The Succession Exit Strategy Summit, in the Newpark Hotel, on Wednesday 30th October, features industry experts who will provide invaluable guidance on optimising business exits for maximum value and minimal complications.  Book here.

Agenda:

• 10.00am-10.10am – Welcome Address – LEO Kilkenny
• 10.10am-11.40am – Succession Planning with Kevin O’Neill in Plan Review and Robert Daly in Daly Farrell Accountants
• 11.40am-11.50am – Break
• 11.50am-12.20pm – Joe O’Reilly – Ark Farm Innovations
• 12.20pm-13.00pm – Frank Kelly – KDA Accountancy
• 13.00pm-13.15pm – Q&A
• 13.15pm-14.00pm – Lunch

Speakers:

Kevin O Neill (Plan Review)

Kevin O’Neill is a Qualified Financial Advisor and member of the Life Insurance Association of Ireland and Brokers Ireland. Kevin has over 15 years experience in financial planning, working with individual and executive clients. Kevin established Plan Review in 2005 in order to provide an impartial, personalised service to clients. Kevin previously worked for FDC accountants and Financial Services.

Robert Daly (Daly Farrell Accountants)

With over 20 years of advising businesses in a diverse range of industries Robert brings a wealth of management experience at senior level. Results focused with the ability to create solutions and influence decisions. His specialized areas are corporate governance, taxation, company secretarial and financial reporting, raising finance, driving large merger and acquisition transactions, implementing corporate and taxation structures and overseeing compliance with the various regulators. He has invaluable understanding and experience in sectors such as Hotels and Nursing Homes. Robert is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland and built up his experience in practice from 2001. Robert is also an Irish Olympian and World medallist in athletics.

Frank Kelly (KDA)

Frank is a partner in KDA, an accountancy firm based in Gorey. Franks passion is helping business owners get the maximum from their business in the most tax efficient way possible. The firm provides high level business exit strategies for their clients and have seen an increasing trend in the requirement for this service. Frank will provide an insight into the strategies available and how his firm are providing solutions and high-level tax planning advice to clients and business owners throughout the South East.

Joe O Reilly (Ark farm Innovations)

Joe is a founder and managing director of Ark Farm Innovations Ltd, a business Joe & his wife Amanda set up in 2015. Joe’s mantra is “driven to innovate focused to care” and has used this to help grow the business over the last decade. Joe will discuss his experiences of getting a business into a sellable position, the due diligence process and the highs and lows of the selling process.

Kilkenny Chamber and PwC are delighted to invite you to our Lunchtime Budget 2025 briefing where a panel of experts will share their views and answer your questions on Budget 2025 and what the impacts might be for you, your business and the economy.
Speakers include:

• Jim Power, Economist, Author & Lecturer at Smurfit Business School and joint broadcaster of The Other Hand podcast
• Roisin Purcell,Tax Director, PwC

Event details
Date: Wednesday, 2 October 2024
Location: Kilkenny River Court Hotel, The Bridge, John Street Upper, Gardens, Kilkenny, R95 Y104
Time:  
12.30pm – Registration and lunch
1.00pm – Briefing commences
2.00pm – Briefing concludes

To register email admin@kilkennychamber.ie

Auto-Enrolment for pensions will be mandatory from 1st January next, and the Chamber has teamed up with Cleere Life to find out more about this topic.

Venue:  Pembroke Hotel Kilkenny. 

Time:  12.45 pm – 2.00 pm

To register for this free event, please email admin@kilkennychamber.ie

Lunch will be provided, so booking is essential. 

The Annual Kilkenny Chamber Golf Challenge will take place on Wednesday 29th May at the beautiful Mount Juliet Course.

Teams of 4 : €600

Tee times from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm

Contact admin@kilkennychamber.ie to book your tee time, as tee times are booking up fast! 

PwC and Kilkenny Chamber were delighted to partner to bring this presentation on Upcoming Changes to Modernise VAT event on 11 April 2024.

The event focused on the key areas of focus forming part of the ViDA proposals which businesses need to start considering and planning for. Particular areas of focus included:

• E-invoicing – domestic & cross border
• Digital Reporting Requirements
• Single EU VAT registration

Sharing their views on ViDA and answering your questions on the day were

• Brian Hogan, Director PwC
• Eugen Trombitas, Managing Director PwC

Click on: Slides PwC – VAT in a Digital Age (VIDA) – April 2024 for a copy of the slides which were used in the presentation

Kilkenny Chamber is delighted to partner with Carlow Kilkenny Skillnet and PwC Kilkenny for this International Women’s Day Event on Thursday evening 7th March.

