Irish multinationals

esperanza

I was having a conversation with a foreign friend last night and we were talking about Ireland's economic comeback in the early nineties. Then my friend asked me to name some Irish multinationals or successful Irish companies abroad. All I could come up was Ryanair, Guinness (now located in the UK though?), Baileys (though now part of the Diageo group)... I was quite embarassed!

In conclusion, one would think that Ireland's economic miracle has been due to US multinationals who have benefitted from our low rate of corportation tax.:(

Anyone know of a good source of information on this topic?

Zebra3

esperanza wrote:

Anyone know of a good source of information on this topic?

Yeah, the internet!

Sangre

esperanza wrote:

In conclusion, one would think that Ireland's economic miracle has been due to US multinationals who have benefitted from our low rate of corportation tax.:(

Ehhh...duh.

We simply don't have the population for a huge multinational to arise solely out of Ireland.

InFront

HMMMmmmm, thats interesting, Ive never really had to think about it. Many of our homegrown big businesses tend not to expand in the foreign markets, although I believe that some of the banks and financial institutions have overseas presences in other names, AIB maybe?

However I would guess that most foreign companies situated in any given state are in fact American. Although there is a big British influence here, but probably just due to geography and identical fashion and lifestyle cultures

Collie D

How about Penney's/Primark, not exactly multinational but they're pretty much in every major Irish/UK town

Diogenes

We simply don't have the population for a huge multinational to arise solely out of Ireland

Um Smurfit?

Sangre

Meant to say multinationals, obviously there will be one or two. However whenever a company start expanding it either stays in Ireland/UK or is bought out by another larger multinational.

whiskeyman

Sangre wrote:

Meant to say multinationals, obviously there will be one or two. However whenever a company start expanding it either stays in Ireland/UK or is bought out by another larger multinational.

True.
Very rare it's the case it's the other way around.
Mind you, CRH is a good example of a big Irish company done well in the global market.
Elan could be another.

esperanza

It turns out there are quite a few see below...

Not sure about Elan. Isn't that some big US pharmeceutical giant? http://www.elan.com/


But so few foreigners know about these.

Sweden has Ikea, H+M, Ericcson, Germany has Miele, Siemens, Audi, BMW etc.

What brands are associated with Ireland whose companies have their headquerters in Ireland, besides Ryanair?


Irish multinationals such as
Smurfits, CRH, Kerry Foods, Glen Dimplex, Bank of Ireland and AIB
derive only a fraction of their profits from their Irish operations.

Source: www.tcd.ie/Economics/TEP/1998/1998%20Policy%20Papers/981p.pdf

Sam Vimes

dunnes operates in a few countries, there's one in majorca. i don't know if that counts as a multi national

whiskeyman

If you look at most of the other countries big named brands, a lot had roots around world war times.
We didn't really get moulded this, so are a very latecomer in this regard.
We have a lot of tech firms doing the rounds though.
Also, our main government policy through the 70s to 90s was to attract new firms in as opposed to helping new companies here prosper.

Diogenes

esperanza wrote:

It turns out there are quite a few see below...

Not sure about Elan. Isn't that some big US pharmeceutical giant? http://www.elan.com/


But so few foreigners know about these.

Sweden has Ikea, H+M, Ericcson, Germany has Miele, Siemens, Audi, BMW etc.

What brands are associated with Ireland whose companies have their headquerters in Ireland, besides Ryanair?


Irish multinationals such as
Smurfits, CRH, Kerry Foods, Glen Dimplex, Bank of Ireland and AIB
derive only a fraction of their profits from their Irish operations.

Source: www.tcd.ie/Economics/TEP/1998/1998%20Policy%20Papers/981p.pdf

This and the thread you made in politics make me go

So what you are looking for is a large Irish multinational that makes most of it's profits in ireland but also operates abroad?

dregin

Roadstone are the third biggest construction materials company in the world owning over 60 companys worldwide, TBH.

esperanza

Diogenes wrote:

This and the thread in politics make me go

So what you are looking for is a large Irish multinational that makes most of it's profits in ireland but also operates abroad?

I think it's a quite straightforward question. I'm looking for some Irish multinationals who do well both in ireland and abroad?

When you think Germany you can say BMW, Siemens, Miele and so on.
When you think Italy you can say Dolce and Gabbana, Fiat, Bialetti...

Get the idea??

I think you are really confused!

InFront

Oh I se what you mean. A multinational abroad thats publicly widely associated with ireland... cant think of one.

Theres probably none that most consumers would know about. However, we do have the Rose of Tralee tbh, so that cancels out all of your Ericcson and your Fiat.:D

Karoma

Boards LTD
<_<

Diogenes

esperanza wrote:

I think it's a quite straightforward question. I'm looking for some Irish multinationals who do well both in ireland and abroad?

When you think Germany you can say BMW, Siemens, Miele and so on.
When you think Italy you can say Dolce and Gabbana, Fiat, Bialetti...

