Morning Headlines

Revenues down 50% at Odeon cinema group; EU on new path after Russian invasion of Ukraine

The stories you need to read this morning in business, politics and current affairs

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meets President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine on April 8, 2022. Picture: EU Commission

Revenues 50% lower than pre-Covid levels at Odeon as cinema group attempts rebuild

Revenues at Ireland’s Odeon Cinema group remained more than 50 per cent below pre-pandemic levels in 2021, with the business suffering after-tax losses of nearly €5.3 million despite an improved year.

New accounts show that despite a better year in 2021, attendance levels across Irish cinemas are still at only around a third of pre-Covid levels, with Odeon’s revenues significantly impacted as a result.

How Russia’s invasion set the EU on a new path to its eastern borders

Nowhere has the geopolitical impact of Russia’s invasion been better demonstrated than in the European Union, where the invasion of Ukraine has utterly transformed the bloc’s approach to energy, security and migration in ways many would not have thought possible just one year ago.

With the prospect of peace negotiations being dangled by Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, could the invasion be nearing an end – and, if so, on what terms?

After a year of ‘stagnation and paralysis’, should Mica homeowners expect more of the same this year?

As 2022 turns into 2023, there is still no definitive answer on when homeowners will be able to actually access a new remediation scheme, with the Department of Housing still working on regulations to underpin it.

There are also significant questions over the actual amounts of money that homeowners will be entitled to: the matter is currently being reviewed by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI). And in the meantime, houses around the country are creaking and cracking and many of the families living in them are becoming increasingly fretful about the future.