Our guest speakers will be:  Women’s Health Workplace Consultant Catherine O’Keeffe, Tirlán’s Chief ESG Officer, Dr. Lisa Koep, Goatsbridge Trout’s Mag Kirwan and Founder and CEO of The B!G Idea Kim Mackenzie-Doyle.  The event will be hosted by Róisín Purcell, PwC Director.

Register for this event at International Women’s Day 2024 – Profit and Purpose, Women Leading the Way – 1656287 (webcasts.com)

Join us for our first Chamber Chat of 2024 at the new State Street offices in Loughboy for a guided tour of their eco-friendly building, home to their established cybersecurity hub. 

For its final Chamber Chat before the Summer, Kilkenny Chamber was delighted to partner with Smithwick’s Experience for an evening of networking, good food and enjoyment. 

Chamber Chats are free networking opportunities, and are open to members and their guests.  

“A Behind the Scenes look at how to build a global brand”

It was standing room only once again at the Kilkenny Chamber Chat held last week in the Cartoon Saloon Studio in Barrack Street. The story of how three young art students with a passion for animation, Nora Twomey, Tomm Moore and Paul Young,  went from small beginnings to being known worldwide was told at the well-attended event.  Today they are celebrated for a series of films from “The Story of Kells” to “Wolfwalkers” and “The Song of the Sea” that have won them a cabinet full of prestigious awards. A panel discussion was chaired by John Hurley, CEO of Kilkenny Chamber.

Nora Twomey talked about the importance of seed money in their early days and Cian McElhone of Screen Ireland talked about how this helps companies to grow and the massive impact this has on local economies in later years. Cartoon Saloon have spent twenty years working hard to successfully combine art and business and are now a large employer in Kilkenny with up to 200 employees working on projects at various stages of production. Key to their growth according to Nora was maintaining a “tricycle approach.”   Film making is an industry where you may need to change direction quickly and you have to stay flexible.

Many business representatives in the audience commented on the beneficial  impact the employees of Cartoon Saloon had on other businesses. To finish Nora outlined some of the many productions in development, all of which will be based primarily in Kilkenny.

Join us once again at Mount Juliet for the annual Chamber Golf Outing!  Some afternoon tee times are still available and you can book them by emailing admin@kilkennychamber.ie 

Our Golf Outing is open to both members and non members, and is always guaranteed to be a great day out. 

The winners of the competition are then eligible to enter the All Island Golf Outing at The K Club, organised by Chambers Ireland, on Thursday 12th October. 

Kilkenny Chamber held its 75^th Annual General Meeting at the Pembroke Hotel Kilkenny recently.  President Brian Keyes was re-elected for a second year in office, and Vice President Anne Barber was also re-elected.

The following officers were elected:  Owen Sweeney, Hon. Secretary, Gordon Murphy, Hon Treasurer, Mary Brennan, Hon. Assistant Treasurer, John Masterson, PRO.

Members of the Board were elected as follows:  Marion Acreman, Colin Ahern, Paschal Bergin, Michael Brannigan, Margaret Clancy, Martin Costello, Jason Dempsey, Gavin Dixon, Gary Graham, Claire McInerney Brown, Tom O’Connor, and Deirdre Shine.

CEO John Hurley launched the new Explore Kilkenny app. Working in conjunction with Kilkenny Tourism, the app will be the go-to point of information about Kilkenny for visitors and locals alike.  He encouraged everyone to download the App (search for Xplore App and choose Kilkenny) and provide feedback to the Chamber by emailing admin@kilkennychamber.ie.  The App is in operation now and over the coming months its functionality will be expanded to include the Chamber’s Gift Voucher Scheme and much more.

There is a huge amount of assistance available to businesses in Kilkenny via a number of different resources.  Some of those resources came together for our March Chamber Chat to give details of the courses and training available to employers and their employees. Many of these training courses are provided free of charge. 

The overall message was to encourage employers in Kilkenny to engage with the various agencies to find out how best they can help them retrain and retain their staff. 

The Chamber started its 2023 Schedule of Chamber Chats, with The Core Story in the Set Theatre. Padraig Hyland, co-founder of the Core Story, presented to our biggest ever attendance at a Chamber Chat, outlining the importance of knowing your business story, and learning how to tell it in an engaging way.  Many of our Business Awards finalists and winners attended, and this was deliberate, as we wanted to show them how to use their success at the Awards to grow their business. 

December’s Chamber Chat took place at Paris Texas, where many of the finalists and winners of the Kilkenny Business Awards 2022 met to chat about the Awards.  The Local Enterprise Office also attended, with their Shop Local message for Christmas.