Recent Flooding

Recent floods across the country have caused unprecedented damage to thousands of homes and business. QUINN-Insurance has been in a unique position to help our affected policyholders through our 250 and 400 Claims Assessors and Engineers spread throughout every county in Ireland and the UK respectively. Our pro-active approach to settling claims has assisted home owners and businesses taking back possession of their properties as quickly as possible and getting repair work underway.

New Family Drive Offers and Discount Suite Launched

QUINN-direct has just launched a new suite of discounts and offers aimed at helping families by combining their insurance needs to make greater savings. The products include multi product savings, multi person policy discounts and student reductions. These are in addition to QUINN-direct's 5% on-line discount already available.

Recruiting once more

We are very glad that after a period of consolidation; QUINN-Insurance has recommenced recruitment in the past two months. Our commitment to continued growth and our increasing customer count has resulted in the recruitment of 75 new staff to service our Ireland and UK customers. A number of internal promotions have also been completed as part of ongoing planning for the future.

Sponsors WELB road safety campaign

Education Minister Caitriona Ruane launched a Western Education and Library Board (WELB) lead programme to address Pupil Road Safety in the Fermanagh area, sponsored by QUINN-direct, on Tuesday 20th October.

The initiative was set up to address the issue of safe travel for young people to and from schools and colleges in the aftermath of the tragic deaths of Nathan Gault and Debbie Whyte in Florencecourt, Co Fermanagh last November.

The event, held in the Manor House Hotel, launched a two year action plan to develop specific elements, ranging from policy development to curriculum implementation and evaluation; development of a dedicated website and promotion of reflective school clothing.

The project has gathered incredible momentum from its creation in December 2008 and QUINN-direct were delighted to be able to assist in the hard efforts of the team in sponsoring the launch. A press release from QUINN-direct stated:

"QUINN-direct is delighted to sponsor the launch of this admirable and necessary initiative. In taking positive steps to reduce the sadly increasing numbers of accidents and fatalities on Fermanagh’s roads, the Pupil Road Safety Focus Group is to be commended. The protection of our vulnerable road users is of paramount importance and any progress in educating and safeguarding our youth has the full support of QUINN-direct."

St Michael's College visit

A group of 13 students along with their teacher; Mrs Nuala McGlone visited QUINN-Insurance in Enniskillen on 22nd Oct 09. A Q&A session was held in order for the students to get all the information they required to complete their Applied Business Course successfully, for which the topic was QUINN-direct insurance. Management from both Private Lines and the Marketing departments were involved in making this a very successful visit.

Early Christmas Gift for Warrington Children

QUINN-Insurance were delighted to donate a collection of sportswear for kids to a collection of charities, namely Warrington Borough Council - Children’s Services, Brook Avenue Contact & resource Centre, Cancer Research UK & the Catholic Welfare Society’s Cornerstone Daycare Centre on 21st November. The charities, many of whom work particularly with children, were delighted to receive these brand new goods in time for Xmas so that they can distribute them to some of the less fortunate.

Jim Wrynne of Cobra UK & Ireland said "A big thankyou to QUINN-Insurance for the donation of clothing...this has made some children very happy at an expensive time of year".

Ulster GAA Writers Association Annual Awards and Banquet sponsored by QUINN-Insurance

The annual UGAAWA and QUINN-Insurance banquet and awards ceremony took place on November 20th in the Slieve Russell hotel Ballyconnell. Throughout the year monthly merit awards were awarded to very worthy winners across the spectrum of Gaelic disciplines and the annual awards were an extension of this recognition.

Emerging Market Pension Funds Lead the Way

Over the last year the global stock markets have experienced unprecedented levels of volatility. While it might be too early to predict a general trend, there is no doubt that global markets have shown stabilisation in recent months and it would seem emerging economies are leading the way. This has been reflected in outstanding performance in the QUINN-life Freeway investment fund performances in the past 12 months.

"Developing market funds, such as QUINN-life’s Latin America Freeway Fund, Emerging Markets Freeway Fund and China Freeway Fund have demonstrated returns of 89%, 65% and 55% respectively over the past twelve months" says Siobhan Gannon, General Manager QUINN-life.

Growth in emerging economies is largely driven by foreign investment in these countries. The usual characteristics of a developing economy are average incomes in the low to middle bands compared with average global incomes, open global trading links and rapidly growing exports. Developing markets are offering excellent opportunities for growth but do have the associated risk of investing in new economies.

Export levels at all-time high

Given the construction downturn in Ireland over the past two years the increased level of exports that we have achieved has been vital to our success. While we have been active in the UK market for some time we have really focused on it recently and have doubled our exports of construction industry products over the past three years. Each week over 300 articulated lorry load of product leaves our Irish plants for the UK market and in doing so support much needed jobs at home. The UK market has 60 million people, relatively inexpensive transport costs (Ireland is a net importer from the UK so return loads are cheaper) and an economy which is starting to grow again. This clearly represents a significant opportunity for Irish businesses.

Planning approval for Cement Works Conversion

We are delighted to confirm that we have now obtained planning approval for the conversion of our Cement works to use Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) as an alternative to coal in our Cement Plant. The implementation of this project is now underway and will have a number of significant positive environmental impacts on the cement production process when completed.

Welcomes Secretary Of State Approval

QUINN-glass finally received the long awaited news on 4th November that the Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government, John Denham, has given the green light to allow Cheshire West and Chester Council Planning Committee to finally approve its planning application for a glass container manufacturing and filling facility at Elton, Cheshire.

The news, which is a final step in drawing a line under the planning saga, comes afoot of a unanimous decision by the Local Authorities Strategic Planning Committee to grant planning on the 3rd September.

