Ovation is currently retained by clients in both the public and private sector such as Nike, Philips, Vodafone, Nokia and GfK

Originally American owned, H&K International is a leading global supplier of stainless steel kitchen equipment to the food service industry. As CEO, David Bobbett led an Irish management buyout in 2002. He describes his biggest business achievement as dealing with a 50% drop in sales ten days after completing the MBO when their largest customer decided on a sudden change of strategy, with a drastic cutback in capital expenditure on new restaurants.

Bobbett restructured H&K to provide total restaurant solutions, incorporating manufacturing and logistics. The company now employs 970 worldwide with manufacturing and service office operations in Mexico, US, Canada, UK and most recently Indonesia. The Group Management and European Marketing are based in Dublin.

H&K sales reached $345 million in 2007. H&K delivers value driven restaurant equipment solutions into 70 countries, supporting 20,000 restaurants with their equipment needs. Their biggest customer is McDonald’s. Other important customers are Subway, IKEA, Jason’s, Applebee’s and IHOP.

The event is being generously hosted by Crowell & Moring, 590 Madison Avenue.

Kate Walsh, a journalist with the Sunday Times was in attendance and wrote the following piece:

Irish eyes smiling through the gloom by Kate Walsh

‘It wasn’t a good week for Ireland – Moody’s downgraded its sovereign bonds on Monday – so it was with some trepidation that I attended an IIBN (Irish International Business Network) bash on Wednesday. The atmosphere, however, was more wake than funeral.

Orla Kiely, the fashion designer, rubbed shoulders with Liam Brady, the former footballer, and Frank Salmon, the wealthy owner or CMS Peripherals.

Eamon Lyons, the property developer and founder of Tudor Homes, was in attendance. The Irish, it seems, are building things again: Tudor is responsible for the new egg-shaped towers next to Old Street roundabout on the fringe of the City.

As well as building, they have started spending anew. Almost everyone I spoke to is going to Galway Races this week. And, instead of slumming it on Ryanair, they’re taking private jets from City airport…..Er, what downgrade?’

Click on the picture to view all photos

We are delighted to announce Powerscourt as IIBN’s newest sponsor and we look forward to introducing you to them in the coming weeks and months.

Powerscourt is a strategic communications consultancy founded by Rory Godson who was Irish Editor of The Sunday Times and then Business Editor based in London. He was head of corporate affairs at Goldman Sachs before starting Powerscourt in 2004. It helps companies and senior individuals tell their story in a manner which delivers their overall strategic goals. Based in London, it is a full-service firm which offers strategic advice and counsel, financial results and calendar communications, analyst and investor relations, M&A and fund-raising communications, market intelligence, crisis management, profile-raising. It provides financial public relations and investor relations to many leading firms. The client list is a Who’s Who of major UK and Irish businesses.

For full details regarding the excellent work carried out by Powerscourt visit its website at www.powerscourt-group.com

Should you wish to connect with Powerscourt regarding your own business and/or its strategy please do email me by return email and I will connect you with a suitable member of the Powerscourt team.

Its team comprises former bankers, brokers, editors and communications professionals.

Question Time: Private Equity and M&A – spotting winners; minefields to avoid; post-transaction issues; stakeholder conflicts took place on Thursday 10th June at the offices of FD.

As in the past, the event was styled along the television program Question Time and the theme for the evening was Private Equity and M&A.

Over 100 IIBN members attended the evening which was moderated by Joe Lynam, BBC Business Correspondent. For many the face and voice of financial and economic news at weekends during the deepest recession on record – frequently leading the Ten O’clock news as well as Radio 4’s Today programme. Joe also presents business news on Breakfast TV, BBC News’s 24-hour rolling news channel as well as Radio Five Live. Joe has also been Business Correspondent in Brussels as well as a Presenter on the World Service. Prior to joining the BBC in 2001, he was a freelance presenter/reporter for US and Irish radio. He has been shortlisted for the ‘Journalist of the Year’ award by the Royal Statistical Society as well as ‘Broadcaster of the Year’ at the Headline Money Awards 2010.

The panellists on the night were:

Kevin J Pakenham, Managing Director, Financial Institutions Group, Jefferies International Limited
Liam Strong, Partner of Cerberus European Capital Advisors.
John Dwyer, Global Head of Private Equity & UK Head of Transactions Services, PwC

Click on the picture to view all photos

IIBN together in partnership with Enterprise Ireland Dublin brought 100 of its members together on 27th May 2010. This event was hosted by the Irish Embassy and the evening was officially opened by The Ambassador of Ireland His Excellency Mr. Bobby McDonagh.

The event was moderated by Eugene Forde, Economic, Commercial and Finance Counsellor at The Embassy and the speakers included:

Conor Foley,IIBN Chairman and CEO of Worldspreads
Joe Breslin, Enterprise Ireland
Peter Wyse, Founder, Biommetry
Jonathan Potter, Founder, Currency Fair

Powerpoint presentations used by Joe Breslin and Peter Wyse will be available soon.

Click in the photo below to review photos taken during the event.

On 11th May 2010, IIBN members enjoyed a private audience with the legendary businessman, Dr Dermot Smurfit.

Over 150 members attended the event which took place at the flagship offices of Deutsche Bank in the City of London. Members were treated to a fascinating and candid insight in to the Smurfits exceptional rise in business in addition to Dermot’s own entrepreneurial journey and charitable endeavours.

Dermot started his career path in Jefferson Smurfit in 1961 fulfilling many positions from Operator to Plant Manager and Chairman & CEO of Smurfit Europe. Since that time he has been Chairman non-Executive of Anker Plc which floated on AIM in December 2004 and was sold to a competitor in the middle of 2005, Chairman of Peach Holdings also floated on AIM in March 2006 – this was sold to Venture Capitalists towards the end of 2006.

