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ECB holds rates for now, Irish inflation drops and how retailers are recovering after the riot

The best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

Dublin retailers are getting back on their feet after the riot. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

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Peter Flanagan
Fri Dec 15 2023 - 06:27

The European Central Bank has signalled it still has “work to be done” to tame price pressures after leaving interest rates unchanged, even as it cut its inflation forecasts for this year and 2024. ECB president Christine Lagarde pushed back against market expectations for it to cut rates as early as March, saying “we should absolutely not lower our guard” against inflationary pressures. In Smart Money, Cliff Taylor looks at what the prospect of future rate cuts are for mortgage holders.

Meanwhile Irish inflation has dropped below 4 per cent for the first time in over two years, partially easing the pressure on consumers and businesses. Eoin Buke-Kennedy reports that Inflation, which measures the rate at which consumer prices increase, dropped to 3.9 per cent in the year to November, down from 5.1 per cent the month before, according to the Central Statistics Office.

In his column, John FitzGerald runs the rule over greening technologies, and the stick of emissions charges that will be needed to make industry start using them at scale.

In Agenda, Ian Curran speaks to Dublin retailers in the aftermath of last month’s riot. Has trade picked up in the weeks since? And what is the atmosphere in the city now?

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If you’ve gone backpacking, there is a good chance you’ve used Hostelworld’s technology. In the interview of the week, CEO Gary Morrison tells Joe Brennan how he used the pandemic to reimagine how his company can become more relevant to its key consumers.

The Donald Trump-owned Doonbeg golf resort in west Clare last year had its best year since opening as operating profits increased by 83 per cent to €933,435. New consolidated accounts filed by TIGL Ireland Enterprises Ltd with the Companies Office show that operating profits at the Trump Doonbeg property surged last year as revenues more than doubled, rising from €7.17 million to €14.36 million. Gordon Deegan has read the accounts.

Eir has been ordered to give a 65-year-old worker forced into retirement earlier this year his job back and pay him for the time he was gone after losing an age discrimination claim. The decision is understood to be a legal first, as a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) adjudicator has never before invoked their power to order reinstatement on foot of a complaint under the Employment Equality Act 1998. Stephen Bourke has the story.

Weight loss and diabetes drug company Novo Nordisk has bought a drug manufacturing plant in Athlone as it looks to expand production to meet worldwide demand. Dominic Coyle reports that the Danish group has paid $92.5 million (€85 million) to acquire the former Elan Drug Technologies plant from Irish-headquartered pharma group Alkermes in a deal that is expected to close in the middle of next year.

As Meta’s Threads opens for business in the EU, Ciara O’Brien looks at why it has a key advantage as it attempts to challenge the platform formally known as Twitter.

Apple reseller Select Tech has completed the acquisition of appliance and tech store chain DID Electrical, following approval of the deal by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. Ellen O’Regan reports.

Ellen also reports that outsourcing and recruitment firm CPL Resources saw profits jump by 63 per cent in 2022, to €26 million, as the recruiter benefited from a “significant post Covid-19 bounce in business”.

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