Business & Finance has released the annual Top 100 Index, recognising the leading companies operating in Ireland in 2021.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
The full list is available to download here
Inver Energy
Cork-based Inver Energy is a leading nationwide fuel importer which provides 10 per cent of Ireland’s fuel requirements. Founded in 1983, the firm operates the Foynes Oil Terminal in Limerick. Inver Energy was acquired by UK-firm Greenergy in 2017, retaining its existing management team, and promising accelerated expansion. In the same year, the firm recorded a profit of €2.4m on the back of a turnover in excess of €470 million. Inver’s Managing Director, Chris O’Callaghan, said: “Greenergy’s global reach and financial resources will allow Inver to execute our growth strategy across all facets of the business.”
Kainos
Kainos Group plc is a UK-headquartered IT provider, across two specialist business areas, Digital Services and the Workday Practice. The Group’s Digital Services include full lifecycle development and support of customised Digital Services for public sector, healthcare and commercial customers. These transformative solutions encompass a range of services from experience design to artificial intelligence and cloud to deliver truly intelligent solutions that are secure, accessible and cost-effective. The Group’s Workday Practice is one of Workday’s most respected partners. As a full-service partner, we are experienced in complex deployment and integrations, and the leader in Workday test automation. We’re trusted by our customers to launch, test, expand and safeguard their Workday systems. Kainos has over 2,500 people across 17 offices in Europe and the Americas.
Keelings
Beginning with a family farm in 1926, three generations of Keelings have grown their fruit business into Ireland’s largest horticultural concern. The group’s operations now span five divisions and 2,000 employees, operating across Europe, and reporting sales in excess of €300 million in 2016. Two thirds of sales come from within Ireland, with the UK and France as its next-largest markets. Keelings remains family-owned & run, with Caroline Keeling acceding to the position of CEO in 2012. In 2016, she said: “On the funding side of it, we are a family business, it’s 100pc family-owned and currently we’re happy with that.” In September 2018, Keelings announced an expansion of its FoodCentral business park – a 280-acre site near Dublin Airport which hosts a range of Irish food-industry companies.
Kepak
A family-run business that began with a butcher’s shop, Kepak has grown to an internationally operating, multi-faceted food innovator with 30,000 employees across 30 countries, and the first Irish meat Irish meat processing company to launch an Irish beef retail brand —Celtic Beef Company—in the USA. In Ireland, Kepak pledged to donate some 4.2 tonnes of produce to homeless charity Simon Community over the winter of 2018, reducing the Simon Community’s meat costs by almost 30%.
Kerry Group
Having commenced operation from a green field site in Listowel, Co. Kerry in 1972, the Kerry organisation has evolved from a private dairy processor, to a dairy co-operative, to its current incarnation as the world’s leading taste and nutrition company with annualised sales of approximately €7.4 billion. CEO Edmond Scanlon announced that Group reported revenue increased by 5.7%, reflecting business volume growth of 8% for the year ended 31 December 2021. Kerry Group is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year! What a testament to a successful company.
Keyword Studios
Keywords Studios is a leading international provider of technical and creative services for the video games industry, delivering a global services platform across its network of 70+ studios, located across 5 continents and 23 countries. By working as their external development partner, Keywords Studios enables leading content creators and publishers to leverage their expertise and capacity across the full game development lifecycle. The company IPO-ed in London in 2013 to access capital for growth and acquisitions, growing from employing 50 people in Dublin in 2009 to more than 10,000 staff globally today.
Lagan Specialist Contracting Group
One of Ireland’s largest construction groups, Lagan Group’s activities range across quarrying, cement, asphalt, and contracting. The group was originally founded in 1952 when Peter Lagan created a haulage business in Belfast. In 2017, Lagan Group reported turnover of £272 million along with EBITDA (combined earnings) of £55m. In April 2018, the group was acquired by Breedon, Britain’s largest independent building materials supplier, in a deal worth £455 million.
Lakeland Dairies
Lakeland Dairies Co-Operative Society Limited is a dairy co-operative headquartered in Co Cavan. It collects milk from its 3,2000 farm family shareholders across 16 counties in both Ireland and Northern Ireland and is Ireland’s second largest dairy processor (the largest in Northern Ireland), processing 1.85 billion litres of milk annually. Lakeland Dairies is a €1bn turnover business with eight processing sites on the island of Ireland as well as operations in Ireland, the UK and the United States. Lakeland Dairies exports dairy products to over 80 markets across the globe.
