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AAB Group / News / Page 9
AAB’s corporate finance team has been awarded the inaugural Transaction Services Team of the Year Award by Insider at the Northern Ireland Dealmaker Awards 2021.
The Transaction Services Team of the Year Award recognises the team that has advised and facilitated in the most exciting deals, by providing the highest quality transaction services throughout the year.
Alongside shortlisted firms such as EY and Grant Thornton, AAB secured the title through its differential services and were announced winners of the award, with the judges commenting: “AAB has grown to be a market leader in transaction services within the SME space in Northern Ireland. The judges felt that the enhanced procedures that the team implemented for due diligence assignments, adapting these to the rapidly evolving pandemic crisis, made the AAB team stand out.”
Feargal McCormack, Managing Director at AAB – IRELAND commented: “This is a wonderful achievement for our Corporate Finance Team – to be recognised amongst so many highly accomplished peers in the sector. Furthermore, it is well deserved by our industry-leading team for the key role they play in advising a wide portfolio of complex international and local deals in Northern Ireland.” Ashok Thomas, AAB Corporate Finance Lead continued: “To win this award at any time is an incredible achievement, but to achieve this award against the backdrop of the last year is testament to the strength and expertise of the team and demonstrates the relationships we are proud to have formed with businesses in Northern Ireland.”
Feargal McCormack, Managing Director at AAB – IRELAND commented: “This is a wonderful achievement for our Corporate Finance Team – to be recognised amongst so many highly accomplished peers in the sector. Furthermore, it is well deserved by our industry-leading team for the key role they play in advising a wide portfolio of complex international and local deals in Northern Ireland.”
Ashok Thomas, AAB Corporate Finance Lead continued: “To win this award at any time is an incredible achievement, but to achieve this award against the backdrop of the last year is testament to the strength and expertise of the team and demonstrates the relationships we are proud to have formed with businesses in Northern Ireland.”
The Northern Ireland Dealmaker Awards, which are sponsored by Danske Bank and HSBC, are sought-after by the corporate finance community in Northern Ireland and reward the top performing professional advice and funders in the region.
Philip Cunliffe, Insider’s Regional Business Editor, who chaired the judging panel, said: “This last year has been a hugely difficult and challenging one for businesses in Northern Ireland and for the corporate finance firms and banks that support them. “But, despite this, some fantastic deals were done which reflects superbly on the strength and resilience of the region’s advisory community. I can tell you that the judges had a very difficult time in selecting the shortlists but believe they represent the very best of the region.”
Philip Cunliffe, Insider’s Regional Business Editor, who chaired the judging panel, said: “This last year has been a hugely difficult and challenging one for businesses in Northern Ireland and for the corporate finance firms and banks that support them.
“But, despite this, some fantastic deals were done which reflects superbly on the strength and resilience of the region’s advisory community. I can tell you that the judges had a very difficult time in selecting the shortlists but believe they represent the very best of the region.”
You can read the full announcement here
Celebrating 30 years in business… and what a journey it’s been!
The team at FPM (now trading as AAB) are thrilled to be celebrating 30 years in business on Thursday 19th August 2021, and extend sincere thanks to current and former staff, clients and all those who have been part of their story so far. As FPM marks this momentous milestone, they have taken this opportunity to look back on how it all started and how far they’ve come…
Feargal Padraig McCormack founded FPM in August 1991 at 98 Hill Street, Newry with a part-time secretary, Catherine Hillen (Kate), who remains part of Team AAB to this day, as their longest serving employee.
With his lifetime motto, “I don’t care how much you know until, I know how much you care”, Feargal has shaped FPM’s culture to center around “Caring and Serving” clients, colleagues, and the local community.
Reflecting on the past 30 years, FPM Founder and Managing Director, Feargal McCormack says:
“From the beginning, FPM focused on being an innovative and enthusiastic champion of change, committed to making a difference to the lives of our clients and the communities in which we serve, with a passion for our planet, by satisfying today’s needs without endangering future generations.
Feargal continues,
“While our firm has grown significantly, we remain true to our original caring ethos. We focus on building long-term partnerships with clients and we measure our success on how we help them to achieve their professional and personal financial objectives, along with lifetime aspirations and dreams.”
Today, as it celebrates 30 years supporting business, FPM has grown into a multi-award-winning accountancy and business consultancy practice, recognised as a leading independent cross-border firm in Ireland.
Team FPM, led by 10 equity directors, boasts a competent and energetic workforce of 120+ business advisors operating from the firm’s Newry Headquarters and other 5 offices. Clients include many of the most prestigious businesses in Ireland.
Since the firm’s 25th anniversary in 2016, FPM has picked up some of the highest accolades business has to offer, including:
While we reflect on the past 30 years, our primary focus is set firmly on the future.
