GROWTH BOOST: Wastewater treatment facilities company TES Ltd is to plough £4.4m into the company and double its workforce in three years.
CITY AIRPORT GOES DUTCH: Ferrovial has been left with a tidy profit of nearly £90m after selling George Best airport to a fund run by Dutch investment bank ABN Amro.
FLYBE REAPS REWARDS: Flybe has announced record profits for '07-'08 and 9% in passenger growth.
AER LINGUS SUCCESS: 500,000 customers have booked to travel with Aer Lingus from Belfast International so far, as the company celebrates its first year at Aldergrove.
NEW SEASON; NEW SHAPE; NEW DESIGN: Northern Woman magazine leads the way in the style, beauty and fashion stakes
 



Welcome to the October edition of Ulster Business
STRIVING FOR THE SILVER LINING: They say that when the US economy sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. If events of the last few months are anything to go by, this well-worn financial proverb certainly runs true. The fallout from the credit crunch in the US has seen growth in some of the world's most powerful countries slow down. Here in Northern Ireland, tellingly, it's the sector that seems to be hurting most that has had to be the most innovative. Developers, stuck with property that won't shift in a downtrodden market, have taken a good look at their sales model and addressed the factors preventing the crux of the market - first time buyers - from coming forward. So some developers have removed the risk of buying property by offering to guarantee a large percentage of the downside to the purchase price and fronting up a deposit. In these difficult times it shows a fighting spirit that could be replicated in other sectors.

David Elliott
Editor
 

TURNING UP THE HEAT: With gas and electricity bills soaring to unprecedented levels, the role of Northern Ireland's Utility Regulator has never been so important. We talk to Chief Executive Iain Osborne about the organisation's responsibilities to consumers here and its priorities for the year ahead.
BENEFITS OF BEING GREEN: According to Ricky Burnett, (right) Policy Director with arc21, more and more businesses are waking up to the benefits of having an environmentally friendly outlook.
DISPATCH: NIE sells the transmission system operator SONI..... McMullan Architectural Systems secures £12m contract... NI Chamber of Commerce heads to Atlanta...
INN THE ZONE: The hotel industry in Northern Ireland has blossomed over the past ten years. We talk to one of the biggest UK hoteliers, Premier Inn, as it prepares to open a new Belfast hotel.
SECURING NI: G4S has been quietly keeping an eye on homes and businesses from its Belfast base for a number of years. Now after opening a new complex in Belfast Harbour Estate, we talk to MD Barry Byrne to see how the Northern Ireland office has become an expanded hub for their global business.
£2m amphibian tours investment....
Atlanta calling....
Carnival atmosphere for Musgrave celebration...
 
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