Euro Auctions back to business; Electric Picnic profits from absence; and fears up North

Euro Auctions, the machinery auctions business whose €950 million takeover collapsed under the weight of regulatory concerns over competition, is eyeing expansion in Europe and the United States as the four brothers running the company get back down to the nuts and bolts of the business. Una McCaffrey reports on a business that has already seen revenues jump 15 per cent this year.

The company behind the Electric Picnic music festival made a profit of nearly €2.4 million in 2020 despite having no revenues after the event was cancelled due to Covid-19, writes Mark Paul. The positive outcome is down to a €3.6 million insurance payout over its cancellation.

Business leaders are calling for an early formation of an Northern Ireland Executive as indicators point to an economic slowdown in the second half of the year, Mark writes.

A worker whose employer imposed a mandatory retirement age to "protect him" from Covid-19 has been awarded over ¤31,000 in compensation for unfair dismissal. Stephen Bourke has the details.

European shares head for biggest weekly losses in two months

---

The long economic tail of Covid-19

---

Intel downbeat as Ukraine war and China lockdowns threaten PC sales

---

Why taking a hard look at your streaming subscriptions pays off

---

Ireland is spending less on medicines as a proportion of the overall health budget now than it was five years ago, despite the arrival of new generation breakthrough therapies, an industry survey says.

The recent announcement that automatic enrolment is finally going to be introduced is a hugely positive step forward, writes John Mercer, the chief executive of benefits consultants Mercer Ireland. But he warns that system must not be confusing or too complex for people already wary of pension schemes .

Miranda Green is filling in for Pilita Clark this week and she argues that, at work, virtue is never its own reward. She urges people to find a way to mark the end of each job with a reward or tiny commemoration.

Finally, in her column, Anne-Sylvaine Chassany says that the differing approaches of two leaders of countries tightly bound to Russian energy supplies – Italy's Mario Draghi and Germany's Olaf Scholz – points to a shift in the power dynamics within the European Union.

Stay up to date with all our business news: sign up to our business news alerts and our Business Today daily email news digest.