February/March '08
Noticeboard
Enterprise Ireland Goes Local in Mexico
Enterprise Ireland has established a local presence in Mexico City, as part of its Latin America Strategy. This follows the opening of Enterprise Ireland's first Latin American office in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2007.
Delivered by Mexican trade consultant Gloria Garcia, the services available from the new office will include market/competitor analysis; identification of distribution channels, target customers and buyers; customised in-market information, itineraries and briefings; visitor office facilities; access to external market expertise and professional service providers; translation and interpretation, trade fair participation support.
The move will be followed by a trade mission to Mexico and Brazil in May 2008. Good growth opportunities for Irish companies in region the region are envisaged in the areas of telecoms, software, life sciences and education.
Mexico is the eleventh largest economy in the world and the second largest economy in Latin America after Brazil. The Mexican economy is performing strongly with growth at 4.7 per cent for 2006 - the highest among the Latin American economies. In 2006, Enterprise Ireland client exports to Mexico grew by 6 per cent to €62.2m. This represented 40 per cent of total client exports to Latin America, making Mexico the single most important market for client companies in the region.
For further information about accessing Enterprise Ireland’s services in Latin America, contact Fred Klinkenberg, Tel +353 1 2066472
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Email: Fred Klinkenberg |
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Trade Mission to Saudi Arabia
Enterprise Ireland is organising a trade mission to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Ireland’s largest market in the Middle East and North Africa. The mission, which will run from March 30 to April 3, 2008, will have a heavy education and construction focus, but will be open to clients from all sectors.
Key trends in the Saudi economy include
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Population of 23m+ growing rapidly; GDP + 7%
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Oil revenues surging, with increasing prices and demand
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Increasingly healthy state of budgets, enabling huge expenditure on infrastructure, telecoms, education and health
In addition, KSA is a leader in the trillion euro Gulf construction market, and some €19 billion has been allocated to education/training, with increasing Irish involvement.
For further details, contact Maria Heffernan by fax: 01 206 6497 or
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Email: Maria Heffernan |
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Cyprus and Malta join the eurozone
Euro banknotes and coins have been circulating in Cyprus and Malta since 1 January, at rates of €1 to 0.585274 Cyprus pounds and 0.429300 Maltese lira.
All indicators are that the changeover took place smoothly. By January 2, about €150m had been withdrawn from banks and cash dispensers, and around 40 per cent of people in Malta and Cyprus had only or mostly euro cash in their wallets and purses. The euro area now comprises 15 out of the 27 EU countries and includes a population of 318 million out of the EU's total of 493 million.
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Wanted!
11,500 shuttlecocks,
3,000 table tennis balls,
30,000 beds
200,000 chairs.
100 tonnes of meat,
75,000 litres of milk,
25,000 loaves of bread,
350 tonnes of fruit and vegetables,
a million bottles of water
15,000 kms of toilet paper
70,000 volunteers uniforms and branded T-shirts
Thousands of computers, phones, televisions, handheld radios
Plus, IT, logistics marketing & communications security, administration and hospitality services
In addition to construction and works tenders, these are among the items to be procured in the run up to the 2012 London Olympics. Most of these goods and services contracts will be awarded by Locog, with the majority of procurement likely to commence in 2009. In the meantime, the www.competefor.com site and www.london2012.com/get-involved/business-network/ have just been launched to act as a brokerage service between potential suppliers and buyers throughout the London 2012 supply chain, and to facilitate networking between tier suppliers.
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€35million contracts secured during South African Trade Mission
Contracts worth an estimated €35 million will be realised over the next 24 months by Irish companies who participated in the trade mission to South Africa this January.
CarTrawler (page ?) signed a three year partnership agreement for global car rental with South Africa’s largest independent travel group The Club Travel Group. The project, which is CarTrawler’s first in Africa, is set to go live March 2008. The deal will also confirm CarTrawler as a preferred partner to The Club Group’s traditional business, which comprises 20 Club Travel offices, 64 non-branded IATA Travel Agencies and more than 80 independent travel consultants.