Layden Group
The Group was formed in 1978 by Joseph P. Layden. The Layden Group have been building, investing and operating properties for the past 40 years. A 100% family owned company with robust assets, involved and dedicated management and energy for the future.
LetsGetChecked
LetsGetChecked is a global healthcare solutions company that provides the tools to manage health from home through direct access to diagnostic testing, virtual care, and medication delivery for a wide range of health and wellness conditions. LetsGetChecked’s end-to-end model includes manufacturing, logistics, lab analysis, physician support, and prescription fulfillment. The company empowers people with accessible health information and care to live longer, happier lives. To date, the company has delivered nearly three million tests and served more than 300 corporate customers with testing services and biometric screening solutions since it was founded in 2015. LetsGetChecked is available nationwide in the United States, the United Kingdom, and most EU countries. It is co-headquartered in Dublin and New York.
Linesight
Founded in 1974, Linesight is a multinational construction consultancy firm with over 40 years’ experience providing independent cost and general consultancy services to the global construction industry. Linesight works with tier one clients across a multitude of sectors, including commercial, data centres, life sciences, high-tech industrial, residential. hospitality, healthcare and retail. Linesight’s specialist project teams, each with specific skills and experience, provide faster project delivery, greater cost efficiency and maximum value for money for their clients. Linesight USA is working on projects in excess of $12 billion across 27 states, with two main office hubs in New York and San Francisco. Linesight has developed long-lasting relationships with some of the biggest companies in the world and has earned a reputation as a world leader in its field.
Mainstream Renewable Power
Mainstream Renewable Power is a leading pure-play renewable energy company, with wind and solar assets across global markets, including in Latin America, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Mainstream is one of the most successful developers of gigawatt-scale renewables platforms, across onshore wind, offshore wind, and solar power generation. It has successfully delivered 6.5 GW of wind and solar generation assets to financial close-ready. In May 2021, Aker Horizons acquired a 75% equity stake in the company, accelerating its plans to deliver its high-quality pipeline of over 16 gigawatts of clean energy. Mainstream has raised more than EUR3.0bn in project finance to date and employs more than 420 people across five continents.
Maxol
Maxol is Ireland’s largest family-owned forecourt retailer. Founded in 1920, The Maxol Group is one of the oldest private businesses in the country. From its humble beginnings to its 242 service stations across Ireland today, staying true to the founding philosophy of being at the heart of every community in which it operates has been key to Maxol’s success. The innovative business offers a wide range of products and services to the Irish and Northern Irish markets through its convenience retailing, petroleum, fuel cards and lubricant divisions. Maxol’s business model is transitioning from being a fuel brand selling convenience products to a convenience food service brand selling fuel and new energies for mobility, as evidenced by the impact of its food offering on the company’s profitability. The Maxol Group directly and indirectly employs more than 1,000 people and its service stations are run by local people, employing local people and serving local communities.
Mercury Engineering
Mercury, founded in 1972 by Frank O’Kane and Joe Morgan, continues to operate as an entrepreneurial Irish based European Contractor. With almost 2,000 staff and revenues in excess of €750 million, Mercury made the key decision to rebrand in 2019 – the first and only in almost fifty years of business.
Meta ireland
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Moy Park
The poultry producer, Northern Ireland’s largest private sector business, made headlines in 2017 when it was sold to American investors for €1.1 billion. Headquartered in Craigavonor, the firm is headed by Chris Kirke. Founded as a small farm in Tyrone over seven decades ago, the group now processes an average of 5.7 million chickens per week, holding a market share which ranks it among Europe’s leading poultry producers. May Park has also grown to become one of Northern Ireland’s largest employers, with more than half of the group’s international workforce of 12,000 based there.
Musgraves
We’re incredibly proud of our heritage. As we continue to celebrate our 145th year in business, we have been reflecting on how far we, and the world we live in, has come since we were founded in 1876. The spirit of enterprise, integrity and innovation which characterises Musgrave is what makes us unique. Through economic downturns and significant world events, our policy of investing, changing and innovating has been key to our success. It is as we reflect on our past that we realise how much our values and people have made Musgrave what it is today; strong, resilient and ready to continue in the spirit of our innovative founders who had a progressive and dynamic approach to business. From our original small grocery store owned by two brothers, we’re now Ireland’s largest private employer with over 41,000 employees. Our family business is sustaining long term stable relationships, built on a bedrock of honesty, working hard, achievement and not being greedy. Our values stand us in good stead in the modern world. As we continue to adapt, innovate and move forward into the future, these principles will be at the heart of every decision we make.
