Irish publicly listed companies are on track to spend more than €1.9 billion buying back their own shares this year as companies awash with cash from the post-Covid rebound in business are wary of expanding or making acquisitions amid a slump in stock prices and facing into a slowing economy, writes Joe Brennan. He highlights the 10 Irish plcs most active in the buyback market this year.
AIB has signed a multimillion-euro deal to secure up to 80 per cent of its future electricity needs from two solar farms that renewable energy group NTR is developing in Co Wexford. The two solar farms, at Enniscorthy and Gorey, have full planning permission and will be built next year. From the bank’s viewpoint, the agreement will ensure it has a sustainable and secure energy supply at a fixed price for 15 years.
Approaching a colleague’s desk to resolve simple queries was a routine part of pre-Covid office culture; now it has its very own buzzword complete with negative overtones — desk bombing. Pilita Clark is unimpressed. Accepting she is a chronic desk bomber, she insists talking to someone face to face is more efficient and usually more enjoyable. And she ranks the fear of desk-bombing alongside another curious fact of modern office life — an aversion to using the phone, which seems more prevalent among younger people.
Lifetime loan provider Spry Finance plans to more than double its lending over the next three years. The group, which specialises in lending to people over the age of 60, says it expects to be writing €150 million a year by 2025. It recently agreed a long-term funding arrangement with Canada Life Reinsurance which will refinance its existing loan book and provide funding for future lending.
Global insurance broker Lockton’s Irish operation has struck its fourth deal since the start of the year by agreeing to buy Waterford corporate pension advisory company Fitzgerald Life & Pensions. That brings it M&A spend close to €10 million over the past 10 months.
Dublin-based performance consulting business Clarity Engagement Solutions, which provides virtual training to global pharmaceutical companies, has moved to appoint an adviser to work out a rescue plan for the troubled company under a new process for small and micro companies. It is the twelfth business to try to restructure debts under the Small Companies Administration Process (Scarp).
The hospitality sector is looking for an extension of the interest free grace period on up to €900 million in Covid-era warehoused taxes, writes Restaurant Association of Ireland boss Adrian Cummins. Interest is due to kick in on the warehoused debt in January just as businesses contend with record energy bills. Cummins also calls for a pragmatic extension of the 9 per cent VAT rate until at least the end of next year.
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