Irish Continental Group, the listed ferries business currently subject to an approach from management to go private, increased its revenue by 16 per cent to just under €369 million in the first six months of this year but pretax profit fell by 2.9 per cent to €19.9 million, impacted by higher fuel and operational expenses and increased port costs. Ciaran Hancock reports.
Investment holding companies owned by health tech entrepreneurs Jonathan Larbey and Mark Gilmartin reported profits of more than €20 million last year after big dividend payments, new accounts Killian Woods has seen show. Larbey and Gilmartin, who were EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalists two years ago, cofounded speech technology firm T-Pro in 2012.
Sisk chief executive Paul Brown tells Ian Curran that MetroLink, the proposed 19km stretch of railway linking Swords to Charlemont in south Dublin, is a “key target” for his group as Sicon Ltd, the main company in the group, reports operating profits that surged more than 37 per cent to €67 million last year.
The chief executive of Kenmare Resources said he recognises that some shareholders think selling the listed mining company is the “right thing” to do “in time”, but not necessarily now, when the market for its products is “hopefully” reaching the bottom of a price cycle. Tom Hickey was also speaking to Ian Curran.
House price inflation slowed to its lowest level in two-and-a-half years in June – 5.6 per cent – as a combination of increased supply, higher borrowing costs and uncertainty caused by the Iran war cooled the market. Eoin Burke-Kennedy examined the numbers.
In related news, Marian Finnegan, chief executive of Sherry Fitzgerald, Ireland’s largest estate agent, and John McCartney, a property economics lecturer in TU Dublin, who spent 20 years working in the commercial property sector joins Ciarán Hancock on the Inside Business podcast to debate how many new homes we need each year and whether schemes like Help to Buy or First Home good value for money, among other issues.
Almost 80 per cent of Irish adults say they would be interested in opening a Government-backed savings and investment account (SIA), according to a new survey by Banking and Payments Federation Ireland with tax incentives and simplicity seen as the biggest attractions in such a scheme. Conor Pope reports
Chat show king Graham Norton enjoyed a pay packet of £2.12 million (€2.47 million) from his TV work for ITV subsidiary, So Television, last year in relation to The Graham Norton Show. Good money but, as Gordon Deegan reports, the figure is down almost a quarter over the past two years.
Anyone watching the medal performances at the European Championship athletics and swimming will understand peak performance but it’s not unique to the world of sport. Margaret Ward writes that peak performance is something that we should target at work too. And food is an essential component in that argue the authors of a new book.
Ireland’s largest occupational healthcare provider, Medmark, has secured a landmark investment that will allow it expand its clinical teams, enhance its digital health platforms and weigh up acquisition opportunities, wrties Stpehen Conneely.
In Technology, Ciara O’Brien turns her attention to the use of tablets in classrooms around the State, talking to suppliers, parents and teachers, including one whose school has gone back to books.
Ciara also offers some timely tips on how to protect yourself from smartphone scams as it emerged this week that British prime minister Andy Burnham had been caught out exchanging text messages with someone he thought was US president Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles but wasn’t.
Finally, Barry Moroney grew up in Adare and golf has always been a big part of his life. He started caddying at the world-famous course in his early teens and spent eight summers working there through school and college. Now, as he aims to become a scratch golfer, he has launched a new business, the ApexGolf game improvement app.
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