French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel has set off on a path towards full ownership of Eir, as two US hedge funds begin to exit their investment in the former Irish telecoms monopoly. “We are starting to buy their shares,” Mr Niel told Joe Brenna in an exclusive interview with The Irish Times. You can read the full interview here.
Joe also reports that corporation taxes rose sharply in the first nine months of the year, fuelling an 11 per cent surge in Exchequer receipts and a widening of the Government surplus before it unveiled a €10.5 billion Budget 2025 package on Tuesday.
The Connect union has accused Meta of threatening to outsource the jobs of its members at data centre in Clonee, Co Meath if strike action scheduled for Monday goes ahead. As Emmet Malone reports, the union, which represents craft workers, says the dispute involves critical facility engineers (CFEs) whose rostering arrangements were, it claims, changed without consultation.
Airlines are cutting flights at Dublin Airport as it edges closer to exceeding its 32 million a-year passenger cap. State airports company, DAA, which operates Dublin, confirmed on Thursday that it expects to breach the 32 million limit this year, despite measures to dampen demand at the country’s main aviation hub. By the end of September, 25.8 million people had travelled through the airport’s two terminals. Barry O’Halloran reports.
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Staying with aviation, airlines and other carriers will have to pay more to fly through Irish airspace after the regulator gave the go ahead to increase prices. Barry has the details.
In Agenda, Gavin Cummiskey reports on the finances of the League of Ireland’s clubs. Revenue is at an all time high but so are losses. Why?
Emmet also reports that Siptu members at the Becton Dickinson (DB) plant in Drogheda earmarked for closure staged a one hour work stoppage on Thursday as part of an ongoing dispute with management over proposed redundancy moves.
In Smart Money, Cliff Taylor asks what will become of the universal social charge. Will it be dropped altogether after the next election, and if so, what will make up the €5 billion revenue per year it generates?
Eason, the Irish books and stationery retailer, has named the group’s former head of marketing Brendan Corbett as the new head of its Dubray Books division. Ian Curran has the story.
Ian also reports that Irish companies have been involved in fewer merger and acquisitions (M&A) so far this year, London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) said on Thursday, despite a notable increase in the value of transactions in the first nine of months of the year. Deals involving a target company in the Republic soared to a six-year high in the nine months to the end of September to a total value of $20 billion (€18.11 billion).
Tesco raised its annual profit forecast on Thursday as the supermarket group won market share in its first half, giving it momentum in advance of the key festive trading period. Its Irish stores saw like-for-like sales rise 4.7 per cent in the first half of the financial year, with total revenue excluding fuel and VAT at €1.7 billion for the six months. The group has a 23.5 market share in the Republic of Ireland, up 88 basis points year on year, and representing 31 consecutive four-week periods of gains in the Irish market. Ciara O’Brien reports.
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