Four top companies and future leaders shortlisted for The Irish Times Business Awards

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Four leading Irish companies have been shortlisted for the Company of the Year award at The Irish Times Business Awards.

Building materials giant CRH, convenience food group Greencore, payments company Stripe and listed food group Glanbia will all vie for the prestigious award.

Based in Dublin but listed on the New York Stock Exchange, CRH recently made the cut for the prestigious S&P 500, the world’s most widely followed stock index.

The company’s shares soared to a record high in early December on the news, while the stock has risen by more than 24 per cent over the past 12 months on the back of strong trading and a positive outlook for the group.

Greencore also recorded strong earnings growth last year while moving to complete its £1.2 billion (€1.4 billion) takeover of British rival Bakkavor.

Bakkavor adds pizza, bread, desserts and dips to Greencore’s range, which already spans sandwiches to salads, sushi and ready-made meals.

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The enlarged group is expected to generate pro forma revenue of about £4.1 billion, with adjusted operating profit of £246.5 million. It will be led by Irish man Dalton Philips, Greencore’s chief executive.

In September, it emerged that Irish-founded fintech Stripe had seen its valuation climb to $106.7 billion (€90.8 billion), passing the company’s previous peak of $95 billion in 2021.

In 2024, Stripe was valued at $70 billion when Sequoia Capital offered to buy shares from investors looking to cash out of the fintech.

Cofounded by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison in 2010, Stripe has built an extensive payments infrastructure for companies and handles billions of dollars in transactions each year.

In November, Kilkenny-based food group Glanbia told investors it was targeting annual growth of 7-11 per cent in earnings per share out to 2028.

The group is also targeting operating cash conversion of at least 85 per cent of its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation, and a return on capital employed of 10-13 per cent. And it pledged a “progressive dividend” with a target payout ratio range of 30 per cent to 40 per cent.

Separately, four nominees have been chosen for the Future Leader award.

Áine Kennedy launched the Smooth Company from her attic in 2022 and it has since gone on to become one of Ireland’s best-known beauty brands. She began with the Smooth Stick, a hair-taming wand that controls stray hairs without leaving them hard or greasy. Kennedy won the emerging category at the EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards in November.

Also shortlisted is Coleraine-based knitwear designer Hope Macaulay. As Macaulay recounts on her website, she began by knitting alone in her bedroom, later expanding into a team of 20 skilled knitters working from home across Northern Ireland, helping keep the traditional cottage industry alive. She made a Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2024.

Niamh Donnelly is co-founder and chief technology officer of Akara Robotics. This is a company developing autonomous systems conceived and designed to improve hospital efficiency and enhance patient care through AI-powered sensing and robotics. Donnelly leads the development of the software and AI.

The other nominee is New York-based Shane Curran, founder and chief executive of payments group Evervault and a former winner of the Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition.

In 2020, Curran raised $16 million in Silicon Valley for his company, whose stated vision is to encrypt the web and prevent data breaches.

The Irish Times Business Awards will take place on February 19th in the Round Room at the Mansion House in Dublin 2.