Invest NI support secures £85m of investment and 400 jobs in Newry, Mourne & Down District Council area
Invest Northern Ireland performance results for 2025/26 show that its support has helped secure £85m of business investment in the Newry, Mourne & Down District Council area.
The agency offered nearly £16m of assistance to help businesses in the area innovate, increase productivity and create new jobs. 400 new jobs will be created in the area as a result of this support.
Speaking about the results, Alistair Quinn, Head of Southern Regional Business, Invest NI, said: “Our support in the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area was twice that of last year and as a direct result business investment in the area has nearly doubled and more new jobs will be created.
“The 400 new jobs are good quality jobs, with over 80 per cent paying wages above the Private Sector Median.
“In particular we saw a strong increase in investments by businesses in the Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing sector, which accounted for half of the investment in the area, and nearly half of the new jobs.
“For example, we provided support to McGuiness Mechanical Engineering to double its workforce with 28 new jobs as part of a £3.5m investment plan to increase its exports to the Republic of Ireland. Also in the sector, we’ve worked closely with Pronto Engineering, Sheaney, Versaffix, and Viltra to improve operational efficiencies, strengthen leadership, and increase digitalisation. They are now increasing their workforces with a combined 24 jobs to help grow sales outside Northern Ireland.
“And in Crossmaglen, mobile crushing and screening equipment manufacturer, Roco, has already seen impressive export sales growth in the last year with our trade support. This has led to a £2.5m company investment in a factory expansion and 30 new jobs in the area.
“We also saw a significant increase in the amount of investment in R&D and innovation – a ten-fold increase on last year. This is very encouraging as it shows more companies are realising the importance of innovation to staying ahead of the competition and ensure the long-term viability of their business.”
DeliLites in Warrenpoint is investing £19m in innovation and automation to broaden its ‘heat-to-eat’ product range with Invest NI support, and create 130 new jobs. And Dundalk-based SeaPark Consultancy is driving digital innovation in data management from Newry, where Invest NI helped it to establish its new Data and Analytics team.
“We are working with more companies in the area than before, thanks to our programmes Ambition to Grow and Business Innovation Grant,” added Alistair. “These programmes are helping us reach small businesses that previously would not have been able to access Invest NI support. We have helped 55 entrepreneurs and SMEs in the Newry, Mourne & Down District Council area innovate, create good jobs and increase external sales through these programmes to date.
“Our strong relationship with the Council also ensures businesses engaging with council programmes that have export potential get referred to Invest NI. In conjunction with the Council, we held a regional business advice clinic in Warrenpoint to help businesses access expert guidance, explore opportunities and connect with other local business owners. We also ran Business Breakfasts on access to finance, export advice, R&D, skills and productivity in the local area to engage with businesses, helping them understand what support is available and how we can support them.”
The Newry, Mourne & Down District Council Briefing has now been updated and includes data on Invest NI support over the past five years (2021-22 to 2025-26).
