Invest NI support secures £38m of investment in Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council area

Invest Northern Ireland performance results for 2025/26 show that its support has helped secure £38m of business investment in the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council area.  

The agency offered £9m of assistance to help businesses in the area innovate, increase productivity and create new jobs. 169 new jobs will be created in the area as a result of this support. 

Speaking about the results, Iain Joannides, Head of Eastern Regional Business, Invest NI, said: “The number of projects we have supported and the amount assistance offered in the area increased this year which means higher levels of investment and more jobs will be created.  

“We saw a significant increase in support for innovation and R&D projects in particular, which accounted for 50 per cent of the support we offered to businesses in the area. A large proportion of this was as a result of a major investment by Cirdan. The company announced a £12.9m investment in R&D and skills alongside 72 new jobs. We offered £1.9m of support towards this project. 

“Fane Valley is also investing £1.1m in skills development across its workforce to meet customer demands. Our support will help the company to strengthen its collective skillset with training across sales and marketing, leadership capability, supply chain development and digital capabilities. 

“We also saw more businesses in the area getting investment and support through our Access to Finance funds – more than double last year – providing much needed finance to SMEs to help get business ideas off the ground. 

“We are working with more companies in the area than before, thanks to our programmes Ambition to Grow and Business Innovation Grant,” added Iain. “These programmes are helping us reach small businesses that previously would not have been able to access Invest NI support. We have helped 37 entrepreneurs and SMEs in the Lisburn & Castlereagh area innovate, create good jobs and increase external sales through these programmes to date.  

“Our strong relationship with Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council also ensures businesses engaging with council programmes that have export potential get referred to Invest NI.” 

The Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council Briefing has now been updated and includes data on Invest NI support over the past five years (2021-22 to 2025-26).