Snapshot: Donegall Place Investments Ltd

Tuesday, 2 June 2009

Donegall Place Investments is a company combining property development and trading with property investment for rental returns.
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Roads, trains, water and drains

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

Northern Ireland’s public sector has an ambitious capital programme whereby annual capital spending should increase from below £1bn per annum earlier in this decade to nearer £2bn a year.
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Company Snapshot: Short Brothers plc

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

Short Brothers plc now trades as Bombardier Aerospace in Northern Ireland. To match the reporting convention of its North American parent company, the accounts are in US dollars.
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Work has yet to get under way at Titanic Quarter in Belfast on the Titanic Signature Project

Titanic project now ready to float

Tuesday, 19 May 2009

Despite all the build-up, the formal legal agreement to initiate the contract for the Titanic Signature Project (TSP) has not yet been signed.
Comment: 1

Company Snapshot: Foyleside Ltd

Tuesday, 19 May 2009

Foyleside is one of Northern Ireland’s largest property owning companies and its portfolio is understood to include the Foyleside shopping centre in Londonderry, Forestside in Belfast and Priory Meadow in Hastings.
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A report by Neil Gibson (inset) of Oxford Economics poses serious questions about Northern Ireland's skills shortage for Employment Minister Sir Reg Empey, who is pictured at the sod-cutting ceremony last week for the £44m Belfast Metropolitan College campus at Titanic Quarter in the company of Raymond Mullan, interim director and chief executive of the college, which is due to open in August 2011

Skills black hole revealed

Tuesday, 12 May 2009

Northern Ireland has gone some way to creating a workforce that is better qualified, or more appropriately skilled, to facilitate increased productivity and lead to improved living standards.
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Company Snapshot: Norfolkline Irish Sea Ferries Ltd

Tuesday, 12 May 2009

Norfolkline Irish Sea Ferries is the renamed Norse Merchant Ferries which operates freight and passenger ferry services between Belfast and Birkenhead and Dublin and Birkenhead.
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Delays in improving cross-border electricity interconnection are hampering the development of the all-island Single Electricity Market

Power-sharing taking forever

Tuesday, 5 May 2009

The island of Ireland has the potential to generate a large proportion of its increasing electricity needs through the use of renewable energy, largely based on harnessing the energy contained in the variable but significant wind strength.
Comment: 1

Company Snapshot: Ballyvesey Holdings Ltd

Tuesday, 5 May 2009

Ballyvesey Holdings brings together a diverse group of companies in different parts of the freight transport business and vehicle sales.
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Company Snapshot: Donnelly Brothers Garages (Dungannon) Ltd

Tuesday, 28 April 2009

Donnelly Brothers is a large vehicle sales and maintenance organisation.
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Northern Rock was the first bank to be rescued by the UK Government, and it was not the last. But have taxpayers, who are footing the bill for the bail-outs received a sufficient payback so far?

Bank bail-outs justified?

Tuesday, 28 April 2009

We, the taxpayers, have bailed out the banks at enormous cost. UK Government estimates are that it will exceed £60bn.
Comment: 1

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In Pictures: IN&M Digital Day at W5 in the Odyssey

  • Independent News and Media (NI) Digital Day at W5 in the Odyssey, Belfast
  • Independent News and Media (NI) Digital Day at W5 in the Odyssey, Belfast
  • Independent News and Media (NI) Digital Day at W5 in the Odyssey, Belfast

Belfast Telegraph business galleries

In pictures: Doing the business

  • Robert Leatham from Russell's Shop 4 You, Crumlin and Maeve Fox from Action Cancer.
  • US Consul General Susan Elliott (centre) joins Dr Diane Hazlett from University of Ulster and Peter McKittrick from the US Consulate, to officially launch the 2nd Distinguished International Visitors Address. The University has confirmed award-winning former CBS broadcast executive and US Congressional press secretary Professor Michael Freedman, executive director of the Global Media Institute at George Washington University, as guest speaker at the June 26 event, to be held at the university's Belfast campus.
  • Ian Doherty (17, from Londonderry) and Melanie McNally  (18, from Ballymena) with Minister for Employment and Learning, Sir Reg Empey MLA. The Give and Take scheme, which is run by Include Youth, provides training and support for 16 to 21 year-olds who have difficulty accessing mainstream training

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