Get the idea??

I think you are really confused!

Rubs temple......

AIB do very well in Ireland to take your example.

Irish multinationals such as
Smurfits, CRH, Kerry Foods, Glen Dimplex, Bank of Ireland and AIB
derive only a fraction of their profits from their Irish operations.

It's just Ireland with a population of 4million odd is a very small market, so while these companies move abroad and expand, and generate further profits, the importance of Ireland as a market place starts to lessen in the grand scheme of things.

While these companies are doing fine at home, the revenue generated by the global market dwarfs their original Irish market.

Do you understand or do I need to bring out the sock puppets?

As to your point about globally recognised brands. The Brands we know and see already us are generally manufactured and we've never really had a manufacturing base. We've gone from agricultural to knowledge/skill based economy in barely two generations

Now back to politics onto our government policy to ban Ikea, I hear it's because Bertie is fecking useless at building flatpacks and thats why they're not allowed build a store.

BendiBus

Waterford Wedgewood? Struggling but internationally known Irish plc

BendiBus

Kerrygold? Global Irish brand, owned I think by the dairy board so not really a multinational.

And Independent Newspapers. Owns the Independent in London and half the publications in the Southern Hemisphere!

Demetrius

Kerry Group Plc. Glanbia to some extent

WhiteWashMan

fyffes.

J.R.HARTLEY

it wouldn't be much of a profitable company if a large chunk of it's profits came from ireland, with such a small market we couldn't match what income the rest of the world could so we should always only make up a small percentage of the incomes.
secondly to be fair a lot of the multinationals you quoted BMW Siemens and FIAT were in existance back when we were a little potato colony of the empire, they reach back to the start of the century, it's hardly like with like, our country's economy is only getting into it's own for te last 20 years, germany had a vibrant economy , that was destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt again.

GiantCranes

Pat the Baker has a second home in north Wales.

Karoma

Multinational= >2 countries.

Gordon

Fyffes Republic, lol.

We get Kerrygold in Greece but I'm not sure if it's associated with Ireland, the adverts sure aren't very Irish.

esperanza

Yes, Kerrygold is a great example. It can be bought in supermarkets in several continental european countries.

Ok the list is growing: ryanair, kerrygold,...

Gordon

Leprechauns and pots o' gold!

DublinWriter

esperanza wrote:

Then my friend asked me to name some Irish multinationals or successful Irish companies abroad.

U2....boom boom.

Aren't Guinness owned by a UK company now? Allied Domeq?

The Savoy in London is Irish owned, Durys are all over the shop (well, NY, UK and continential Europe).

To be honest, look at the size of the UK and tell me how many multinationals it has operating around the globe apart from BP and, erm...M&S?

DublinWriter

esperanza wrote:

Yes, Kerrygold is a great example. It can be bought in supermarkets in several continental european countries.

When I worked in Brussels I was very surprised to see it in my local supermarket one day. It remained embarrasingly unsold compared to everything else, as it was the full-fat foil wrapped block yer granny used to buy and they didn't stock the other low-fat Kerrygold products.

Sarsfield

DublinWriter wrote:

U2....boom boom.

Aren't Guinness owned by a UK company now? Allied Domeq?

The Savoy in London is Irish owned, Durys are all over the shop (well, NY, UK and continential Europe).

To be honest, look at the size of the UK and tell me how many multinationals it has operating around the globe apart from BP and, erm...M&S?

Guinness is part of Diageo.

The Savoy was sold on by Quinlan Private (for a handsome profit) but I think they still own Claridges. But that's just property investment. Which is where most Irish money goes.

Jurys is a better example.

The problem with Irish companies is that they get bought up by (usually) British companies before they have a chance to get big themselves. Britain also has an imperial history and was the worlds economic giant not that long ago. This gave it access to the worlds natural resources. A lot of Britians multinationals are based on foreign resources and it often turns out they're not really British anymore. They're also a nation of shopkeepers ( ) which is why there are so many British High Street names.

You can't compare Britain & Ireland in this regard.

DublinWriter

Sarsfield wrote:

The problem with Irish companies is that they get bought up by (usually) British companies before they have a chance to get big themselves. Britain also has an imperial history and was the worlds economic giant not that long ago. This gave it access to the worlds natural resources. A lot of Britians multinationals are based on foreign resources and it often turns out they're not really British anymore. They're also a nation of shopkeepers ( ) which is why there are so many British High Street names.

Oh yes! Blame it all on the Perfidious Albion once again!

*sticks on a keaning Davey Spillane track and drones on about the 800 years Sean Nos style*

esperanza

DublinWriter wrote:

Oh yes! Blame it all on the Perfidious Albion once again!

