Out of Office: Housing warnings and more referendum fallout
The Business Post gets you up to date with the big stories of the day
Welcome to the Business Post’s Out of Office, your daily round-up of the day’s business, tech, markets, legal and politics news.
The Central Bank became the latest institution to sound the alarm over infrastructural bottlenecks putting the breaks on the economy. In a report published today, it said expansion had been curtailed by “global headwinds and domestic capacity restraints”.
On the brighter side, the report said the government was on track to meet its housing targets this year, contradicting a report published on Monday from financial services firm BNP Paribas.
Also in housing, new data from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland found that just six per cent of apartments are purchased by homebuyers, with the rest bought by private rental sector investors and state bodies. Killian Woods took a closer look at the numbers to examine why the state has stepped in to be a bigger player in the apartment development sector.
The government fallout following last weekend’s disastrous twin referendum results continued, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar saying he votes in line with how he campaigns, after coalition partner Lisa Chambers revealed she did not support the defeated constitutional amendments.
It was a busy day for mergers and acquisitions too, with H&MV Engineering acquiring Skanstec, a Tipperary-based specialist engineering firm, for an undisclosed sum. 9 Story Media Group, whose businesses include Irish animation studio Brown Bag Films, was acquired by Scholastic in a $186 million deal.
Ireland is well known as a nation of pizza lovers, and Domino’s largest franchise here has become so successful that it was snapped up by the US fast food giant. Domino’s Pizza Group bought Shorecal Limited, which it already had a 15 per cent stake in, for €72 million.
News in brief
* Apple allows web downloads to pacify EU
* US inflation tops forecasts for second consecutive month
* OpenAI calls Elon Musk’s claims ‘incoherent’ in court filing
* Aer Lingus awarded Dublin Airport ground handling contract for all AIG flights
* Creditors of Irish-headquartered breast implant maker move to liquidate company
What BusinessPost.ie subscribers are reading:
1. Homebuyers account for less than 6 per cent of apartment purchases in Dublin
2. Irish-linked Tory donor apologises for alleged racist remarks
3. Data centres could be powered by surplus offshore wind energy under new strategy
4. Battle of the banks: Do investors prefer AIB or Bank of Ireland
5. London fund takes short bet against Glanbia worth €23 million
