Sunday Business Post
RSM has announced a merger with John Marks and Co.
SurveyMonkey intends to grow its team from 48 to 60 at its Dublin HQ.
Accumulated losses at Tralee fintech company Contiuum Commerce grew from €14.07m to €14.56m. The company is a going concern subject to receiving more funding. George Sisk is the big backer. Telecoms entrepreneur Eddie Murphy and Craig Best (Rory’s uncle) are also backers of the venture.
Karen Moran and Tracey Moran, daughters of Tom Moran and Red Cow fame, are interviewed in the Business Post. They are finishing the €15m expansion which will see the Red Cow hotel go from 123 rooms to 275 and are ready to add a second hotel when the time and deal are right. Their dad is recovering from what was a suspected stroke last year.
Ticket-booking business Coras has attracted €2m of funding from a host of big names including Atlantic Bridge, Elkstone Capital, Nicole Junkermann, Barry O’Callaghan and U2’s the Edge. Coras was founded by Mark McLaughlin, son of stockbroker Kyran McLaughlin. Both Kyran, David and a number of Kyran’s old colleagues have also invested.
“Irish-owned Fintech company Fenergo, has secured a Europe-wide contract with Spanish bank BBVA, as the Irish-owned company continues its international expansion.”
After speculation in recent weeks, there seems to be some clarity on the Version 1 deal. It reads like Volpi Capital, run by Irishman Crevan O’Grady, have written a cheque for €90m for a significant stake in the company. BDO’s Development Capital will exit with a 250% return after an Investment period of three years. Tom O’Connor who took over from Justin Keatinge as CEO said “some 40 senior managers in Version 1 put their hands in their pockets to become shareholders as part of this process. No shareholders have exited bar Development Capital.” It expects €100m in revenue this year and the funding will help a new trail of acquisitions ahead of a possible IPO. We understand that Clearwater International, led by John Sheridan, were the exclusive corporate finance adviser to Version1 in relation to the transaction.
There is speculation that Microsoft are linked to an investment in Cubic Telecom which is believed to value the company at over $100m. The internet of things company’s flagship deal is with Audi to provide in-car Wi-Fi and associated services. According to the Sunday Independent, Cubic Telecom raised €18m last year and management, including CEO Barry Napier, hold c. 50% of the business. Napier believes the business to be worth up to €250m.
The EU are said to be close to investing €90m (up to 25% of the cost) of a wind energy storage plant in the north being promoted by Gaelectric. It is designed to overcome the problem of the lack of supply of energy from wind turbines when there is no wind.
Activate Capital, a joint venture between ISIF and KKR, has committed €150m to a pipeline of 2,300 homes and expects to be involved in the financing of 500 completed houses this year across 15 sites. Developers it is backing include Sean Reilly of McGarrell Reilly Group, Eugene Larkin’s Twinlight, and Liam Monsey. Its sweet spot is 100+ homes and €10m plus.
The fast-growing healthy food company, Chopped is hoping to open six new outlets and create 100 new jobs in London over the next twelve months.
NAMA have responded to a report in the Business Post last week that suggested that mismanagement has cost the state €18bn. The responses are in a two-page special in the Business Post. The Sunday Independent reports that Lisney issued a statement on Friday which sought to clarify its involvement in the report commissioned by David Daly and prepared by Jim Power which was critical of NAMA. Lisney were reported to have validated the numbers. Earlier in the week, Lisney sought to distance itself from the report however on Friday confirmed that while they “provided input to Jim Power’s report, we did not have final editorial control over his report.”
Hostelworld’s share price, while trading a lot lower than IPO, appears to be stabilising. A 1% drop in bookings was attributed to terrorist attacks. Revenue would have been flat in constant currency terms. Its after-tax profits dropped from €21m in 2015, to €19.4m from revenues of €80.5m in 2016. The shares hit a high of £2.99 last April, a low of £1.27 in June and are currently trading at over £2.30.
The Irish arm of UK franchise Energie Fitness is expanding into Poland. David Miller and Jim Durie are effectively seeking to roll the franchise across various European countries. They acquired some of the Jackie Skelly gyms out of examinership in 2010 and employs 150 people across 14 locations.
