Seen & Heard: Applegreen pumps up its executive lounge service

Executive service

Motorway service area company Applegreen is planning to add "executive lounges" to its petrol stations in the Republic, having already installed one such lounge at an outlet in Lisburn, according to the Sunday Independent.

The free-to-use lounges have desk spaces, wifi and recharge facilities.

"It's aimed at business customers and those wishing for a quieter place to relax," Applegreen chief operating officer Joe Barrett told the newspaper. "Many business customers come in and have meetings there."

Vulture-proofing

Fianna Fáil will push for greater protection for householders when loans are sold to unregulated non-bank entities commonly known as vulture funds, according to the Sunday Times.

The fresh Dáil assault to force Fine Gael to overhaul legislation introduced last year comes as Ulster Bank and Danske Bank prepare loan sales that are expected to result in the transfer of thousands of mortgages to unregulated hedge and private equity funds.

Digicel dented

Growth at Digicel, the mobile phone operator owned by Denis O'Brien, has been dented by foreign exchange volatility in its key markets in Haiti, Papua New Guinea and the French West Indies, according to credit rating agency Fitch.

In a credit rating note reported in the Sunday Times, Fitch said Digicel's revenues rose 4 per cent in local currencies in the nine months to the end of March, but fell 2 per cent when converted to dollars. The agency has rated Digicel debt at "B".