Triple profits forecast at Bord Gáis owner; Food price inflation warning from Bord Bia
The stories you need to read this evening in business, politics and current affairs
Bord Gáis owner forecasts profits will triple to £1.8bn in 2023
The owner of Bord Gáis Energy forecasted its profits will triple to almost £1.8 billion for its 2023 financial year.
In a trading update released on Thursday, Centrica plc, the British company that owns Bord Gáis Energy in Ireland, said it expects its adjusted earnings per share for its financial year in the 12 months to the end of June 2023 will triple to more than 30p. This means the company will deliver adjusted profits attributable to shareholders of almost £1.8 billion for the period, which is triple the £598 million in profits it made in 2022.
Stripe valuation declines to $63bn from $95bn high after internal repricing
Stripe slashed the internal valuation of its shares again in a move that values the company at $63 billion (€58.5 billion), versus a peak of $95 billion, according to media reports.
The online payments company, which is privately owned, has reportedly cut the internal value of its shares by 11 per cent, the third such reduction recorded since June. The repricing leaves Stripe’s internal per-share value at $24.71, down 40 per cent since its peak.
Food prices may increase further this year, Bord Bia chief warns
Consumers could be faced with further food price inflation in the months ahead, the head of the state’s food promotion agency warned.
Jim O’Toole, chief executive of Bord Bia, said food companies had not fully passed on all of the input price increases they had incurred over the past year and warned that consumers should be prepared for further food price inflation.
Damien English resigns as junior minister after failing to declare property ownership
Damien English, the junior enterprise and trade minister, resigned and admitted that he failed to declare ownership of a residential property.
The Fine Gael TD for Meath West said yesterday his non-declaration of a property in Castlemartin, Co Meath, on the Dáil register of interests was within the rules laid down by the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo).
It came following an article in The Ditch, the online publication whose reporting on Robert Troy’s undeclared interests led to his resignation as minister in the same department last year.
Efforts to bridge gender pay gap in Irish law firms just ‘window dressing’, says Dentons chief
Attempts to rectify gender pay gaps within Irish law firms has involved “a lot of window dressing”, the managing partner at Dentons said.
Eavan Saunders, who founded Dentons’ Dublin office in 2020 and is country head for Ireland, said there was a “pitiful” number of women at equity partner level in a number of large Irish law firms.
