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An Post and mortgage market, Hibergene questions and winter is coming

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

There is a distinct whiff of a phoney war currently in the sentiments and behaviours of Irish consumers, that most hardy of spender species. You don’t need to be a bloodhound to sniff it out.

Conn Ó Midheach's face
Conn Ó Midheach
Fri Sep 9 2022 - 06:26

An Post, which has been seeking to enter the mortgage market for the past four years, is no longer in talks to set up a lending partnership with nonbank start-up MoCo, according to sources. Joe Brennan reports

Winter truly is coming for Irish consumers in a literal and metaphorical sense. The European Central Bank’s latest interest rate rise has blown cold in under the door. Underneath all the post-pandemic consumer bravado, we all know what is about to happen, says Mark Paul in Caveat.

A group of shareholders in troubled company HiberGene Diagnostics who claim they have only received partial payment after taking part in a share sale earlier this year are set to put questions to the company’s board at a virtual meeting of its creditors on Friday. HiberGene’s directors moved to wind up the company late last month, largely blaming the company’s insolvency on a group of disgruntled investors. Ian Curran has the details.

The sharp rise in energy prices is equivalent to a carbon tax of about €700 a tonne. One result is that the balance of economic advantage for households has strongly tilted in favour of retrofitting. Most of us would be better off (and warmer!) if we were to invest in the energy efficiency of our homes, argues John FitzGerald in his weekly column.

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Cork-based gym and studio software company LegitFit has raised a €1 million seed funding round as it seeks to expand in the UK, writes Ciara O’Brien.

It has been an exceptionally dark week for Mountain Province Diamonds, the Canadian mining company whose main shareholder is billionaire investor Dermot Desmond. Mark Paul reports.

Walking meetings became a feature of working from home during the pandemic when getting away from the desk, while not skipping a beat in terms of productivity, proved to be good for the body, the mind and for business. Olive Keogh reports.

“This is a shock to the economy, a shock to everyone concerned” says Tony Walker, general manager of the Slieve Russell hotel and golf resort in Co Cavan. Speaking on our Inside Business podcast, Walker tells host Cliff Taylor how the hotel’s energy bills have more than doubled in two years. “For the January to July period 2019, our bill was €214,000, and this year it’s sitting at €478,000,” he explains. It’s not just energy bills that are doubling, with suppliers to the hotel also raising their prices as a result of the crisis. Yet, Walker is adamant this won’t be passed on to their patrons.” We also hear from Irish Times Business Affairs Correspondent Mark Paul who explains what the Government might do to respond to the crisis.

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