Welcome to the Business Post’s Live News section. We’re here all day to keep you up to date on developments in business, tech and current affairs.
17.00 - Northern-Irish designer Jonathan Anderson appointed as artistic director at Dior
Christian Dior, the haute couture brand owned by French luxury conglomerate LVMH, has named Jonathan Anderson as artistic director of its men's collections.
Bernard Arnault, chief executive of LVMH, announced that the 40 year-old Derry designer will take the helm of the French fashion house during the group's annual shareholder meeting on Thursday.
16.40 - Iseq closes in the red
The Iseq All Share Index closed in the red today, down 1.75 per cent on previous close.
AIB was among the biggest fallers, down 4.19 per cent to €5.48.
16.15 - Civil liberties body quit group behind government disinformation strategy
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has revealed that it pulled out of the working group behind a new government strategy to tackle disinformation last year following the government’s alleged refusal to include “any concrete action” to tackle “dangerous” algorithms.
The body said the national counter disinformation strategy published Thursday fails to prevent an “intentional algorithmic assault” from Big Tech companies such as Meta and TikTok across European Union member states.
The ICCL said in a statement the strategy against disinformation fails to tackle the social media algorithms “threatening our democracy” because they “monitor us to learn our intimate desires and fears” and use the date to serve personalised feeds that “keep people scrolling”.
16.00 - UnitedHealth stocks in freefall as firm cuts forecast
Stocks in UnitedHealth Group have tumbled by over 22 per cent in the first hour of US trading, after the health insurer slashed its full-year outlook.
CBS News reports that the firm cut its 2025 forecast following an unexpected increase in care use from Medicare Advantage customers, which led to a worse than anticipated first quarter.
The stock is set to suffer its worst day since 1998.
At 3:55pm Irish time, the firm’s share price on the Dow Jones stood at $453.89 - down 22.42 per cent.
15.45 - 60 per cent rise in home commencements in last 12 months
2,918 homes were commenced in the first quarter of 2025, according to the latest Department of Housing data.
The department says that 723 homes were commenced in March, while commencements were up 60 per cent in the last year compared to the previous 12 months.
Of the homes commenced in the first three months of this year, 36 per cent of homes were in the four Dublin local authorities.
Dublin City local authority has the highest number of units commenced so far this year - at 937 - followed by Meath at 245 and Kildare at 228.
15.30 - LinkedIn Ireland pays $550 million dividend to parent Microsoft
LinkedIn’s Irish unit paid out an $150 million dividend to its parent Microsoft last year with a further $400 million dividend paid out after the financial period concluded.
Recently-filed accounts for the Irish arm also reveal it took a $52.4 million impairment charge related to a decision, in late 2022, to scale back plans for its European headquarters at Wilton Park.
15.15 - CRH appoints Nancy Buese as chief financial officer
Building materials solutions provider CRH has announced the appointment of Nancy Buese as its new chief financial officer.
Based in New York, Buese will assume the role on May 12.
Buese previously served as executive vice president and chief financial officer at Baker Hughes Company and Newmont Corporation. She has also served as executive vice president and chief financial officer at MarkWest Energy Partners and MPLX and was a partner at EY.
15.00 - Trump says firing Powell ‘cannot come fast enough’
Donald Trump has said that the termination of Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, “cannot come quick enough” as Trump seeks interest rate cuts.
“The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, “Too Late” Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete “mess!” Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!“ - Trump wrote on Truth Social.
14.46 - ECB rate cut is a ‘no brainer’: Baker Tilly
Reacting to the ECB’s announcement of a further interest rate cut, Joe Nellis, an economic adviser to Baker Tilly Ireland, described it as a “no-brainer”.
“For Irish consumers, the most immediate benefit will be felt in borrowing costs.
“Those with tracker or variable-rate mortgages could see reductions in their monthly repayments, offering a modest but meaningful reprieve from the elevated cost-of-living pressures of recent years.
“Cheaper credit could also boost consumer confidence,” Nellis said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Loretta O’Sullivan, EY Ireland’s chief economist, said the decision was “in line with expectations”, while Lindsay James, an investment strategist at Quilter, said the ECB has “looked to remain ahead of the pack in continuing to cut interest rates sooner than other developed economies.”
14.33 - Mixed market open on Wall Street
It was a mixed open for stock markets as the bell struck on Wall Street, as investors await yet another day of trade strife and fresh restrictions.
S&P 500: +0.18 per cent
Dow Jones Industrial: -1.1 per cent
Nasdaq Composite: -0.1 per cent
14.15 - Technical issue hits PTSB online banking
A technical issue has hit PTSB’s mobile and online banking services, which is impacting banking access for customers.