In addition, ESB International signed a €4.5 million contract with Eskom, the South African electricity company, to provide engineering consultancy services in the construction of an additional 1,000 megawatts of generation capacity at recently commissioned power plants in the Western Cape of South Africa. ESBI currently has a team of consultants in Johannesburg and Cape Town planning this project, which is due for completion by the end of 2009 to ensure supply for the World Cup the following year.
Over 50 Enterprise Ireland supported businesses travelled to South Africa, and other companies that announced new business deals during the trade mission included Arrantech, Azotel, Changing Worlds and CR2.
Two-way trade between Ireland and South Africa currently stands at over €500m a year, and dramatic changes in the structures and operations of South Africa’s ports, railways, airports and its utilities such as electricity, water and gas, offer opportunities for Irish companies to grow their business there.
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1,200 international buyers at Showcase 2008
Some 1,200 international buyers and journalists from over 24 countries checked out the best of Irish on offer at Showcase 2008, in Dublin this January. Coordinated by the Craft Council of Ireland, and promoted internationally by Enterprise Ireland, Showcase is now in its 32nd year and has become Ireland’s biggest international trade show for the craft and giftware sector. Over 580 companies exhibited, and while the finally sales tally has yet to be confirmed, it is expected to be close to last year’s figure of €40 million, including about €14 million in export sales.
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The Market Magazine wins PPAI award
The Market scooped the ‘Customer Magazine of the Year’ title at the 2007 PPAI (Periodical Publishers’ Association of Ireland) awards in December. The PPAI represents more than 200 Irish magazine titles and 57 publishing companies and the awards are hotly contested. Recognising the journal’s role in updating Enterprise Ireland client companies, the judges said “The Market is a magazine which focuses well on its core mission – the internationalisation of Irish business. It provides a forum for discussion and keeping up to date with what’s happening in the area. It has a sharp news focus, and is written by well respected journalists. The judges also liked its innovative design, layouts and high level of care and attention.”
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Protectas Health establishes in Kentucky ahead of foaling season
Protectas Health has begun trading on both sides of the Atlantic for the first time. The start-up company, which provides long term storage of stem cells and white blood cells for the equine industry, has begun operations in Lexington, Kentucky in time for the foaling season in the world’s top bloodstock area. Protectas is replicating in Kentucky the facilities it has developed in Blanchardstown Corporate Park, which is now in its second year of operation.
Founded in 2006, Protectas Health now handles, separates and stores stem cells from valuable foals born on both sides of the Atlantic. Stem cells occur in the white blood cells in animals, and, by isolating them and storing them at very low temperatures, Protectas makes the stem cells available to be used if required for veterinary treatment of injuries to the host animal.
Chief executive David Crimmins says many stud owners see the Protectas’s service as a form of insurance. If a foal suffers an injury later in its life, its stem cells are available if required for use as part of any treatment to alleviate its injury and get it back to full health.
In the equine veterinary world, horses such as War of Attrition and Greg’s Gold have been treated using their own stem cells. Protectas Health takes a blood sample drawn from the umbilical cord at the time of foaling, isolates the stem cells from the blood, and stores the stem cells at extremely low temperatures in three locations chosen by the foal’s owner. In the United States, Kirk Horse Insurance offers a discount on its premiums to stud farms which use stem cell storage techniques
There are 14,000 thoroughbred foals born in Ireland each year between the end of January and May. Some stud farms in Ireland have over 100 foal births each year, every year. The market for stem cell storage may also extend to warm blood sports horses, who are just as susceptible to joint injuries during their working lives. But it is the US market that has the greatest potential for Protectas, according to Crimmins, because stem cell technology is so far advanced there.
There are 35,000 thoroughbred foals born in the US every year - the most valuable of them within a few hours drive of the Protectas facility in Lexington. Furthermore, there are 3,500,000 quarter horses in the US, which are used for everything from rodeos to recreation and endurance riding. In the longer term, Protectas is interested in expansion into markets in Australia and South Africa - which have different foaling seasons - and the Middle East.
The company was set up by Terry Sullivan, former managing director of Clonmel Healthcare; Dermot Dougan, an investor in technology companies, and Crimmins former head of Tesco personal finance in Ireland. Protectas uses ‘Lab in a Bag’ kits under licence from Lifeforce Immune Systems in Wales and holds the world-wide non-human licence for the technology.
