Out of Office: Pricier Guinness and Simon Harris’ dream team
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.
This morning brought something rarer than an Irish heatwave: a good news story about housing. According to Daft.ie, falling interest rates coupled with high rates of construction may bring a decade-long trend of rapidly rising prices to an end.
On the same subject, Ireland’s capacity problems in housing and other areas were among several risks to the country’s corporate tax base in the years ahead, according to a new report from the Parliamentary Budgetary Office (PBO).
In the markets, revenue at Paddy Power owner Flutter jumped almost 25 per cent to $11.79 billion last year as its average monthly players surged to top 12 million. Paul Edgecliff-Johnson, its chief financial officer, said the company would continue to scour the world for new acquisition opportunities.
Killian Woods reported on the latest twist in the long-running spat between Dunnes Stores and Dublin City Council about plans to expand Crumlin Shopping Centre. You can read his earlier reports here and here.
In politics, Cónal Thomas examined the small close-knit team that taoiseach-in-waiting Simon Harris is hoping to assemble following his election as party leader on Sunday.
Meanwhile, financial services giant State Street echoed calls for the Central Bank to be given a role in promoting the industry, as it warned some approval processes risk the “silent withdrawal” of talent.
And finally, Diageo announced yet another price increase to its entire range, including Guinness, Hop House 13, Rockshore, Smithwicks and Carlsberg. The price of a pint of the black stuff will increase by 6 cent before tax.
News in brief
* Irish consumer sentiment falters in March with consumers still feeling the pinch
* Adam Neumann among partners behind $500m bid for WeWork
* Poll: Joe Biden gains on Donald Trump in six key states
* Whiterock launches £75m equity fund for Northern Irish SMEs
* Irish consumer sentiment falters in March with consumers still feeling the pinch
What BusinessPost.ie subscribers are reading
* Number of homeowners in early mortgage arrears rises - Central Bank
* Ireland to opt into biggest overhaul of EU migration rules in decades
* Government prepared to introduce business supports before budget
* Post Script: Michael O’Leary better value than Mbappé, aims F bomb at Boeing’s ‘corporate bullshit’
* ‘Every time I think about venturing out into the dating world again I feel terrified’