The Frank Gleeson/Mercantile case is back in court this week.
The Garda scandal and transport disputes get plenty of column inches.
Fransesca Comyn writes about the court case Denis O’Brien lost during the week.
“Lynx, the Dublin-based taxi app company has merged with Blackrock Cabs as part of its ongoing expansion plans.”
Colette Sexton has an interview with Ivan Yates whose new show goes on air this AM.
There is a profile on Wexford hurling boss Davy Fitzgerald.
“The Killeavy Castle Estate in Co Armagh is to be redeveloped as a hotel and spa as part of a multimillion euro investment by Mick Boyle, owner of Jaramas Investments NI.”
Specialty bread maker BFree, founded by ex-Cusine de France execs Alex Murphy and Ronan McNamee, generated €4m turnover in the most recent year and is planning to hit €25m soon.
Atlantic Bridge has invested €1m in next generation sensor technology company Ambisense.
Anthony Kelly and Conor O’Loughlin’s Glofox has just closed a €2.2m series A funding round. It provides software for pay-as-you-go fitness classes which seems to be a growing sector. They have 500 clients across 20 countries. They employ 25 people and expect that to be 40 by the end of the year.
The Business Post profile the second twelve contestants who are partaking in The Entrepreneur Experience in Ballymaloe next weekend. These 24 will get to work with 24 successful entrepreneurs over 24 hours.
Connected, the monthly IT guide is in the paper this week.
Sunday Independent
Integrated Materials Solutions (IMS), a company linked to developer Pat Crean, has released a statement to the Sunday Independent in which it confirmed that it will issue legal proceedings imminently against Johnny Ronan’s company, Spencer Place Developments. IMS claims that Spencer Place Developments disposed of hazardous material in a landfill owned by IMS and is now seeking for that material to be remediated. There is a one-page special report on the hostilities between the two developers.
Former Ireland and Munster rugby player Frankie Sheehan has been declared bankrupt. Sheehan had debt outstanding to Bank of Ireland from property investments made as part of his retirement planning. Sheehan is part of the team behind the Pendulum Summit, which is owned by his brother Jonathon and will continue to work with the business.
The Sunday Independent published its Rich List today. The combined wealth of Ireland’s richest 300 people now tops €100bn, according to the Sunday Independent’s estimates of wealth. The Mistry family top the list with total wealth of €15.4bn, led by patriarch Pallonji Mistry who holds an Irish passport and is married to Dublin-born Patsy Perin Dubash. The wealthiest Irish-born person on the list is Denis O’Brien with an estimated net worth of €4.9bn. John Collison (26), co-founder of online payments company Stripe with his brother Patrick (28), is the youngest self-made billionaire in the world with an estimated wealth of €1.38bn – his brother Patrick has a net worth of €1.38bn also.
Richard Curran notes that with the UK having triggered Article 50 last week we are set for a “long tedious road” as we wait for the outcome of the next two years of talks and negotiations. Brian Carey in the Times makes the point: despite the triggering of article 50 by the UK, there will be no serious talking until after the German elections in September. Then, it appears, the EU will insist Britain must settle its “exit bill” before negotiations start on a trade deal.
Curran highlights the disappointing news that Ireland lost out on Lloyd’s and AIG relocation of the EU headquarters. Reasons cited by Lloyd’s for choosing Brussels include regulatory understanding, proximity to EU politicians in Brussels and possibly lifestyle factors. The Sunday Times reports that British insurer RSA has also passed on Ireland for its relocation. It will decide shortly between Copenhagen and Luxembourg.
The Sunday Business Post reports that Michael Smurfit thinks that the EU will have to do a sensible trade deal with the UK. He also reminds us that “we [Irish] have a very small influence in regard to what Brussels is going to do.”
Grafton Street stalwart, Brown Thomas has completed its three-year €24m investment programme. The investment programme has included the development of a new café, a new ‘athlesiure’ section and a new standalone beauty lounge.
This week’s profile interview by Gavin McLoughlin is with Hostelworld’s CEO Feargal Mooney.
Healthcare company, Integumen is planning to list on London’s Alternative Investment Market. The company is seeking to raise £2.2m and values itself at £8.25m. The Dalkey-based company’s non-prescription products focus on skin care, oral care and wound care. The business was founded by CEO Declan Service and Chairman Tony Richardson.
