Encirc Managing Director Adrian Curry, from Enniskillen, speaks to Impartial Reporter Business about a planned investment of £50 million in the Derrylin glass plant and his pride in local workers who are sharing their glass making expertise across the globe.


When Spanish glass manufacturer Vidrala bought Encirc for €408 million in 2015, it was “very excited” about the technology in the glass factory that was established in 1998 by former Derrylin businessman Sean Quinn.
The Encirc business is based at two sites: Derrylin, which employs 440 staff and Cheshire, which employs 800 staff and houses the largest integrated bonded warehouse in Europe. 
The Encirc brand was created in 2014 following the appointment of a share receiver to the Quinn group of businesses in 2011. Within the re-brand, Mr. Curry and his team of directors established the Encirc 360 sustainability model – whereby the company produces 2.7 billion bottles per year between Derrylin and Cheshire; fills bottles with up to 200 million litres of wine, beer or soft drink; and takes care of warehousing and logistics.
The 360 model is “the only one of its kind in the world” and it makes Encirc more sustainable, which is of great importance when attracting customers.
Encirc made a pre-tax profit of £33 million last year; a 17 per cent increase from 2015. In order to sustain that performance, it “has to invest heavily to stay at the forefront in terms of technology, quality and service.”
Vidrala has agreed to invest £50 million over the next four years in upgrading the plant and rebuilding the furnaces to accept natural gas which will be piped to Derrylin through the Gas to the West initiative.
“When Vidrala bought us they were very clear they wanted to keep the Encirc business as it was; same branding, same management team etc. Over the two-and-a-half years we have learned a lot from each other and during that time we’ve become very strong,” said Mr. Curry, adding: “Vidrala have a lot of investments across the group so we have to demonstrate that we are the best return on capital.”
The Gas to the West pipeline “has been a significant factor in the planned investment,” Mr. Curry revealed.
Encirc was part of the initial Gas to the West discussions with the then Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster and the gas providers. The £250 million project, with a contribution of up to £32 million from the Northern Ireland Executive, will see the construction of approximately 200km of pipeline linking Coalisland, Cookstown, Derrylin, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Magherafelt, Omagh and Strabane to the existing gas network.
“Bringing gas in will help environmentally, it will help with our emissions and it also takes three large road tankers [of oil] off the road per day. But it means we will produce less glass because oil is more efficient at melting glass,” said Mr. Curry. “The complication is that we have to design our furnaces differently. We’ve worked very closely with Arlene Foster and her team a number of years ago and more recently with the gas providers to get to a point where everyone is certain this is going to happen because it does influence heavily on the decisions we make,” he added.
The first furnace rebuild will take place in 2019 and the second in 2021.
Mr. Curry commented: “There has been some news in recent weeks about procedural issues around traffic management but we understand that that’s not at all a barrier to achieving the timelines for Gas to the West.”
Sustainability is “a real selling point for the future” and is becoming a pre-requisite for many customers, who are aware that their main customer base of Millennials “are more concerned about sustainability.”
Outlining the Encirc 360 sustainability model in more detail, Mr Curry said: “We make bottles in Derrylin that are transported to the plant in Cheshire for filling. We ship wine, beer and soft drinks in bulk from all over the world for filling in Cheshire so we are not shipping glass from all over the world and we can maximise the weight on the container. As it comes in we fill it, we store 260,000 pallets on site and distribute directly to the retailers.
“Also, at the Cheshire plant we commissioned a rail head last year to bring sand from the east coast of England to us on the west coast. Just this week we brought in our first load of recycled glass from London. When you put all that together we have by far the most sustainable footprint globally in the industry,” said Mr. Curry.
Customers include Baileys, Guinness, Jameson, Bushmills, Britvic, Heineken, C&C, McGuigan wines and Gallo wines (formerly known as Ernest and Julio Gallo).
Mr. Curry explained that “personal relationships are very important” given that 20 customers make up 80 per cent of Encirc’s revenue.
Brexit is a major concern for the company which employs a lot of staff from the Republic of Ireland and has a large warehousing facility across the border in Ballyconnell.
“Shortly after Brexit we had a meeting of Vidrala’s main board and the then First Minister Arlene Foster to discuss our concerns. We are recognised as a major employer on the border and have a certain amount of gravitas,” said Mr. Curry.
As President of British Glass, he is in a position to influence the British government around Brexit on behalf of the glass industry.
As of January 2018, Encirc will expand to include Vidrala’s new Italian operation. 
“The Italian operation will be part of the profit and loss for our business and we expect annual revenue of €400 million per year,” stated Mr. Curry.
Mr. Curry, who now lives in Cheshire, concluded: “Fermanagh is a fantastic place to live and raise a family but it offers limited opportunities for young people. We must work hard to retain talent in the county and use opportunities like reducing corporation tax to attract businesses of scale to the area.
“It is not easy to manufacture in Fermanagh and transport to markets is a long distance away but companies like Encirc have proven that it can be done and can continue to be successful in the long term. 
“The hard work and dedication of the local people should not be underestimated and can be capitalised on in the future.”