In a statement on social media, the pillar bank said that a technical issue is “intermittently impacting” access for “some of our customers”.
“We are working on resolving this issue as quickly as possible and apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused”.
14.00 - Blackout prevention plan in jeopardy
An emergency state programme to purchase enough new gas power plants to prevent electricity blackouts is at risk of non-delivery, the Business Post has learnt.
A number of the power projects are now in jeopardy, with the rest expected to be delayed beyond their delivery date, according to internal government documents.
The Business Post understands of the 2.5 gigawatts (GW) worth of gas plant capacity that has been contracted to be built to prevent blackouts, only 1.6GW will be delivered by 2028.
This suggests several large gas plants are at risk of non-delivery. The biggest shortfalls are expected to occur this year and in 2027.
Our policy editor Daniel Murray has more.
13.45 - Revenue seeking to wind up Frank Gleeson’s Farrier & Draper
Revenue has sought to have the company behind Frank Gleeson’s Farrier & Draper wound up.
The High Court was presented with separate petitions earlier in April to wind up the company behind the South William St cocktail bar and Leafwell Ltd, another firm controlled by Gleeson, according to a legal notice in the Irish Independent on Thursday.
In December, liquidators were appointed to the company behind the former Mercantile hospitality group shareholder’s Dublin 2 restaurant Green Hen, which had debts of around €2 million.
The doors of Farrier & Draper were closed in early April, according to The Currency.
The Sunday Times reported in February that Eclective, formerly Press Up, was in talks to acquire Farrier & Draper
Read the full article by Eoin O’Hare here.
13.30 - Record 41 million passengers used Irish airports in 2024, according to new data
Just under 41 million passengers used Irish airports in 2024, up 5 per cent on the year before, new figures show.
According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), 40.98 million people were handled by Ireland’s main airports last year, a record since the state agency began recording annual passenger data in 2013.
The 9.16 million passengers who passed through Irish airports in the final quarter of last year was 2 per cent higher than the corresponding figure for 2023.
The CSO figures confirmed that Dublin Airport saw 34.6 million passengers last year, above the 32 million passenger cap.
13.15 - Breaking: ECB cuts interest rates for seventh time
The European Central Bank (ECB) has cut interest rates by another 25 basis points - the seventh consecutive reduction.
Accordingly, the interest rates on the deposit facility, the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility will be decreased to 2.25 per cent, 2.40 per cent and 2.65 per cent respectively, with effect from April 23 2025.
The latest interest rate cut comes as tariff uncertainty continues to unsettle markets.
Before the announcement, US President Donald Trump said on his social media network Truth Social that the US Federal Reserve should have cut interest rates “long ago.”
13.00 - Bank of Ireland fails in attempt to block UK case alleging €18 million lending ‘fraud’
The High Court in the UK has rejected Bank of Ireland's attempts to block a case which alleges the lender issued a £15.7 million (€18.3 million) loan in 2009 based on fraudulent misrepresentations.
Super Fast Trading brought the claim in December 2023, alleging a Bank of Ireland employee fraudulently misrepresented the value of a Manchester property portfolio, when providing a loan to a company called Grindale Limited.
Read the full article by Dominic McGrath here.
12.45 - Deel doubles Irish turnover to €39.1 million with 113% top-line growth
Fintech firm Deel, co-founded by Alex Bouaziz, more than doubled its Irish turnover in 2023, increasing 113 per cent to €39.1 million for the year ending 31 December - up from €18.4 million.
Recently filed accounts with Companies Registration Office (CRO) show Deel Ireland Eor made a profit of €7,808 for the 2023 fiscal year – a 90 per cent increase from its €4,108 profit in 2022.
The directors’ report said the company “has returned a small profit while it aims to develop market share and increase turnover in the future.”
12.30 - Triple Point agrees £15m debt facility with Noriker Power
Investment manager Triple Point and energy developer Noriker Power have announced a £15 million (€17.4 million) debt facility to support the development of battery energy storage systems (BESS) across Ireland and the UK.
The funding will support Noriker’s development pipeline, which includes ready to build assets that will be some of the largest battery storage projects on their respective energy grids, once operational.
Dr Marc Thomas, managing director at Noriker Power said the debt facility “is a major milestone for our business and a strong vote of confidence”.
12.15 - Ireland will be a net exporter of green electricity to the UK, says interconnector chief
Ireland will eventually be a net exporter of green energy to the UK, the chief executive of Greenlink has said.
