Page 10 - Irish Examiner USA

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10

2019 Public Show Their Strong Irish Sales Growth Masks Wider

7th, Rumblings At Domino’s Pizza
August Support For Harland

| And Wolff Workers
EXAMINER herehasbeendelugeof sup- ing government in particular couraging that, we’d prefer sup- year.
Domino’s Pizza has reiterated plans to grow further in Ireland
after seeing Irish-based sales grow by 8.5% in the first half of the

port for Harland and Wolff with calls to step in and nation-
plies such as food and drink as
The group operates 50 outlets there and holds a 15% stake in
IRISH suncreamandfoodtoperformances They are maintaining a 24/7 we don’t want money lying its main Irish franchisee, Shorecal Ltd. Earlier this year, Domino’s
Tworkers from donations of alize the business.
around.”
bylocalcelebrities. occupation of the site, fueled by Mr Reid said the workers had said it plans to open 10 more outlets across Ireland in the next
As the work force continue donations and support from the expected support, but not on four years and up to 25 take-away outlets in the coming years.
their occupation of the historic public. the level they have received. The group said in March: “We still see ample opportunity to
shipyard even as the firm is A family fun day was held on “We expected a bit of sup- raise store numbers {in Ireland] to 75 over time. The Irish econ-
placed into administration, Sunday as a thank you to the port, maybe a few toots of car omy has recovered strongly and the casual dining market is
there has been a steady stream community for their support, horns and cheers, but not from booming.”
of supporters arriving with but Barry Reid, a GMB union as far and wide,” he said. On the back of a mixed set of interim results, a group
donations and words of encour- shop steward and steel worker, “There will be a big thank spokesperson indicated that those plans have not changed over
agement. said there will be another thank you said to the community the intervening months.
Newry singer Tommy Sands you when the effort is over. when this is all done.” Domino's said it saw a “robust” performance from its UK and
donned a Harland and Wolff There is a constant sounding Harland and Wolff is facing Irish operations in the first six months of the year.
cap as he performed a number of car horns at the gates from closure after its trouble-hit However, underlying group pre-tax profits fell by 7.4%, year-
of songs at the gates of the ship- passing vehicles showing their Norwegian parent company on-year, to £42.3m (€46m) due to losses at its international busi-
yard on Wednesday, including solidarity with the workers Dolphin Drilling failed to find a ness division - which covers various countries across Scandinavia
one he had written for the fighting to save the shipyard. buyer. and the Nordic region and mainland Europe.
workers. Mr Reid said the shipyard Workers have occupied the The group’s statutory pre-tax profits fell nearly 27% to
Unite shop steward and occupation has even become site for over a week as part of a £30.5m.
Harland and Wolff steel worker part of the tourism trail. high-profile campaign to save Goodbody Stockbrokers has cut its full-year profit forecast for
Joe Passmore thanked Mr “We’ve had buses from the the yard, which entered admin- Domino’s by 9%, to £86m, due to an expected continuation in
Sands, saying his performance south coming by and waving at istration on Monday. losses in the group’s international division and a reduction in the
had made the hairs on the back us, and some come out to talk The shipbuilder, whose number of stores it is opening in its core UK market.
of his neck stand up. to us,” he told PA. famous yellow cranes Samson Domino’s has struggled to control rising costs across its inter-
“Fantastic, I’m sure every However the biggest show and Goliath dominate the national business this year.
shipyard worker here had the of support has been the constant Belfast skyline, employed more “The performance of our international business is very chal-
same feeling, I know you did supply of donations, even fast than 30,000 people during the lenging and trading visibility remains limited,” Domino’s outgo-
actually,” he said. food deliveries throughout the city’s industrial heyday, but ing CEO David Wild said. C
He also thanked TDs Ruth night. now the workforce only num-
Coppinger and Paul Murphy “We’ve been getting drinks, bers around 125. Supermac’s Wins Second Trademark
who were visiting for their sup- crisps, sausage rolls, sandwich- It has diversified away from Action Against McDonald’s
port and revealed a protest in es, one wee man came down at shipbuilding in the last two The boss of
support of the workers was 2am with McDonald’s for us all, decades and until recently had Supermac’s has
planned to take place in Dublin he said his grandfather had primarily worked on wind ener- described their lat-
later this week. worked here,” he said. gy and marine engineering proj- est successful chal-
Ms Coppinger told PA: “We “Businesses have been com- ects. lenge to
have come up today to show ing with donations and we have Famed for building the McDonald’s trade-
solidarity, the plight of these had community groups and doomed White Star liner marks as a “win
workers to save their jobs and churches bringing us biscuits Titanic, which sank on its maid-
also to save this iconic shipyard. and drinks. en transatlantic voyage in 1912 for small business-
“It’s known nationally in the “We had one wee girl came after striking an iceberg, es.”
south of Ireland, associated with down with a big box of Harland and Wolff was one of The Irish fast-
Belfast and it must be saved.” Celebrations for us, she said her the UK’s key industrial produc- food chain had
Harland and Wolff workers granny had worked here. ers during the Second World challenged McDonald’s use of the ‘Mc’ prefix in trademarks.
have vowed to remain on site “There has also been people War, supplying almost 150 war- The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)
until a solution is found, press- donating money but we are dis- ships. C found that McDonald’s can no longer exclusively use this prefix
on several of its food items.
An assessment found the chain can only trademark it in rela-
tion to its chicken nuggets and on some sandwiches.
Managing Director Pat McDonagh said that McDonald’s had
initially objected to an attempt to register Supermac’s as a trade-
mark.
“During the course of our investigation, we found that they
had registered in excess of 800 trademarks with the ‘Mc’ prefix,”
he said.
“We contested that and said that unless you’re using these
trademarks, you can’t be hoarding them as a war chest against
other people.”
It’s the second time Supermac’s has been successful in a legal
challenge against the fast-food giant, after winning a challenge to
have the Big Mac trademark canceled earlier this year. C