People and Culture Director, Teresa Campbell adds:
“This year marks three decades of growth, achievements and lessons learnt. In reaching this point, we owe everything to our strongest asset, our people. I am constantly in awe of the talent that our FPM team has to offer and am really excited as we prepare to welcome seven new trainees later this month.”
As we look forward and celebrate, we say “Thank You” to all of our customers and co-workers, both past and present, without whom none of this would have been possible.
Extending thanks to past and present customers and co-workers, Feargal states:
“I am extremely proud of everything that Team FPM has achieved and grateful to our clients who have made our journey to date so exciting. Looking to the future, we are confident, that FPM will continue to be a progressive and outward-looking organisation, dynamically engaged with its many constituencies and driven by a vision and passion, not just for itself, but for the communities it serves.”
Here’s to the next 30 years!
Independent, Ireland based accountancy practice, AAB, with offices north and south of the Irish border, proved to be leading their sector when awarded two of the most sought-after honours at the Irish Accountancy Awards, which took place virtually on Wednesday, 18th November 2020.
The magnitude of taking home these awards, namely: Large Practice of the Year for a second consecutive year and Individual Excellence Young Accountant of the Year – awarded to Senior Manager, Ashok Thomas, was a significant accomplishment for Team AAB, who have collectively focused all efforts and resources on supporting clients and the community in what has been an extraordinary year.
The host, Richard Curran, broadcasted the event live from Dublin City on Wednesday afternoon and congratulated AAB on the prestigious wins,
‘There really was no box that this firm did not tick’
A farmer and his wife have been spared the prospect of bankruptcy and the loss of their family farm after a court ruled they could avail of personal insolvency arrangements to restructure more than €500,000 in debts.
The decision is significant as it signals a new pathway for heavily indebted farmers to deal with creditors without being forced to sell their land.
Until recently, personal insolvency arrangements (PIAs) have been associated with saving family homes, rather than property.
But the Circuit Court decision is the second in eight months where both a residence and a family farm have been saved through a PIA. It is the first time such an arrangement has been approved in the face of creditor opposition.
Danske Bank had presented a bankruptcy petition against the couple, both in their early 60s, and wanted the sale of their 112-acre Co Roscommon farm after they defaulted on loans of €434,000. The bank also appointed a receiver over their single-farm payment, an EU agricultural subsidy.
However, Judge Mary Enright approved PIAs that will restructure their total debts of €522,000. Under the arrangement, they will get 20 years to repay Danske. The couple will be in their 80s by the time the debts are cleared.
While there was no debt write-off involved, it means they will be able to keep their house and family farm.
The PIAs were devised by AAB Restructuring & Recovery Partner, Gary Digney and brought before the court by barrister Keith Farry, instructed by Elizabeth Howard & Co solicitors.
Danske Bank held the mortgage security over the farmlands, which were valued at €600,000. It argued these could be sold and that the farmer could clear all his debts, keeping the family home but not the farm.
In legal filings, the bank claimed it would be unfairly prejudiced by having to wait 20 years for repayment. It said the debtors defaulted nine years ago and had made only one repayment since then. It also claimed the arrangement was unworkable as the bank closed its personal and business banking operations in the Republic of Ireland in 2013.
These arguments were rejected by Judge Enright.
In a virtual court ruling last Wednesday, she said she could not condone the behaviour of the debtors, which may have partly been due to bad advice.
However, she said the court could not come to a decision to refuse the arrangement.
“I find no unfair prejudice. All creditors are being paid in full,” Judge Enright said.
The judge noted the single-farm payment would be able to cover all Danske Bank repayments under the PIA and that the bank would receive an additional €90,000 in interest.
The couple’s financial difficulties began with an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis, which meant their cattle herd had to be destroyed in 2009. They got compensation for only a third of the value of the cattle.
After rebuilding the herd, there was further misfortune two years later when calves contracted a disease caused by a lack of iodine. This led to one-third of the herd being lost, without compensation.
These events left them unable to service bank loans under existing terms.
Mr Digney, of AAB, said investment funds that had bought up farm debt from the banks were pursuing short-term strategies to recover the borrowings.
As a result, long-term restructuring was not being offered by such entities.
However, he said this case had shown this could be achieved under a PIA.
“The process guarantees engagement with decision makers and the court can overturn unreasonable refusals and approve the proposals,” said Mr Digney. “If a farmer can pay his debts in full over time, surely they should be allowed to do it. “This judgment shows that there is a way of allowing that to happen.”
“The process guarantees engagement with decision makers and the court can overturn unreasonable refusals and approve the proposals,” said Mr Digney.
“If a farmer can pay his debts in full over time, surely they should be allowed to do it.
“This judgment shows that there is a way of allowing that to happen.”
The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has spent so much time in the spotlight that it seems hard to believe he has only been the job for five months. Yesterday’s financial statement was just the latest of a series of announcements by Mr Sunak since he presented his Spring Budget on 11 March, four weeks after entering 11 Downing Street. One way or another, all the announcements have been responses to the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
His latest statement was perhaps the most difficult, given the circumstances in which it was set.