Speaking after the connector officially opened in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, James O’Reilly said the Greenlink Interconnector to the UK mainland will export energy to the UK market in the coming years as Ireland ramps up the number of renewable projects connected to the grid.
While the UK market was cheaper to buy from, there have already been instances, O’Reilly said, where the cable has exported Irish energy to the UK market.
12.00 - Enterprise Ireland introduces €100k ‘proof of concept’ grants
Enterprise Ireland is bolstering support for academic researchers seeking to develop commercial products with the introduction of ‘proof of concept’ funding of up to €100,000 to help bridge the gap between ideas and go-to-market solutions.
The initiative, which is being funded via the state agency’s commercialisation fund, supports a range of activities including customer discovery, prototype development, and early-stage human-use studies.
The funding is being provided to assist researchers in validating both the technical feasibility and market need for their innovations.
11.40 - Datalex appoints former exec Alan Dunne as chief product officer
Alan Dunne, former chief innovation officer at Datalex, has returned to the Dublin-listed software company as chief product officer after spending five years at Amazon Web Services (AWS).
The veteran tech executive stepped down from his role as chief innovation officer at Datalex in October 2019 to join AWS as principal engineer in April 2020. He has previously held roles such as chief technology officer and chief architect at the airlines-focused software developer.
Following the announcement of his appointment on Thursday, Dunne said he was delighted to return to Datalex, where he worked for more than 22 years before joining AWS.
11.25 - Record 41m passengers used Irish airports in 2024
A record 41 million passengers passed through Irish airports in 2024, a rise of 1.8 million, or 5 per cent, on 2023.
Air freight also rose, by 12 per cent, while passenger numbers in the fourth quarter of 2024 were up 2 per cent on 2023’s final quarter.
Over 279,000 flights were handled by Ireland's five main airports in 2024, with Dublin handling 84 per cent (234,570), while Cork handled 7 per cent (20,864).
11.10 - Santander usurps UBS as continental Europe’s biggest bank
Spanish lender Banco Santander has overtaken Swiss bank UBS as the biggest bank in continental Europe by market capitalisation.
UBS had a market cap of $97.23 billion at close of trade on Wednesday, beaten by Santander’s $103.78 billion.
The two banks have had widely diverging performances on the stock market in 2025 - Santander’s share price has risen by 35 per cent in the year to date, contrasted with UBS’ 17 per cent loss.
10.50 - Turk’s Head owner wins permission for 108-bedroom Temple Bar hotel
An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission to Ampbay Limited for the development of a 108-bedroom hotel on in Temple Bar.
In 2023, David Cullen’s Ampbay, which operates the Turk’s Head bar and the existing Paramount Hotel, lodged plans to increase the size of the latter hotel on Parliament Street from a 66-bedroom hotel to a 108-bedroom hotel.
The plans include a change of use at No. 31, a protected structure, from office to hotel and at No. 32 from vacant restaurant and residential use to hotel.
10.35 - Gold hits record high again
The price of gold has continued to soar, hitting a record high for the third time this week.
Gold bullion hit a record $3,371.90 in overnight trading, surpassing the previous close of $3,346.40.
This comes as Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, said that inflation is unlikely to be tamed due to the effects of tariffs.
10.20 - US futures up in premarket
US futures have been trading up in premarket trading, in stark contrast to the tech selloff seen on Wednesday.
Here’s how the main indices are trading in premarket.
S&P 500: +0.80 per cent
Dow Jones Industrial: +0.7 per cent
Nasdaq Composite: +0.9 per cent
09.50 - China says it will ignore US 'tariff numbers game'
China will continue to ignore the US’s “tariff numbers game”, the country’s foreign ministry has said.
This comes as the White House released a factsheet which outlined that China’s tariffs could reach 245 per cent, due to the reciprocal tariff rate of 125 per cent, an existing 20 per cent tariff due to fentanyl, and tariffs ranging from 7.5 per cent and 100 per cent on certain products.
09.35 - Nvidia chief flies to China for talks
Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang has flown to Beijing for talks after the US restricted exports of its chips to China, the FT reports.
Huang arrived in China on Wednesday for the high level talks on Thursday, at the invitation of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, a government-affiliated group.
09.15 - Markets open with Iseq in the red
The Iseq All Share opened in the red Thursday morning, down 0.32 per cent to 10,096.23. By 09.12, the index had fallen by 0.72 per cent.
Shares in Glenveagh and Cairn Homes led the losses table, followed Ryanair and Kerry Group. Meanwhile, PTSB was up 1.35 per cent, while Glanbia, Kenmare and Irish Continental were all trading flat.
Vish Gain has a breakdown of how the rest of the markets performed.
