Food prices’ record rise; pharma founder’s payday; and four steps to better personal finances

Food prices in Irish supermarkets rose faster than at any time on record last year, with inflation running at 15 per cent, according to industry analysts Kantar. But, writes Conor Pope, that didn’t deter shoppers in the run-up to Christmas.

The sale of Irish rare drug developer Amryt to Italian company Chiesi Farmaceutica will deliver a multimillion euro payout for Joe Wiley, one of the founders eight years ago of the company that developed the world’s first therapy for a genetic condition known as butterfly skin disease and its chief executive.

In personal finance, Fiona Reddan looks at four areas in which people can take painless steps to improving their finances this year. And in Q&A, we look at the practicalities of renting rooms in your home and also on what is involved financially in taking in Ukrainian refugees.

If you’d like to read more about the issues that affect your pocket try signing up to On the Money, the new weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers. In our latest edition, we discuss whether tracker mortgage customers should stand firm or consider moving to a new rate now that interest rates are rising.

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Back to news, hotelier Paul Gallagher says a Budget 2023 measure designed to support thousands of businesses hit with dramatically higher energy bills is a “damp squib” delivering “pittance” payments to the hospitality sector. Laura Slattery reports.

And Michael Stanley, boss of listed builder Cairn Homes is also not happy. Ireland, he says, is building eight times more offices than apartments, which means we are failing to provide places to live for thousands of the workers we are looking to attract. He takes particular aim at the failure of the planning system to deliver apartment approvals even as his company reported strong results. Barry O’Halloran spoke to him.

Digital ordering platform Flipdish saw pretax losses increase sixfold to €11.3 million in the 10 months to January 31st last, writes Gordon Deegan, but the business still expects to double its revenues this year.

A US family that has been pursuing Aer Lingus for luggage they say is worth $9,100 that the airline lost last July amid the chaos that hit air travel says it is “dumbfounded” by the airline’s lack of customer service. Barry O’Halloran has the details.

Berlin prosecutors have launched a preliminary probe into mortgages that German finance minister Christian Lindner secured from a bank he praised last year in a video message as “congenial from the ground up”, writes Derek Scally.

The investment chief of Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager, said there is a chance the European Central Bank (ECB) could double its deposit rate to 4 per cent this year as it continues its efforts to fight inflation, concluding that financial markets have “over-reacted” in recent days to signs of easing of consumer price growth. Joe Brennan reports.

Joe also reports on Aperee, the nursing home operator founded by Cork-based investments firm BlackBee Group, which has hired healthcare industry veteran Henry Burrows as its new chief executive, following the resolution of a row over the company’s ownership with its previous head.

In her column, Laura Slattery looks at Prince Harry’s obsession with the media and the media’s fixation with the disenchanted royal.

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