The five-star Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin has been sold to European investor Archer Hotel Capital, which also owns the Conrad Hotel on the other side of St Stephen’s Green. The deal was confirmed last night by its owner Kennedy Wilson in a stock market filing. Ciarán Hancock has the details.
Apple’s main Irish subsidiary recorded a rise in profits last year. New accounts indicate revenue at Cork-registered Apple Operations International fell 1.8 per cent to $218.9 billion from $222.8 billion a year earlier. However both pretax income and net income for the year were up. AOI covers most of the tech giant’s non-US subsidiaries and is responsible for everything from iPhones to wearables. Ciara O’Brien has the financial breakdown.
In this week’s Agenda feature, our man in Beijing Denis Staunton explains how relations with foreign investors were in spotlight at ‘China’s Davos’.
Barry O’Halloran reveals how well-known service station Circle K has shunned the use of biofuels from the UK and Asia, amid rising concerns about what it might actually be. With an EU Commission investigation into Indonesian suppliers, it is an industry under the microscope. So-called reprocessed waste cooking oil from parts of China and other Asian countries may actually be palm oil, it is believed. Circle K are taking no chances.
The Workplace Relations Commission has been asked to mediate a dispute between PTSB and workers represented by trade unions Unite and the Financial Services Union over a proposed pay increase, writes Ian Curran.
In the end, it was a quarter-century prison sentence for Sam Bankman-Fried. The fall and prosecution of the notorious 32-year-old FTX founder has been one of the most watched legal dramas in the US tech and business world in recent times. We report on his sentencing where a US court handed down 25 years for his role in the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange. “I was responsible for FTX, and its collapse is on me,” he said in a neat summation of the saga.
Dublin-based Dole Foods has ended negotiations to sell its fresh vegetables unit after US authorities moved to block the deal, reports Peter Flanagan. In a statement, the company said the development came about after the US Department of Justice’s decision to pursue litigation.
In his column, economist John FitzGerald notes the long time it has taken Ireland to get back to building over 30,000 housing units a year. But while the trend is positive, there is a resonating problem from the prolonged housing crisis on renters. Not everyone can afford to buy but with strict regulation, the supply of rental accommodation has been frustrated.
Data on house prices in an era of prolonged shortages have arguably never been so observed, or changing. Ian Curran looks at the latest, this time covering the second-hand market, in a report from DNG. It shows the pace of resale property inflation in Dublin has accelerated in the first three months of the year. And for those in the hunt, the average price of second hand homes in the capital is now over €540,000.
Gordon Deegan has the story of a successful Dunnes Stores appeal which has halved its planning contributions in the development of a Dublin shopping centre.
One third of the 1.3 million passengers departing Ireland in February were tourists finishing their trips. Central Statistics Office data gives a detailed insight into who comes in and out of the country. As reported by Ciara O’Brien, results for the month show almost half a million people took overnight trips to the Republic.
Future Ticketing, the Irish software company that allow venues and event organisers to avoid agents by selling digital tickets through their own websites or apps, has scored a deal with Scottish football club Dundee FC. The Tullamore outfit has announced it will partner with the club in a new multiyear deal, writes Barry O’Halloran.
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