Company of The Year Awards 2016 - Part 3: Nominees in the large firms category

Award would cap Tyco turnaround

When fire protection and security company Tyco pulled its manufacturing facility out of Cork in 2008, making hundreds of workers redundant and leaving just a skeleton staff behind, a nomination as one of the city’s finest businesses was an unlikely prospect at best.

Yet eight years on, here we are.

Not unlike the Irish economy, which at the time of Tyco’s departure was on its knees, the fire security specialist has risen like a phoenix with hundreds of workers and its global headquarters now based in the city.

Late 2014 saw Tyco take the decision to move its global headquarters out of Switzerland and plant it in Cork instead.

The announcement came with a commitment to increase its workforce to 700 people over the coming years and invest hundreds of millions of euro over a 10-year period.

As turnarounds go, it was hard to beat.

And so far the company has been good to its word, with employee numbers increasing from 15 or so to more than 200 in 2015.

Tyco’s workers are a cosmopolitan bunch too with more than 20% of the workforce having relocated to take up their new roles and 14 different nationalities on its books.

The range of functions handled from its Irish base is equally varied with a major R&D hub joined by finance, HR, IT, legal, and other departments.

Add to the mix its role in making what is to be its new headquarters at One Albert Quay one of the country’s smartest and most energy efficient buildings and 2015 hasn’t been a bad year’s work for Tyco, as general manager of its Irish office Donal Sullivan acknowledges.

“We in Tyco are thrilled to be selected as a finalist for Cork Company of the Year 2015.

“It’s been a hugely significant year for us, establishing a global business services centre in Cork, hiring more than 200 highly talented staff, delivering ‘Ireland’s Smartest Building’ at One Albert Quay, and establishing a world-class R&D organisation focused on Tyco’s IoT [Internet of Things] strategy driving Tyco’s growth,” says Mr Sullivan.

Having returned to Cork with a bang, scooping the large company of the year award would cap a scintillating turnaround for the fire protection specialists.

Core values helping to keep Laya on road to success

Despite being one of the country’s largest insurers and part of a global insurance powerhouse Cork-based Laya Healthcare is keen to stress the continued importance of its core values.

Established as BUPA in Fermoy 20 years ago, Laya was formed in May 2012 following a management-led buyout and now employs more than 500 people — most of which are based at its base in Little Island.

Since the buyout, the company has taken on more than 160 additional staff and is proud of its retention rates with almost seven in ten employees with the company for more than five years.

Despite a growing workforce and the company’s subsequent takeover by US multinational insurer AIG last year, its customer-centric approach remains key to its future success.

Laya — an acronym of its brand promise, “Looking After You Always”— has managed to grow its market share despite a downturn in the private medical insurance (PMI) market over the past number of years.

Its share of the PMI market has edged up a few notches since 2013 from 23% to 26% despite 300,000 customers leaving the market in the six years to the end of 2014.

It has also branched out into other sectors with travel insurance and life insurance among its product offerings.

Its biggest growth path, however, has been the Lifetime Community Rating (LCR) introduced by the Government to encourage younger people to take out private health insurance.

Early forecasts show Laya has managed to secure a disproportionate share of new entrants to the market on the back of the legislation, with up to 50% of those new customers choosing Laya as its insurer — twice its market share and more than all other competitors combined, according to the company.

The recognition of this hard-earned progress from Cork Chamber of Commerce is an honour for Laya, according to managing director Dónal Clancy.

“We are delighted to be among this year’s finalists for Cork Company of the Year. Laya Healthcare has gone from strength to strength since we launched in May 2012 and we’re grounded in our Cork roots with 20 years’ experience behind us. 

“In 2015 we proudly became part of AIG. We have achieved this great success thanks to the hard work and dedication of our experienced team. 

“In 2016, Laya Healthcare will continue to widen our offering and bring value and innovation to the insurance market. 

“It is an honour to be shortlisted by Cork Chamber; and in many ways an acknowledgement of our success and dedication to both Cork and Ireland.”

Having previously scooped the Chamber’s Digital Marketing Award for best digital marketing by a corporate, and An Post’s Smart Marketing Award, the insurer is looking to add to its haul of accolades as it embarks on a new chapter of its history.

From its humble roots in Fermoy 20 years ago, it’s been quite a journey to this point already.

EPS enjoys sustained success

With close to half a century’s experience under its belt Mallow, Co Cork-based EPS Group is a company with a strong track record and a clear vision of the future.

The industry-leading water infrastructure services group has grown from, a modest electrical and pumping services business into an innovative service company focused on the water, wastewater and clean technology sectors.

As the country’s largest privately-owned design-build-operate partner for the delivery and operation of water and wastewater assets and with 350 employees on its books, EPS has a firm foothold in the domestic and international export markets. 

One sign of its continuing innovation is its provision of the Nereda technology used in the treatment of wastewater which has recently been introduced at Clonakilty, Carrigtwohill and the recently started Lower Harbour projects in Cork.

The group has continued its expansion with 70 employees joining since the start of 2014. Last year also saw it unveil plans for a €3.5m design and manufacturing centre of excellence at its Mallow facility, which will create a further 50 highly-skilled roles.

Among its proudest achievements in recent years has been its ability to deliver on sustainability projects. In 2010, the company targeted a 5% reduction in energy consumption over the following three years.

As it turned out, EPS managed to sail right past that target to a 9.7% reduction in just two years. This was followed by further reductions in 2013 and a new 10% target is now in place to the end of this year.

Community engagement is another valued aspect of the business, according to EPS Group deputy managing director, Patrick Buckley.

“It is a great honour to be selected as a finalist in the Cork Company of the Year Awards. Our entire team has made great progress in a number of areas in recent years but our most noticeable achievement has been in the area of energy reduction and sustainability whereby our community outreach programme, supported by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, ensured that 81 community and voluntary groups benefited from almost €2m in funding for 144 energy saving projects, resulting in a saving of 26,000 tonnes of carbon,” Mr Buckley said.