09.00 - ECB poised to cut rates again as EU-US tariff war rages
The US tariff war is likely to force another ECB interest rate cut this week, their seventh rate cut in a row, analysts say.
For Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING Bank, “a pause is no longer an option”. “US tariffs on the EU and many other countries have brought back growth concerns for the eurozone, at least in the nearer term,” Brzeski said in a note.
“As a result, the ECB, which looked hesitant to decide between a pause and a next rate cut only a few weeks ago, will have to continue its current easing cycle this week.”
08.45 - Jameson owner warns of ‘very fluid’ tariff situation
Jameson Whiskey maker Pernod Ricard has reported a 3 per cent drop in net sales to €2.27 million in the third quarter of its 2025 financial year amid a challenging geopolitical environment, driven by US tariffs.
In a trading update, the French drinks manufacturer said its results for the quarter are “resilient” against “a global macroeconomic environment which remains challenging and very fluid with regards to tariffs”.
Meanwhile in Europe, organic sales fell 7 per cent during the quarter, while they dropped 6 per cent in Asia/Rest of the World.
08.30 - Playstation owner to create 100 jobs in Ireland
Sony Interactive Entertainment, the arm of the Japanese conglomerate which makes the PlayStation, is to create 100 new jobs with the opening of a new operation in Ireland.
The company is establishing a new hub in Dublin that will focus on research and development covering digital operations, customer and employee servicing, as well as external operations through technology, digital tools, and data. Applications for the roles are open and effective immediately, the company said.
“Establishing a presence in Dublin allows Sony Interactive Entertainment access to top-tier talent in digital innovation and technologies, in a region I know full well is ready to support our innovative approach to interactive entertainment,” said Paul Walsh of Sony Interactive Entertainment.
08.15 - EU braces for potential ‘no deal’ on tariffs
The EU is preparing for a ‘no deal’ scenario in a trade war with the US as multiple negotiators take turns talking Donald Trump down from new tariffs.
“We do need to prepare for the scenario of there being no deal,” Ireland’s EU commissioner, Michael McGrath, told reporters on Wednesday.
“We will do all that we can to ensure that there is a negotiated agreement and a positive outcome at the end of this process,” he said.
“But we have also been clear that while these talks are continuing in parallel, we will be continuing to prepare for the potential scenario, which we hope doesn't materialise, of a no-deal situation.”
Sarah Collins has the full story.
08.00 - Kenmare Resources extends deadline for Michael Carvill-led takeover bid
Kenmare Resources, the African-focused miner said on Thursday it has secured an extension to the deadline for a potential takeover offer from a consortium led by Oryx Global Partners and the company’s former managing director, Michael Carvill.
The consortium had until 5.00pm Irish Time on April 17 to make a formal offer or withdraw, but Kenmare requested — and was granted — an extension to allow more time for due diligence and talks.
The new "put up or shut up" (PUSU) deadline is now set for 5.00pm on May 15, 2025. The deadline may be extended further only with the agreement of the board and consent from the Irish Takeover Panel.
07.45 - Revolut introduces instant access savings for under 18s
Digital bank Revolut has rolled out an instant access savings account for its under 18 year old customers, in the standalone app Revolut <18.
The accounts offer AER of between 1.7 per cent and 2.5 per cent, depending on the plan.
“Revolut <18 empowers children by passing interest directly onto them, giving them a tangible understanding of how financial growth works,” said Carlos Spada, head of product at Revolut <18.
07.30 - Four Dublin councils mooting hotel guest tax
Dublin City Council, Fingal and South Dublin county councils have all signed up to a working group on a long-mooted tax on hotel guests, while Dún Laoghaire Rathdown are close to signing up.
This comes after a successful implementation of the levy in other European countries and despite pushback from hotel representative groups.
07.15 - Asian markets broadly up
Markets in Asia recovered from a downturn yesterday, with most markets broadly up.
Here’s how some of the markets have performed:
CSI (China): -0.02 per cent
Hang Seng (Hong Kong): +1.50 per cent
Nikkei 225 (Japan): +1.08 per cent
Kospi (South Korea): +0.93 per cent
TAIEX (Taiwan): -0.66 per cent
7.00 - Good morning
Good morning from the Business Post. Fionn Thompson here to keep you up to date on all the latest news as it happens.
This morning, Asian markets are mostly up, with some exceptions. We’ll have more on that in a few minutes for you.
In the meantime, have a read of Sarah Collins piece on the Irish firms chasing multi-billion euro deals in Germany’s green tech boom.
Almost one in five contractors have noted a cooling of the Irish construction market, reports Emma Hanrahan.