National Broadband Ireland
National Broadband Ireland (NBI) is designing, building and operating the new high-speed fibre broadband network for rural Ireland. NBI’s team brings together some of the most talented individuals in Ireland and across the world, with deep knowledge and experience in delivering projects to the scale of the NBP. This includes developing, building and operating networks and coordinating all the elements required to finance and deliver a project of the size and complexity of Ireland’s NBP. NBI was established by Granahan McCourt, an international investor in technology, media and telecommunications. For over 30 years, Granahan McCourt has partnered with governments, corporations and communities to connect people through innovation in technologically underserved areas of the world. NBI employs over 1200 people, through a mix of direct employees and build contractors working on the network rollout. The company’s partners include KN Group and Secto. Nokia is providing all the active equipment for the project and NBI is also working with infrastructure owners such as eir (pole and ducts network) and Enet (MANs and Broadband Connection Points). The company will be responsible for the management of the new national broadband network for the next 25 years.
Nearform
NearForm works with enterprises to design, build and deliver smart software solutions that accelerate speed to market for today’s digital business. With expertise in open source software, enterprise-grade security, and modern technology stacks and methodologies, NearForm enables businesses to successfully implement ideas fast, securely, and efficiently.
NTR plc
With almost 40 years of experience in investing in and managing infrastructure assets, NTR now applies that expertise on behalf of investors who wish to avail of the attractive, reliable cash flows that quality sustainable infrastructure assets can provide. For two decades, NTR has invested in renewable energy and during that period, NTR has through its associated companies, constructed and operated c.2GW of wind projects and 630MW of solar projects across Europe and the US. Since 2015, NTR has acquired and managed renewable energy investments on behalf of third party investors through its renewable energy funds.
OHM Group
The OHM Group, established in 1972, is one of Ireland’s leading private businesses and is engaged in the exclusive distribution of internationally recognised brands and prestige products such as Land Rover, Jaguar, SAAB, Daihatsu, DAF, MAN, and Kohler-SDMO. The Group’s activities include the importation and distribution of motor cars, commercial vehicles, buses, materials handling equipment, generators and engines. OHM Group is also successfully involved in motor retailing through its Spirit Motor Group of companies. Over the last 35 years the OHM Group has built up an extensive wholesale and retail distribution network throughout Ireland. It has developed a broad customer base which ranges across major industrial companies, leading financial institutions, government bodies, public utilities, medium to small enterprises and private individuals. The Group employs approximately 200 people, operating from purpose built, state-of-the-art facilities at 6 separate locations in Dublin and Cork.
Openet
Founded in 1999 by Joe Hogan and Declan Conway, Openet is a leading software and services provider to communications companies, with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.
Origin Enterprises
Origin Enterprises plc is an international Agri-Services group, providing specialist agronomy advice, crop inputs and digital agricultural solutions to support farmers, growers, landscapers and amenity professionals. Through science-led innovation, focused R&D and traditional agronomic expertise, we optimise sustainable agriculture and food production systems by delivering products and services which help increase crop yields and economic returns, whilst protecting our natural environment and enhancing biodiversity. Listed on the Euronext Growth (Dublin) and AIM markets of the Irish and London Stock Exchanges, Origin has leading market positions in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Poland, Romania and Ukraine.
Ornua
Ornua’s purpose is to create value for Irish dairy farming families. This is achieved through a clear strategy of creating and capturing value in the market, and returning this value to dairy processing shareholders, and in turn, 14,000 Irish dairy farmers. Headquartered in Dublin, Ornua has annualised sales of over €2.3 billion and a global team of 2,850 operating from 10 business units worldwide, including 16 production facilities and a sales and marketing team across all four corners of the globe. As Ireland’s largest exporter of premium dairy products to 110 countries, the Group is structured across two divisions: Ornua Foods and Ornua Ingredients. Ornua Foods encompasses a portfolio of world-leading brands including Kerrygold, Dubliner, Pilgrims Choice, Forto, and BEO. Ornua Ingredients purchases €1 billion worth of Irish dairy products and is responsible for the sales of dairy ingredients to food manufacturing and foodservice customers across the world. 2020 saw a strong performance delivered by Ornua with Group turnover of €2.3 billion. Group EBITDA grew by 49.6% to €107.4 million, driving a robust 69.2% increase in Operating Profit to €83.1 million. This performance was achieved against the backdrop of a complex trading environment dominated by Covid-19, market volatility, and the macro-economic challenges of Brexit and punitive US tariffs. Ornua is the proud owner of the iconic €1 billion Kerrygold brand which experienced 13% volume growth in 2020, selling over 10 million packets of butter and cheese a week.