Highlights include:
FPM (now trading as AAB) were last night, Wednesday 19th February, listed in the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work for in the UK. The only Northern Ireland business to be achieve Top 100 status, FPM were recognised among the very best workplace cultures in the UK for the third consecutive year, in what was the Sunday Times Best Companies 20th Anniversary Awards Ceremony held at the in Battersea Evolution, London.
As the list went live at 12 midnight, FPM were placed 63rd and acknowledged with the maximum three star accreditation for extraordinary levels of staff engagement and empowerment across all 8 factors of workplace engagement – Leadership, Giving Something Back, Personal Growth, Wellbeing, Team, Fair Deal, Managers & Company.
Leading accountancy practice, AAB, with offices north and south of the Irish border, proved again to be leading their sector when awarded two of the most sought-after honours at the British Accountancy Awards Gala, which took place on 25 September 2019 in Grosvenor House Hotel, London.
The magnitude of taking home these awards, namely Mid-Tier Firm of the Year and Best Employer compliments recent Irish honours bestowed to AAB for Industry Excellence – Large Firm of the Year. This UK and Irish excellence enables AAB to guide businesses through Brexit, understanding their needs on both sides of the Border.
The British Accountancy Awards 2019, hosted by Sean Lock, saw its largest number of entries yet.
On receiving the awards, AAB Managing Director Ireland, Feargal McCormack commented, ‘It’s a significant honour to be recognised as the UK’s Best Mid-Tier Firm for three years running. We attribute this accolade, alongside the Best Overall Employer in Accountancy recognition, to our passionate Team in AAB, who work tirelessly to exceed client expectations and provide best in class solutions.’
We are excited to announce that our AAB UKI network has been listed number 10 in Accountancy Age’s ‘Top 50 + 50 Accountancy Firms 2019’. Firms listed are ranked by total UK fee income for the last financial year.
We attribute this success to our UKI firms achieving a fee income of £140 million in the year to May 2019.
Independent Irish accountancy practice, AAB, alongside the support of Newry Chamber of Commerce & Trade, their clients and the wider Newry business community, has been raising funds for an appeal very close to their hearts. Local 13-year-old, Lauren Fitzgerald was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer, stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma, just over a year ago on July 3rd, 2018.
AAB were today delighted to present Lauren with a cheque for £31,212.76 from recent fundraising activities including a sponsored walk up Slieve Donard on Sunday 23rd June 2019, as well as, an auction and raffle facilitated by Newry Chamber of Commerce at the Greater Newry Area Business Awards on Thursday 27th June 2019.
Lauren’s family were fundraising with Solving Kids Cancer to give Lauren the best chance of living cancer free. They have raised a massive £234,000 to gain access to the Bivalent Vaccine clinical trial at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York.
The brave teenager has already endured extensive treatment to get her into remission and, amazingly, her latest scans came back clear. But neuroblastoma, which is an aggressive and complex cancer to treat, has a strong likelihood of returning according to experts – and if this happens the survival rate is very low.
Lauren has demonstrated strength, humour and positivity during her battle against cancer, being encouraged by the support of her loved ones, extended family, friends, neighbours and her community. AAB and Newry Chamber of Commerce would like to thank their clients, friends and members that assisted with the fundraising and wish Lauren the very best with her treatment programme.
Independent Ireland based accountancy practice, AAB, with offices north and south of the Irish border, proved to be leading their sector when awarded two of the most sought-after honours at the Irish Accountancy Awards Gala, which took place recently in The Mansion House, Dublin.
The magnitude of taking home these awards, namely: Large Practice of the Year and Individual Excellence Accountant of the Year – awarded to Managing Partner Feargal McCormack, complements recent UK honours bestowed to AAB for Industry Excellence – British Accountancy Awards Mid-Tier Firm, Tax Team and Partner of the Year. (Feargal McCormack)
In expressing his delight when collecting the Large Practice of the Year Award, AAB Director Michael Farrell commented, ‘It’s truly an honour to attend the Irish Accountancy Awards and humbling to be recognised by our peers in the industry. Indeed, the success in both the Irish and UK Awards reflects the collective passion and focus of Team AAB to exceed client expectations and deliver excellence in our industry.’
Upon receiving his award, Feargal McCormack, AAB Managing Partner stated” I was truly humbled to be nominated by my colleagues and awarded Accountant of the Year at the Irish Accountancy Awards 2019. I consider the award, a recognition of the collective Team AAB Accountants. This honour coincides with the conclusion of my very enjoyable term as President of Chartered Accountants Ireland.”
AAB were represented at the awards by a cross section of team members, including: Feargal McCormack, Michael Farrell, Teresa Campbell, Michelle Hawkins, Seamas Keating, Caroline Preston, Caroline Butler, Tanya O’Hare, Nicola Connolly and Teresa Gill.