It's true though, Guinness and Baileys belong to the Diageo group headquartered in London. We're just small fish and Irish multinationals just don't seem to have the power to survive abroad.

stepbar

Musgraves, DCC, AIB, BOI, Anglo, Elan, Kingspan (I think), INM,

thats all I can think of for the moment

Sarsfield

DublinWriter wrote:

Oh yes! Blame it all on the Perfidious Albion once again!

*sticks on a keaning Davey Spillane track and drones on about the 800 years Sean Nos style*

Ahem, I don't think I blamed anything on anyone. I just said that small businesses get gobbled up by big business all the time. I also pointed out that Britain ruled the world at one point and a lot of British multinationals grew out of that. Where did I blame anyone? Sheesh. :rolleyes:

Oh yes, I forgot about Musgraves. Did a bit of grocery shopping in Bugdens in Belsize Park on Monday

Civilian_Target

AIB, Bank of Ireland, Kerrygold, Smurfit, Diageo and Ryanair are, AFAIK, the 6 Irish multinationals that make the EU 500 list (that was a few years back now)

AIB and Bank of Ireland own banks all over the place, but brand them differently (natch).

I would hardly call Kingspan, or Musgraves multi-national!

Enii

Newbridge Silver?

Zaph

In terms of what most people think of as a multinational, Ireland only has a handful. Those that would definitely qualify are:

CRH - in the top three construction materials companies in both Eirope and the USA and has 66,500 employees operating in 25 countries.

Smurfit - one of the world's largest packaging companies with aannual sales of over €7 billion, employing over 40,000 people in more than 30 countries.

Fyffes - one of the largest fruit companies in the world with an annual turnover of over €2 billion, employing over 3,000 people in 10 countries.


And that's about it really. Others like AIB or Jurys are technically multinationals, and while they may be well known to us they're only on a small scale globally. The likes of Waterford Wedgewood, Elan or Diageo may have strong Irish connections, but really they're controlled outside the country these days. Ryanair may be the only addition to the list in the near future as they operate bases throughout Europe, but given the nature of the business and the fact that they automatically operate in other countries by flying there, I'm not really sure if you can class them as a miltinational.

dave2pvd

Kerry Group has grown a presence in the US. Publix (groceries) stock Kerrygold butter and various Kerry Group cheeses. Others shops may also stock Kerry produce that I don't know of.

Black Swan

esperanza wrote:

Not sure about Elan. Isn't that some big US pharmeceutical giant? http://www.elan.com/

No, Elan is Irish (although traded in stocks) and a serious world competitor in pharmaceuticals.

Ruu_Old

What about the Quinn Group? Surely they must have other interests outside of Ireland.

spanner

we are a small island country, with a small population and with no major natural resources. By the laws of economics (comparative advantage... I knew that LC economics would come in use!!!) we cannot support large multi nationals. Our best hope is to try develop as much as we can and attact larger foreign multinationals which I think we do pretty well

justfortherecor

CRH were listed in the recent Fortune 500 of global corporations. Thats pretty much your guide to worldwide recognised MNCs.

They were the only Irish company listed. Revenues of $17bn and employing 65,000 worldwide. Impressive stuff.

cournioni

Eh... Quinn Group? Kingspan?

whiskeyman

spanner wrote:

we are a small island country, with a small population and with no major natural resources. By the laws of economics (comparative advantage... I knew that LC economics would come in use!!!) we cannot support large multi nationals.

That doesnt hold much water these days tbh.
The above is really referring to industries requiring raw naturial resources, like coal, oil etc..
Don't forget, our best "natural resource" is probably our young and highly skilled workforce.

Ponster

dave2pvd wrote:

Kerry Group has grown a presence in the US. Publix (groceries) stock Kerrygold butter and various Kerry Group cheeses. Others shops may also stock Kerry produce that I don't know of.

But is the produce isn't associated with Ireland IMHO.

stevenmu

Who owns Ballygowan ?, they do quite well abroad.

WhiteWashMan

Gordon wrote:

Fyffes Republic, lol.

We get Kerrygold in Greece but I'm not sure if it's associated with Ireland, the adverts sure aren't very Irish.

fyffes is a 2.5bln euro business spread across 3 continents, and is based out of dublin, so i would say they are an irish multinational.

there are actually loads of large irish multinationals. i have fyffes and kingspan and a number of others on my account list.

Gordon

WhiteWashMan wrote:

fyffes is a 2.5bln euro business spread across 3 continents, and is based out of dublin, so i would say they are an irish multinational.

there are actually loads of large irish multinationals. i have fyffes and kingspan and a number of others on my account list.

Heh, I thought you were making a banana republic joke! Didn't know that.

RedPlanet

Independent News & Media (INM)
Also known as Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_News_&_Media

They are certainly multinational.

zilog_jones

Havok was started up by two guys from Trinners - OK, not exaclty the biggest multinational around, but their middleware physics engine is used in loads of big games (e.g. Half Life 2, Halo 2 and over 100 others), so hopefully they're making some amount of money.

They have an office in San Fransisco too.

DAEDULUS

tommy teirnan