With the surge of new planning applications for solar panel farms in Ireland, An Bord Pleanala is calling for a strategic plan for their development. This follows the recent refusal of planning for a €25m solar farm in Co. Wexford by An Bord Pleanala.
Dan White this week focuses on R&D spending in Ireland. The government’s Innovation 2020 programme is aiming to raise R&D spending by the private and public sector to 2.5% of GNP (up from 1.7% at present) and an almost doubling of the number of R&D employees. The government is estimated to have invested c. €640m in 2015 into R&D through the R&D tax credit scheme, while private sector investment into R&D in Ireland is estimated at €2bn for 2014 (most recent year’s data available.)
A recent report from TransferWise estimates that Irish people travelling to the UK lose up to €30m per annum on hidden FX fees or unfavourable exchange rates. It estimates that one-in-three people still convert currency at the bureau exchange in the airport or their hotels.
This week, Sean Gallagher meets with Dublin Meat Company’s founders Pat O’Leary and his sons David and Brian. The butcher business operates from six factory-style retail stores and has an online butcher store also. It has turnover of €9m and employs 40.
There are some good news stories in the Sunday Independent’s Deals of the Week section. Namely:
– Linked Finance, the peer-to-peer lending platform, has raised €1m from Shay Garvey’s Frontline Ventures.
– A new joint venture, EnergyPro Asset Management, has been launched by Energypro Analytics and Galetech Energy Services. The joint venture is equally owned by the two companies and will manage assets for a variety of wind farm owners.
Samantha McCaughren’s Ergo piece this week covers:
– Irish fashion designer Jonathon Anderson is collaborating with Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo. Anderson is known for his JW Anderson label. Uniqlo is Japan’s largest fashion retailer and has over 1,500 stores worldwide.
– Kingspan chairman Eugene Murtagh is reported to have recently sold €30m worth of shares in the business and the company’s CFO, Geoff Doherty sold €750,000 worth of shares.
– The new distillery setting up at Powerscourt Estate has nabbed the services of master distiller Noel Sweeney from Kilbeggan Whiskey owner Cooley Distillery. The €10m Powerscourt venture will be operated by local entrepreneurs Gerry Ginty and Ashley Gardiner.
Sunday Times
Brian Carey reports on Datalex, a supplier of ecommerce software to the travel industry whose largest shareholder is Dermot Desmond. The company is starting to achieve scale and momentum and boasts US airline Jetblue, Aer Lingus, Virgin, Delta and Air China among its customers. It is building a strong presence with Chinese airlines and, according to the IATA, an international airline lobby, China will replace the US as the world’s largest aviation market by 2024. According to the Sunday Business Post, Datalex reported 18% growth in earnings in 2016, its seventh successive year of double-digit earnings growth.
Carey also notes that US funds Davidson Kempner and Oaktree have walked away from planned deals to acquire shopping centres in Navan and Mullingar, respectively. According to Carey, it has been speculated the funds were getting nervous about an exit strategy.
AIB’s proposed dividend of €250m, its first in almost a decade, will be worth less than €1 each for up to 66k shareholders, with some forced to pay more in bank charges than the dividend payment is worth. Of the banks 85k shareholders, about 66k have fewer than 10 shares. With AIB charging up to 39c to process a cheque, those with fewer than 5 shares risk being charged more to lodge the cheque than the dividend is worth. The 85k shareholders stake was diluted to just 0.1% when the bank was taken into state control.
A liquidator has been appointed to disburse the assets of Cogall, a Mexico-based aviation company, a Ryan family-controlled company previously known as Ryanmex Holdings. Gogall has assets of €42m and liabilities of just €18k, meaning the Ryan family should be in for a distribution of just shy of €42m.
Cormac Lucey gives his view on the mounting problems facing the EU. Germany and France, at a policy level, want greater EU integration, yet their people are turning against the EU. The same pattern appears to be appearing in the Benelux countries. Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece the “Eurozone debtor countries”, want the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme and loose monetary policy to continue for longer, a large part of the EU want it curtailed. The Eastern European states want migration curtailed. The vast majority of the Scandinavian countries like ourselves are critically dependent on free trade but yet they don’t want a single currency. It’s going to be a very difficult job to keep everybody happy as there are very different groupings emerging with very different needs.
