Ahead of its potential sale, Energia has seen its earnings shoot up 28 per cent in the first three months of its financial year. The electricity and gas utility had earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of €78.2 million. The company’s chief executive, Ian Thom, also sits down for an interview with Joe Brennan.
Despite a slight set back following last year’s Dublin riots, Brown Thomas Arnotts saw its revenues go up 6 per cent last year to a record €337.3 million. Ciarán Hancock looks at the department store company’s accounts which also show that despite those big numbers, non-cash finance and tax charges relating to a property transaction, dampened its bottom line.
Businessman Declan Ganley has been found in contempt of court in the US. In the latest development of the Rivada Networks founder’s legal battle with New York investor David Shuman, the ruling was made this week by Judge Jennifer Schecter of the Supreme Court of New York. Mr Ganley had been ordered to make payments to Mr Shuman, to whom he owes about $20 million. Barry J Whyte has the details.
Meanwhile, US satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital has said its decision to sell to Lockheed Martin was partly down to “uncertainty” over Rivada Networks’ ability to pay for 300 satellites it had ordered. Barry J Whyte reports on details in stock exchange filings which show that because of cancellations of other projects it came to rely on Rivada for critical funding.
The ongoing saga of Dublin Airport’s annual 32 million passenger cap will become all the more real as we approach Christmas and the likelihood of steep air fares. In his column, John FitzGerald notes that while he rarely agrees with Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, on this point he can. But the entire issue raises broader question about aviation and the various policy headaches it brings. On emissions, FitzGerald argues, there is need for an international agreement on carbon taxes that could fund green fuel research. But unlike this winter’s air fares, such a prospect is a long way off.
It did not take much for Michael O’Leary to continue his attack on that same airport cap during Ryanair’s AGM in Dublin. As Ian Curran reports, the incredulous chief executive dismissed the limit as “bogus”, as he has done before. Meanwhile, the budget carrier expects to carry 200 million people this year, a rise of 8 per cent.
And in more related news, Ian Curran explains how the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has proposed the introduction of another seat cap at Dublin Airport for the coming summer, of 25.2 million. The regulator has also said it expects next year’s demand at the country’s main hub to “significantly exceed” the existing 32 million limit.
London Correspondent Mark Paul brings news that Irish state-owned energy companies could invest in projects with GB Energy, a new British renewable energy company. Speaking on a visit to London, Minister for Environment Eamon Ryan said the Republic “will be looking to co-operate” with GB Energy which is to invest in clean energy projects such as offshore wind.
Economics Correspondent Eoin Burke-Kennedy takes a look at the implications of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) latest move to cut interest rates, particularly in Ireland ahead of a pending general election. Frankfurt’s decision, he muses, is a gift to the Government as it prepares its give-away budget – together with this week’s unexpected €14 billion Apple tax haul, it has a “voter-friendly cocktail of forces”.
Businessman Harry Crosbie’s Misery Hill Entertainment Ltd is preparing to lodge plans for a 34-bedroom hotel on Hanover Quay, adjoining Grand Canal Dock. Gordon Deegan reports on the details, including a change of use to a mixed cafe-bar with a soundproof music entertainment venue.
More work may be required to give some bite to new laws aimed at facilitating consumer class actions. Emmet Malone reports from the Redefining Conflict Resolution in Irish Business conference in Dublin, during which speakers raised the question of exactly who will pay for such litigation, an element weakening confidence in the Act, transposed from an EU directive earlier this year.
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