In January 2005 he completed the purchase of Powerflute, formerly Savon Sellu, and in August 2006 completed the purchase of Pankaboard, formerly Pankakoski, both in conjunction with private investors and acts as Chairman of Powerflute. Powerflute OYJ was successfully floated on the AIM market in May 2007.

He is a Director of ACE Limited, a major worldwide insurance and reinsurance group and Chairman of Eurolink an Irish registered company which operates a toll road in Ireland , ultimately controlled by Ferrovial of Spain. He is also Chairman of Timber Capital which manages funds on behalf of The Forest Company Ltd which invests in timber assets in Brazil and which is currently seeking to raise a further $450M. Dermot is also Chairman of the World Container Board Organisation, President of FEFCO and a Member of the Foundation Board, University of Limerick.

In summary, Dermot was clear on what skills are needed to make a business thrive; vision, nerve and delegation, coupled with large and generous quantities of luck.

Drinks and canapés, generously provided by Deutsche Bank were served after the formal proceedings and the evening concluded at The Irish Club on Tudor Street.

Click on the photo below to review photos taken at the event.

On 26th April, IIBN members in Dublin enjoyed a private evening with Jerry Kennelly at the offices of PwC, Spencer Dock, North Wall Quay. Over 100 IIBN members attended and the evening was opened by Paul Hennessy, Partner at PwC and supporter of IIBN.

Jerry is a key supporter of IIBN and has spoken for IIBN in London and New York. Jerry guided attendees through his career to date, beginning with a brief history of his first links to photo journalism and ending with an insight into his current ventures.

Jerry founded Stockbyte and Stockdisc, two companies based in Tralee that captured 10% of the global royalty-free stock photography market in ten years. In April 2006 both companies were sold to Getty Images (formerly GYI) for a consideration of $135 million. Kennelly’s companies produced the highest pro-rata profit and profitability per employee in this worldwide industry.

Kennelly, who started business as a freelance photojournalist in 1981, has been honoured by the Deloitte Fast 50 Awards and was selected as the Ernst & Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005. Stockbyte is also a former winner of the DHL Exporter of the Year Award.

Kennelly has spearheaded the Young Entrepreneur Programme since the concept was first mooted in 2006 and has collaborated with the poverty relief agency GOAL and the Press Photograpers Association of Ireland in documenting their work abroad and using those creative images to spread their messages through the media, exhibitions and calendars. Jerry is now leading a multi-national team on a stealth mode business start-up due to launch a new global business in 2010.

Prior to Jerry’s presentation, 3 IIBN members were invited to give a three minute company presentation. They were:

Maoiliosa O’Culachain, Director and Co-Founder, Global Shares
Garrett O’Keeffe, Director, First100 – Performance Acceleration
Killian Stokes, Founder, My Good Points

Many thanks to Joe Tynan, Paul Hennessy and PwC for generously hosting the event.

Click on the photo link below to view more photos taken on the night:

On 14th April, Mike Hemingway, IIBN Member, New York was the keynote speaker for the evening. Mike was the man who brought us the hugely successful Dove Beauty Campaign. Over 120 IIBN members attended the evening which was generously sponsored by Taylor Wessing. Glenda O’Hara, Senior Associate at Taylor Wessing welcomed the group and gave a short presentation about Taylor Wessing and how the firm fits the needs of all entrepreneurs.

Mike Hemingway, who launched the highly awarded campaign and lead it for five years, explained how all the different communication and marketing elements came together to create one of the most successful campaigns of the decade. His presentation also included the screening of many of the ironic Dove films.

The evening concluded with wine and canapes.

On Tuesday, 9th March 2010, Willie Walsh, CEO of British Airways spoke to an invited group of over 250 IIBN members at the exclusive offices of Deutsche Bank in the City of London.

The evening was a rare opportunity to hear from one of Ireland’s most recognisable and successful business leaders, CEO of British Airways, and former CEO of Aer Lingus, Willie Walsh. Mr. Walsh went on to offer a unique insight into the remarkable story of his career to date and the issues currently facing both the aviation industry and British Airways.

Willie Walsh joined British Airways as chief executive officer (CEO) designate on May 3, 2005 and assumed full CEO responsibilities on October 1 after the retirement of Sir Rod Eddington.

Prior to joining British Airways, Willie was CEO at Aer Lingus, a position he was appointed to in the aftermath of 9/11. Faced with bankruptcy and heavy losses, Willie radically restructured the airline and this culminated in it posting an €107 million profit in 2004, making Aer Lingus the most profitable state-owned airline in the western world.

Born in 1961 in Dublin, Willie joined Aer Lingus in 1979 as a cadet pilot and worked his way through the ranks to become a captain in 1990. He began his move to management in 1989 where he fulfilled various roles in the flight operations department. He completed a Master of Science in Management and Business Administration at Dublin’s Trinity College in 1992.

His managerial skills led him to being appointed CEO of Futura, Aer Lingus’ Spanish charter airline in 1998, where he restructured the business and settled a damaging industrial relations dispute. He returned to Dublin with Aer Lingus in 2000 where he took up the role of chief operating officer and was subsequently appointed as CEO in October 2001.

Prior to the main part of the evening, three IIBN members were given the opportunity to profile their companies to the 250 strong audience. The members in question were: John McKeon, CEO, Allergy Standards Ltd (www.allergystandards.com), Michael Dawson, CEO, The Gift Voucher Shop (www.giftvouchershop.co.uk) and Damon Oldcorn, COO, bookingbug (www.bookingbug.com).

The event concluded with drinks and canapés, courtesy of Deutsche Bank who hosted the evening.