Aldi reveals its profits, PTSB takes on regulator, and why State is to blame for latest Covid surge

Aldi Ireland saw its profits rise 46 per cent to €71.2 million last year. The discount supermarket chain revealed to The Irish Times its Irish financial performance for the first time since it entered the market 22 years ago. The German-owned chain has also disclosed that its 149-strong Irish store network was 71 per cent more profitable in 2020 than its British stores, when measured as a proportion of sales.

In this week's Agenda, Mark Paul speaks to the supermarket's managing director in Ireland, Niall O'Connor, who discusses Aldi's impact on food prices here, the struggle to get sites for new stores in Dublin, and its plans for the future.

Permanent TSB has brought a High Court challenge against a Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman decision to include a bank customer for tracker-mortgage compensation, after being disregarded in an industry-wide examination overseen by the Central Bank. While the details of the case are not known, industry observers speculate it may set a precedent for a wider group of borrowers. Joe Brennan has the details.

The most influential Irish chief executives on LinkedIn have been revealed with Tourism Ireland boss Niall Gibbons topping the list for the second consecutive year in the Reputations Agency's Social CEO report. Robert Finnegan of Three Ireland climbed two spots to second place ahead of Vodafone Ireland's Anne O'Leary and Bank of Ireland's Francesca McDonagh in third and fourth place respectively. Laura Slattery has the full breakdown, here.

Unilever agrees to sell some tea assets to CVC

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N26 to close US business in latest setback for fintech

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Johnny Ronan property group posts €30.3m loss after property writedown

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Omniplex invests €11m in Ballinasloe, Mullingar and Nenagh cinemas

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In his Caveat column this week, Mark looks at the country's 's current Covid situation and writes that we shouldn't buy the narrative that says people's 'behaviour' has brought disaster upon hospitals and, now, businesses. When all is said and done, he says, it is clear Government didn't do enough to stop the surge.

Today's Wild Geese features Armagh-born Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell who, when she "stumbled on something new" during her PhD studies at Cambridge University, was about to make what the Royal Society called "one of the greatest astronomical discoveries of the 20th century".

Last year the UK economy contracted by almost 10 per cent, worse than any economy in the EU bar Spain. And while Brexit is the most probable explanation for this decline, it's likely that Covid will be blamed, writes John FitzGerald.

In World of Work, Olive Keogh speaks to Cork-born serial entrepreneur Donal Daly who is taking on his biggest challenge yet – climate change. He discusses his latest project, Future Planet, which helps businesses to define, map and ultimately deliver on their sustainability objectives and to do so faster and cheaper than traditional sustainability audits which can take weeks to complete.

And finally, under tax rules, dating from 1997, workers living in the Republic but travelling over the Border to work were exempt from paying Irish tax on top of UK income tax. During Covid-19, the rules were eased, allowing people to work at home until the end of this year without being taxed twice. Now, however, the tax rule is set to be reimposed, creating a dilemma for the cross-Border staff of Northern Irish firms, writes Jude Webber.

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