Turning the negatives into positives - Horseware embraces Bretix challenges
As one of Dundalk’s most successful indigenous companies, Horseware Ireland was the ideal place for An Taoiseach Enda Kenny to visit and hear about the hopes and fears which Bretix engenders for manufacturing industries which export to the UK.
The company, which has 750 employees worldwide, including 150 in Ireland, is the perfect example of a small Irish business which has grown to become an international force.
On the day of his visit, European buyers were in the factory viewing the company’s autumn/winter range for 2017 which, as director Mr Ciaran Herr explained, now makes ‘sport clothes for humans as well as horses’ with its CX+Sport range.
Mr Herr and Mr Fergus McArdle told An Taoiseach of the steps being taken by Horseware Ireland to address the challenges posed by Brexit for the company which is a big exporter to the UK.
‘ The point we made is that we’re selling forward sterling and at the moment it’s a grey area in regards to the rate of exchange we can get for the sterling we sell,’ explained Mr Herr. ‘We as a company are taking a lot of risk as to how major currency hedges.’
However, he stressed that company is determined to turn the situation into a positive and had actually purchased two companies, both equestrian sales and marketing companies, in the UK since Brexit.
‘We have to have a businesslike position and get on with looking after ourselves,’ he continued. ‘While there are a lot of negatives there are also a lot of positives and we have to look at the negatives and turn into a positive.’
The purchase of two companies meant that they now had a more integrated presence in the UK, said Mr McArdle.
Horseware Ireland has also expanded into the highly competitive sportswear market with its CX+Sport range and currently supplies the kits for Dundalk FC and Dundalk Rugby Club as well a growing number of local and national sporting clubs.