Elaine Birchall, is chief executive of one of Northern Ireland’s largest firms, SHS Group. In this edition, she speaks to John Mulgrew about seeing a radical reduction in some area and witnessing a doubling or tripling of transport costs and shipping times amid Brexit. She says it’s unlikely we will be able to envisage a return to a base economic level for at least a year.

Companies across Northern Ireland are looking towards the future with “guarded optimism”, according to Lisa McIlvenna, deputy managing director of Business in the Community NI. She tells John Mulgrew that any push towards a more flexible situation which helps an employee balance their like in some shape or form, should be welcomed, but face-to-face interaction remains key in a post-Covid landscape.

Companies are continuing are seeing growth and continuing to seek out opportunities and mergers amid the Covid-19 crisis, according to Paddy Graham of investment fund BGF. He says its portfolio of companies has been “extremely robust” over the last few months, with many also experiencing growth during the period. And he's keen to see a safe reopening, alongside with the vaccination programme, to ensure we all avoid another lockdown.

It's been a year without live performances, and according to Auveen Sands, chief operating officer with The Ulster Orchestra, it could be September or October at the earliest before there's any form of a return to live performances. She talks to John Mulgrew about the need for clear road map dates, the huge hit to freelance musicians and that the arts sector will be the last to reopen to the public, post-lockdown.

Four Star Pizza says it has seen an almost 20% surge in sales here in the last year amid the coronavirus pandemic. And director Brian Clarke tells editor John Mulgrew about the firm's plans, which were on pause amid the pandemic, to expand outside Ireland and into GB.

A new £250m City Deal for Derry and Strabane has taken the next step, with the UK Government signing over its £105m commitment to the deal. Minister of State for Northern Ireland, Robin Walker MP, speaks to John Mulgrew about the next step in the journey, helping build back post-Covid, why Northern Ireland still remains a unique and attractive jumping off point for UK business, post-Brexit, and ensuring 'the protocol works as it intended to do and doesn’t interfere with the everyday life of people in Northern Ireland'

Co Down man Mark Gillan has spent a career travelling the world across a range of roles at the top of Formula One, including his former position as chief operations engineer at Williams. He's now among those leading the way at Artemis Technologies, a firm producing a zero-emissions ferry in Belfast which could revolutionise travelling by sea in the future. He speaks to John Mulgrew about quadrupling its workforce by next year, getting a vessel in the water this year and some of his Formula One highlights.

Darren McDowell remains optimistic for the future, but knows the coming weeks and months will be some of the most challenging for firms here as support comes to an end. The senior partner at professional services firm Harbinson Mulholland speaks to John Mulgrew about what a company in trouble can do, the strength of government financial support and why a 'good business' pre-pandemic should be able to come out the other side.

The MAC, one of Northern Ireland's leading arts centres, has effectively been in a stasis amid the last few weeks of lockdown. Its chief executive, Anne McReynolds, says the organisation has lost around £1.3m in revenue, opened just 33 days in 2020 and has already let go around 45-50 workers. And she's warned that venues must be saved to ensure “there is some remnant of civic and cultural society remaining” after the Covid pandemic. She speaks to John Mulgrew.

It's just been a few days since the end of the transition period, but in that time we've seen lorries stopped at our ports due to incorrect paperwork, products not making it on to our shelves, major online retailers such as Amazon pausing selling some of its products to Northern Ireland and an overall lack of preparedness, especially among GB firms. Seamus Leheny speaks to John Mulgrew about what's ahead and whether the impacts we are feeling will be temporary, or permanent.