Adrian Curry, director from QUINN-glass, comments: "This is great news for QUINN-glass. We are delighted that common sense has prevailed in the end and that the Secretary of State has resolved to bring this planning issue to a final conclusion. We wish to extend thanks for all representations made on our behalf by local Members of Parliament, the Northwest Development Agency and Andrew Miller MP. Andrew's efforts in particular have been instrumental in avoiding a continued delay and the uncertainty that the further public inquiry, called for by our competitor Ardagh, would have brought.

We are also extremely grateful for the continued support and hard work of our 700-strong Elton workforce as well as the loyalty shown by our customers, suppliers and the local community - all of whom have contributed to the huge ongoing success of the operation.

We hope that Ardagh Glass, who has vociferously challenged the existence of the Elton plant for the past five years, will now follow our initiative by investing in new, efficient technology, with improved environmental standards, which will allow proper competition in the market."

Lightening the Import Load

We are delighted to announce that the world’s lightest screw cap wine bottle has gone into production at Elton.

Elton is the only plant in the UK that produces glass wine bottles and then fills them on the same site. This model dovetails perfectly with the objectives of WRAP’s (Waste Resources Action Programme) GlassRite Wine project. The collaboration between wine producers, brand owners, fillers and glass manufacturers was set up in 2006 to promote the environmental and commercial benefits of importing wine into the UK, which has now resulted in a 300g screw cap bottle being produced. A significant 16% lighter than the current lightest offering in the market and weighing a third less than the typical 75cl wine container.

Many thanks to our customer, Kingsland Wine and Spirits, for requesting the new lighter wine bottle for Tesco's own-label wine portfolio. The bottles have already been successfully trialled and bulk production will start later this year.

Adrian Curry added: "We were honoured to be invited along by WRAP to take part in this project. As a large importer of new world wines into the UK, for filling at our site in Elton, the project gave us the opportunity to look at the entire process from optimising glass container design and manufacture, through the whole supply chain benefiting from the reductions in packaging weight. In addition all our green bottles typically contain at least 75% recycled glass, giving a further significant environmental benefit."

Currently the UK is one of the world’s largest importers of wine, buying in some 1.6 billion bottles every year, which leads to 630,000 tonnes of glass entering the UK’s waste stream and creates significant CO2 emissions through transportation. The aim of the project was to reduce this impact by encouraging the use of lighter-weight wine bottles, and also bring more bulk importation of wine into the UK.

Triple Gob NIS Food Jars: Another world-wide first

Since our first steps into glass manufacturing in 1998, QUINN-glass has grown year on year. Loyalty and support in our customer base, investment in plant and people and innovation in equipment and processes will see us finish 2009 with sales up another 10%.

This growth has further demanded that we look at innovative ways of using our available capacity and supporting suppliers in the application of these ideas. We were, for example, the first company worldwide to develop 12 section Quad gob production a few years back. This year we have had another worldwide first when, with the same machinery supplier, we developed and successfully supplied Triple Gob NIS food jars.

The success of this project has allowed us to further develop our market for wide mouth containers and the introduction of a wider range of similar containers is now well underway.

Congratulations to all in Elton who helped in this wonderful achievement.

Furnace Leak

Following a leak of glass from one of the two furnaces at QUINN-glass’s Derrylin plant on Saturday 5th December, the company is delighted to confirm that full production was restored on Thursday 17th December, less than two weeks after the incident. This is a credit to all Quinn staff who worked very hard on the night and throughout the period of repair work. Successfully containing the leak and being able to restore production has meant that all 378 jobs at the plant are secure with no interruption to customer supply. Good news for all so close to Christmas.

The Final of the UK’s Biggest Charity Amateur Golf Event will be played at The Belfry.

The Belfry, UK headquarters of the PGA and spiritual home of the Ryder Cup will host The National Golf Club Challenge 2010 Final, in aide of the Help for Heroes charity. The Grand Final, to be held on 11th and 12th October 2010, will be the conclusion to what is expected to be the largest charity golf event the UK has seen. Thousands of golfers, from hundreds of golf clubs around the UK, will compete in The National Golf Club Challenge by playing at their local Help for Heroes charity fundraiser on 24th or 25th July 2010. The six top scoring clubs will then go forward to the final, where they will compete for some fantastic golf prizes, and to be crowned the 2010 National Golf Club Champions. The two day Grand Final hosted by The Belfry, will include a practice day, golf clinic, overnight accommodation, the final competition, a gala dinner, guest speakers and the prize presentations.

"We are thrilled to work with The Belfry in making The National Golf Club Challenge a resounding success," said event organiser, Stacey Jeffries, "The Belfry is synonymous with golf having played host to many of the greatest players to grace the game."

Slieve Russell host Charley Pride

The management of the Slieve Russell Hotel were delighted to host Charley Pride in Concert as part of his Irish Tour on Mon 9th November. Over the past thirty years, Charley Pride has remained one of the Top 20 best-selling country artists of all-time.

Proud sponsors of POPAI 2009

QUINN-plastics were delighted to sponsor this year’s POPAI awards in London. The awards took place on the 22nd of October at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel. The POPAI (Point of Purchase Advertising International) awards recognise excellence in the P-O-P market. The awards are designed to showcase the strength and talent of those involved in the industry.

QUINN-plastics sponsored two of the award categories - ‘Best in Ireland’ which was won by Dublin based company the Kleerex Group, and the ‘Cosmetics Display’ category, won by Diam International UK.

Commenting on the awards, Peter Kelly, General Manager of QUINN-plastics said: "QUINN-plastics is very pleased to sponsor the POPAI awards in these categories and to promote the use of transparent plastic sheets in retail environments. The POPAI awards are an excellent opportunity to highlight the advantages of transparent plastics to store operators and designers."