Bumper profits for ESB’s Derry power plant

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ESB's profits jumped at its Co Derry power plant. Photograph: Alan Betson

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Profits at ESB’s Co Derry power plant rose 20 per cent to around €14 million last year, the State owned energy group said. ESB’s UK arm owns a natural gas-fired power plant at Coolkeeragh, Co Derry that supplies electricity to the all-Ireland market. Accounts filed for Coolkeeragh ESB Ltd show that the business earned £12.1 million (€14 million) profit last year, 20 per cent more than the £10 million the company booked in 2022. Barry O’Halloran has gone through the books.

The directors of iNua Hospitality have hailed 2023 as a “very successful year for the business” as the Irish hotel group’s revenues continued to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and iNua completed a crucial deal to refinance its debts. Ian Curran has the story.

In her column, Laura Slattery looks at Spotify and asks how long it will be before the big record companies start to put the squeeze on the music streamer’s free service.

Ian also reports that a record number of AIB customers used their credit and debit cards in France last month, as supporters flocked to Paris to cheer on Team Ireland at the Olympic Games, the bank said on Monday.

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Ground-breaking retailer Paul McGlade has died at the age of 69 following a short illness. Mr McGlade founded Champion Sports, Optilase, Thérapie Clinic and later owned the Pygmalion nightclub on South William Street, Dublin, in a business career that spanned more than 50 years

Ashland, a company that specialises in enabling the use of slow release medicines, has completed a major expansion of its Mullingar campus. As Dominic Coyle reports, the €15 million investment sees the plant that specialises in the use of Bioresorbable polymers for injectable medicines increase its footprint fivefold with the addition of new laboratories, clean rooms and manufacturing capacity.

The state’s bad bank Nama paid out around €1.5 million last year in redundancy and gardening leave payments as it continued to wind down its operations. The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) said it had paid €1.1 million in redundancy to 16 different people, with payments ranging in size from less than €25,000 up to €150,000. Ken Foxe has the story.

Cantillon looks at the downbeat trend in the spirits industry at the moment, and following C&C and Starbucks appearing to make deals with activist investors

In Your Money, Dominic Coyle answers questions on the costs of buying a home at a discount from your parents, as well as the tax implications of separation. Laura meanwhile shows how to audit and manage your TV and streaming services.

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