STRATEGIC FOCUS ON MIDDLE EAST PAYS DIVIDENDS FOR IRISH ENGINEERING COMPANY

Irish engineering consultancy, Fehily Timoney & Company, has successfully turned its business around with a strategic focus on the Middle East. This is paying significant dividends with a series of recent contract wins worth approximately €2.5M to the business. 

The company is now in the process of hiring an additional 11 people to work on new projects in the domestic market,  Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The largest of these projects is the Jeddah Environmental & Social Master Plan in Saudi Arabia. This is a €10M high profile project covering a 150km x 50km area of the city of Jeddah and its environs. Fehily Timoney has also successfully tendered for six other high profile projects in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, cementing its position in the Middle East market.

Two years ago,  Managing Director, Eamon Timoney took the bold decision to relocate to Al Khobar in eastern Saudi Arabia in order to tap into new markets as part of a survival strategy for the business. During the construction boom here in Ireland, the company benefited from the state’s capital programme and was involved in a number of high profile infrastructure projects. However, in 2009 it became clear that a new business strategy was urgently required in order to secure the future of the business.

Fehily Timoney successfully partnered with Enterprise Ireland to help them tap into new international markets. Assistance provided by Enterprise Ireland proved invaluable in helping as a ‘door opener’ for the company’s new strategic direction.

Fehily Timoney’s focus on the Middle East is proving extremely successful with approximately 30% of the company’s 2013 revenue expected to come from its Middle East projects. With plans to expand its workforce in the coming months, the future looks bright for the Irish engineering consultancy.

Managing Director, Eamon Timoney describes the challenges faced by the business a mere four years ago. “As a senior management team, we faced some stark choices back in 2009. We realised that we simply had to refocus the strategic direction of the business and look outside of Ireland to new markets, or else face the very real prospect of our business failing due to the impact of the economic downturn. We partnered with Enterprise Ireland in order to help us focus on the Middle Eastern market, in particular. Their insight and intelligence gathering assisted us in our efforts to successfully open the door to new markets”.

“With offices in Dublin, Cork, Poland and Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, we currently have 16 people working on Middle East projects out of a total head count of 78 . Since last September we have recruited nine new people and we’re planning to recruit another 11 people in the next couple of months. Things are definitely looking up for our business and we have worked very hard to achieve that success. Our new recruits will help service our national and international projects in the coming 12 months and beyond”, concluded Mr. Timoney.

Founded in 1990, Fehily Timoney & Company is one of Ireland’s largest Irish-owned independent consultancies. The company delivers projects in Ireland and internationally across core competency areas of waste management, environment, renewable energy and civil infrastructure.