CIMA Business Breakfast with Brendan McGurgan, Managing Director, CDE Global
CDE Global future proofing for success in an uncertain climate
CDE on course to achieve £100 million turnover in 2018
Thursday 20 September 2018: Brendan McGurgan, Group Managing Director, CDE Global today gave Northern Ireland’s business leaders, attending a Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) business briefing an insight into how CDE became the largest wet processing equipment company in the world and how the business is getting Brexit ready and is on course to achieve £100 million turnover in 2018 .
Mr. McGurgan discussed how the Group is implementing its 2020 Visionwith the aim of generating an increase in turnover of 150% and strengthen head count by creating 110-150 new positions globally. He described how the recession led the company to rethink its strategy and to increase investment in R&Dand outlined how CDE Global is working with its business partners to enable the company meet the challenges of Brexit. Key measures include investigating the tariff rates that would apply in each of the Group’s export markets, looking at alternative shipping / transport routes to avoid going through England and an in-depth review of the Supply Chain to understand the exposure of the business and to determine the risks from their suppliers to the business. The company is also on course to ensure that in March 2019 there is sufficient buffer stock to accommodate any delays in bringing materials / parts into the UK. He stated that the firm continues to promote the advantage of the ‘weak’ pound to customers in export countries and has asked all employees who are eligible to obtain an Irish passport to do so.
Speaking at the CIMA briefing, Ciaran Phelan, Head of CIMA Ireland said that CDE is a role model for strategic planning and analysis for future proofing businesses and ensuring sustainable success.
“CDE has underpinned its future through forward looking, strategic analyses to identify the opportunities and indeed the risks to become a globally sustainable business.
Against the backdrop of Brexit and a business environment where technological advances are developing at an exponential rate, understanding how best to equip your business to adapt to new and unknown futures is key. CIMA in its Future of Finance Report forecasts that this requires agile management, highly articulate in advising business through stakeholder interaction and applying expertise to help with impactful decision-making. Change is the new norm in many organisations and as such this requires constantly evolving, business focussed skills which are at the core of the CIMA qualification”, stated Mr. Phelan.
With its global headquarters in Cookstown, Northern Ireland, CDE Global has gone from a start-up business in 1992 to a leading wet processing equipment company that employs 500 people globally across eight regions. Its global growth continued in 2018 with the opening of its new North American Headquarters in Cleburne, Texas followed quickly by the acquisition of Caterpillar NI’s former manufacturing facility located in Monkstown, NI. CDE ranks among the fastest-growing UK mid-market private companies in the Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200
