Doing business in Ireland

THE COUNTRY'S main banking body says lending to small businesses is on target and not being constrained by deleveraging.

But ISME, a representative body for small firms, says these targets do not represent new loans. ISME says the targets – €3.5bn in 2012 alone – are being met by refinancings or extensions of already existing loans rather than new lending.

By Matt Cooper

FORMER Taoiseach John Bruton keeps grabbing the headlines. Two weeks ago, on this page, I deplored his intervention into the abortion debate, one that could have caused unnecessary difficulty for Enda Kenny, the first Fine Gael leader to follow Bruton as Taoiseach.

Now, although it is notable that he is associating with the conservative Catholic pressure group, the Iona Institute, the former Minister for Finance (of 30 years ago) has turned his hand to matters economic again. 

We have to hope that his latest intervention has as little impact as his last. Bruton is a shill for a particular type of big business: the big banks and mobile capital of those who operate from the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin. 

He is paid to be the spokesman for IFSC Ireland in public and lobbyist in private, rumoured to be on a six-figure annual payment for his part-time troubles on behalf of this coalition of private sector interests. (Don’t be fooled by the name: it is not a State representative body although it works hand in glove with State agencies such as the IDA).

50 farmhouse cheesemakers in Ireland, producing 150 cheeses.

Setting up of Irish Cheese Direct helps boost last year’s sales by 43 per cent

 An Enniscorthy company is looking to Africa as it seeks to expand its brief beyond Ireland. Chevron Training, based at the enterprise centre next to Enniscorthy Vocational College, has set up in partnership with Vacc Technical - a building services company in the Nigerian capital Lagos.

The European Commission has launched a new three-year project “Bio Base NWE” to support the development of the bio-based economy in North West Europe (NWE).

The €6.2 million (£5.35 million) project will work mainly with small and medium businesses (SME’s) to help facilitate innovation and business development in bio-based technologies. Bio Base NWE will also provide training and education to help tackle the shortage of skilled professionals in North West Europe’s bio-based industries. The Bio Base NWE partnership includes organisations from five different countries.

Dr. Lieve Hoflack, Manager of the Bio Base NWE project, said: “SME’s have a vital role to play in Europe’s journey towards the bio-based economy, which could be worth more than €2 trillion to the European economy by 2020.” “Bio-based products are a growing area of interest for SME’s working in chemical industry, agro-industry, plastics, fuels, food, textile and pharma industry. However, many SME’s find it difficult to bridge the gap between newly developed research and the commercial market,” she adds.

The Bio Base NWE network, representing many leading bio-based economy experts, will advise SME’s from across North West Europe on how to develop new ideas into marketable products. SME’s can get financial support to demonstrate innovative bio-based technologies at an independent, state-of–the-art demonstration facility in Ghent, Belgium. This flexible pilot plant will selectively invest in equipment for promising technologies to promote further growth. The partnership will also develop and deliver programmes and tools for training skilled professionals for bio-based industries.

National University of Ireland, Galway, Competence Centre for Biorefining and Bioenergy (IRL)

YOUNG entrepreneurs are being encouraged to access a funding programme to gain experience with a mentor in Europe.

One in nine SMEs were either refused a loan or did not apply in the first place, ESRI finds

Banks are continuing to squeeze lending to small- and medium-sized enterprises, figures published today by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) show.

A report published with the institute’s Quarterly Economic Commentary shows that one in nine such businesses were either refused a loan because the banks are rationing credit or did not apply in the first place as they believed they would be rejected.

Its commentary says that overall bank lending to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for the bulk of the businesses and employment in the Republic, fell by 2.8 per cent last year.

“Core lending”, that is, to sectors outside financial services, construction and property, was down 5 per cent in the last three months of 2012, the ESRI’s figures show.

‘Continuing decline’
Although the organisation acknowledges that the rate at which lending fell last year slowed relative to 2011, it warns that the “picture remains one of continuing decline in SME lending activity”.

A research note by ESRI staff Conor O’Toole, Petra Gerlach-Kirsten and Brian O’Connell points out that firms with fewer than 250 workers are the “backbone of the economy”, accounting for 99 per cent of active businesses and 70 per cent of employment. The note, Measuring Credit Constraints for Irish SMEs , argues that determining what factors hinder or support these firms is critical to a sustained recovery and job creation.

It estimates 39 per cent of SMEs applied for credit between April and September 2012. One fifth – representing 9 per cent of all firms operating in the Republic – were rejected.

Of those, the authors believe that the banks rejected close to half the applicants, about 4 per cent of all firms, because they have a policy of not lending to particular sectors, rather than on the merits of the individual applications.

‘Credit rationing’
Mr O’Connor says that this practice is known as “credit rationing”, and adds that sectors such as hotels and restaurants, construction, property and small businesses with no export markets, appear to be suffering most as a result of this policy.

The research note argues that if the individual application is worthwhile, it should be granted, albeit at a higher interest rate than normal if it believes there is an extra risk associated with it.

 www.esri.ie

BOSS Metrics & Digital Espionage

Ireland's emerging digital marketing analytics company BOSS Metrics, led by founder and CEO Conor Lynch is riding the crest of the digital wave sweeping across the Irish business landscape since forming in 2012. A veteran of many award winning projects for such companies as Guinness, Toyotaand Vodafone to name a few, the challenge of helping businesses  everywhere to easily navigate the new digital frontier was too exciting a challenge for Lynch to ignore.

Between Conor, and co-founder and CTO Barry O'Sullivan, software product developer, they have created and launched BOSS Metrics and are starting to win new clients and projects. The company has grown from the support received from both the Enterprise Ireland Competitive Start Fund and the NDRC Launchpad programme in 2012.

BOSS Metrics is a brand's best friend when navigating the sometimes choppy and unchartered waters of social media and digital marketing. The product delivers businesses easily understandable but comprehensive digital diagnostics and performance audits for any company's digital, social and mobile channel activity. It allows better course correction for any brand's online communications, pointing out what activity and content style works and what isn't getting an effective response. This digital performance audit then includes a detailed action plan so brands can optimise their efforts online and work towards enhanced return on investment.

The jewel in BOSS Metrics crown is possibly its ‘digital espionage function’. Users can access detailed competitor reports and therefore benchmark their own efforts against competing brands in terms of using their online communication channels more effectively.

BOSS Metrics has already helped Irish businesses gain a stronger and more confident position in the digital space, in many sectors such as financial services, FMCG and leisure goods, technology and hospitality. The company continues to grow nationally and are working with Enterprise Ireland to target growth in the UK market in 2013 also.

http://www.bossmetrics.com