The stem cell storage process employs liquid nitrogen vapour in a cyrogenic freezer. The Protectas service comprises testing of blood samples for major infectious diseases, a quarantine period and the freezing process.
The company has invested almost €1m in the course of its development to date and is currently in negotiations with new investors to provide funds to assist in the US expansion.
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Ecocem enters €27 million JV with world's largest steel manufacturer
The Irish ‘eco-firendly’ cement producer Ecocem is entering into a joint venture with ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel maker, with an industrial presence in 27 countries. Under the agreement, the partners will create a new company, Ecocem France, 30 per cent owned by ArcelorMittal and 70 per cent by Ecocem Materials.
Ecocem France will invest €27m at Fos-sur-Mer in the south of France in a plant with capacity to produce 700,000 tonnes of ‘green’ cement to supply the French and other Mediterranean markets. According to Donal O’Riain, Founder and MD of Ecocem Material, this development, coupled with Ecocem’s operations in the Irish and the Benelux markets, will provide the capacity to reduce CO2 emissions by the European cement industry by over a million tonnes per annum.
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Aerogen finalises MBO from US parent
Galway headquartered medical device firm, Aerogen has completed a management buyout (MBO) from its US parent, Nektar Therapeutics. The value of the deal has not been disclosed but it is understood to be the largest privately financed deal in the medical sector in Ireland over the last year.
Aerogen specialises in drug delivery technology for the respiratory sector. The company currently employs 30 people and said that following the MBO it is currently recruiting to expand this.
Aerogen’s core technology is currently used worldwide in nebulisers for drug delivery to patients in the intensive care and homecare settings. Distributed by industry leaders such as Respironics, GE Healthcare, Maquet, Covidien and an independent distributor network, Aerogen’s products are available in over 50 countries. Key markets include the US, Japan and Germany.
“This deal empowers us to grow our business and expand our product offerings,” commented John Power, CEO, Aerogen. “We have advanced negotiations in several exciting areas and plan to announce new partnerships with a number of US and European market leaders in both the medical field and commercial products area in the near future.”
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Donseed invest €1.2m to fund international growth
Tralee-based company Donseed Ltd is to invest €1.2m to accelerate international growth, with support from Enterprise Ireland and the AIB Seed Capital Fund. Donseed provides web-based workplace management solutions to the construction, retail and energy sectors. The company is working with construction companies in over 100 sites across Ireland and the UK. “We are making this €1.2m investment to capitalise on our successes to date and to accelerate our expansion into additional markets and sectors, in line with our strategic growth plans,” commented CEO Vincent Lynch. New geographies being targeted include the US and Middle East.
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Helix Health invests €2.7m to drive UK expansion
Helix Health –Ireland’s largest indigenous healthcare IT provider is to invest €2.7m, with support from Enterprise Ireland, to support the research and development for a patient management software solution for the healthcare market that, once complete, will drive the expansion of the company into the UK market. “Helix Health currently derives 15 per cent of its revenues from the UK market and we hope to raise this to between 25 per cent and 30 per cent next year,” commented Howard Beggs, Chief Executive, Helix Health “We have plans to focus heavily on this market in the foreseeable future and intend expanding Helix Health’s presence in existing and new markets.”
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Tango Telecom opens Middle East office
Mobile software provider Tango Telecom has opened a new support and sales office in Dubai to support existing clients and partners and drive sales growth in the Middle East, Africa and India. The company has already secured contracts in this market with several operators within the Zain Group and Qtel.
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Powervation raises $10m in VC to fund US and Asia expansion
Powervation, a Limerick headquartered digital power control semiconductor company, has announced the closing of a US$10 million round of venture capital funding. The series A round was jointly led by Intel Capital Corporation (USA), and Scottish Equity Partners (UK) and included comparable participation from Venture Tech Alliance (USA). The deal also included a follow on investment from Fourth Level Ventures (Ireland).
Powervation designs and markets digital power controllers for high performance information processing applications, offering advantages over traditional analogue-based solutions by providing higher levels of efficiency and performance. The company will use the funding to industrialise the digital power control solutions presently in its product development pipeline and to expand its sales and marketing presence in the USA and Asia.
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