Company receives award for third time.

Arkphire has been named as one of Ireland’s Best Managed companies in the Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards programme, in association with Bank of Ireland. The company, which demonstrated superior business performance for the third year in a row, was recognised at a gala awards dinner in Dublin on 1 March 2019.

This year, 12 new companies join a network of 136 companies that were awarded the status of Best Managed. The Best Managed Companies network this year has total revenues of almost €11 billion, export sales of almost €3 billion and total employment of approximately 44,000 people.

Commenting on the award, Paschal Naylor, CEO, Arkphire said: “On behalf of the entire team at Arkphire, I am delighted to receive such a prestigious award in a market full of such impressive businesses. We have enjoyed great success and now look forward to executing our future expansion plans".

Anya Cummins, Partner, Deloitte said: “Well done to all of the winning companies on their achievement. The Best Managed Companies process is a rigorous one, examining every facet of an organisation, and the bar is set high by our judging panel. As ever, the spread of companies, right around the country and across a number of industries, underlines the importance of Irish and Northern Irish companies to the economy and in the midst of economic uncertainty, technology disruption, an open competitive market and full employment, the continued strong performance of these businesses is admirable. In the current environment, it is important for this contribution to be recognised, supported and showcased.”

Tom Hayes, Chief Executive, Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking said: “It’s a challenging time for businesses in general, with the operating environment consistently and rapidly changing, due to technological developments, new ways of doing things, and challenges on the macroeconomic horizon. The Best Managed Companies this year have demonstrated that they can optimise each area of their business while always operating with an acute awareness of their environment, recognising the opportunities of expansion into global markets, in addition to strategic alliances and partnerships. I look forward to their continued growth.”

This year’s judging panel members were Frank Ryan, Chair of the Judging Panel; Brendan Jennings, CEO, Deloitte Ireland; Tom Hayes, Chief Executive, Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking; Siobhan McAleer, Commercial Director at the IMI; Rose Hynes, Chairman of the Shannon Group Board and Origin Enterprises; and Feargal Mooney, former Chief Executive Officer of HostelWorld.

About the awards

There are four different categories of Best Managed Companies award winners:

• New Best Managed Companies: Companies that receive the award for the first time. These companies must go through a Phase I and Phase II Best Managed Companies Awards Programme application process.

• Gold Standard: Best Managed Companies that receive the award for the fourth year in a row. These companies must go through a Phase I and Phase II Best Managed Companies Awards Programme application process.

• Platinum Standard: Best Managed Companies that receive the award for the seventh year in a row. These companies must go through a Phase I and Phase II Best Managed Companies Awards Programme application process.

• Re-qualifiers: Best Managed Companies, already in the programme that are not going for new, gold or platinum status. Companies applying for requalification must satisfy the programme eligibility criteria and go through a requalification review process in order to ensure that the companies continue to uphold the Best Managed standard.

About Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards

The Deloitte Best Managed Companies programme, in association with Bank of Ireland, promotes and recognises excellence in Irish/Northern Irish owned and managed companies. It is the only awards scheme on the island of Ireland that considers a business’ performance from every perspective. Entrants to the programme will compete for this designation in a rigorous and independent process that evaluates the calibre of their management abilities and practices. Programme sponsors are Bank of Ireland, the Irish Management Institute and the Sunday Business Post. For further information, visit www.deloittebestmanaged.ie.

International History of Best Managed Companies Programme

The Best Managed Companies Programme originated in Canada in 1993, where it has been run successfully ever since and is the country’s leading business awards programme. In addition to Ireland and Canada, the programme is also run in The Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey, Mexico, Chile, with upcoming launches taking place in Germany, China, the Nordics and Scotland.