Chartered Land, the property group led by Joe O’Reilly, has sold several apartments in Ballsbridge off the plans for more than €1m each. The €1m price tag is for smaller apartments in the Landsdowne Place scheme, which will have 215 apartments when completed.
Paddy Power Betfair is to introduce new rules regarding how long executives must hold bonus shares before selling them.
National Bank of Canada is expanding its Dublin office with a €90m cash injection. Dublin is its European hub and the cash will be used to support further expansion into Europe.
A company under the control of Denis O’Brien, which is planning to build 90 apartments in Clonskeagh , is facing a planning appeal by An Bord Planula after local residents objected.
The state has put an additional €25m into the Strategic Bank Corporation of Ireland to cover lending risks and provide more capital to Irish companies.
The High Court has refused separate applications by a liquidator to have the owners of the Hanly Group and Taggart Group, two of the high-profile victims of the building bust, restricted from acting as company directors.
Profits at the Northern Ireland snack company Tayto group have more than halved to £3.1m in the year-to-June last year, as sales fell and margins came under pressure. The Hutchinson family own the Tayto brand in Northern Ireland. The Tayto brand in the Republic is owned by the German firm Intersnack.
Dalata, the listed group that owns the Maldron and Clayton hotel brands, has awarded its chief executive Pat McCann a €100k increase in his basic salary to €575k, citing performance and a rise in share price as the reasoning. McCann brought home €1.5m last year when salary, bonus and shares awarded under the company’s long-term incentive plan were totted up.
Chartered Accountants Ireland has hired Barry Dempsey, a former head of the hairdressing business Peter Mark, as its new chief executive.
Eir is planning to sublet part of its head office complex close to Heuston station in Dublin for €2m a year. Savills has been appointed to find a tenant for 55k sq. ft. space at €37.50 a sq. ft.
Bill Wolsey’s Beannchor group has agreed a “substantial modification” of its loan facilities after striking a new deal with lender Goldman Sachs. Accounts filed for the hospitality group, which includes the five-star Merchant hotel in Belfast, the Bullit hotel, the National Grande Café, Sixty6, the Dirty Onion pub, and the Little Wing Pizza group, shows the group recorded a £8.3m gain as result of a new loan deal. The group recorded profits of £3.2m in the year to June 2016. The Sunday Business Post reports that the Group boosted sales from £18.5m in 2015 to £19m in 2016.
One of Ireland’s leading wine importers, Edward Dillon & Co, turnover rose to €58.8m last year, from €56.3m in 2015. Pre-tax profits fell from €1.3m to €1m in the same period.
Card Factory, a London-listed retailer, is set to open several stores in Ireland as it expands internationally.
CRH chief executive Albert Manifold made almost €2m by selling 60k shares following a share price jump on the back of last month’s news of a 69% rise in pre-tax profits in 2016.
Nick Webb’s inside track this week:
– Liam McLoughlin, who heads up the Bank of Ireland’s retail business, is the bookies favourite to succeed Richie Boucher as chief executive.
– Stephen Cooney and Brian O’Malley, who are behind the Loyola pub group, have bought out their partners Paul and Barry McNerney from the property company behind the Old Spot gastropub. The McNerneys are still understood to be involved in the operating company.
– Bakery group Aryzta is reviewing its stakes in Picard, a French frozen food retailer, and Signature, a British maker of flatbreads.
– Ballymacoll Stud will no longer look to sell its stud as a going concern and are auctioning fifty of their animals at Tattersalls in the UK next month. Ballymacoll, owned by the Weinstock family and run by Peter Reynolds for the past 45 years, have owned or bred the winners of the Derby, the Oaks, the 2000 Guineas, the St Leger, the Irish Derby, the Irish Oaks, the Irish 2000 Guineas, the Melbourne Cup, the Breeders’ Cup Turf, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf and the Japan Cup. It is the end of an era.
– Diageo is launching a new type of Baileys cream liqueur which will be made from almond milk.
– Maurice O’Regan, the New York-based construction millionaire and shareholder in the Mercantile group, has bought properties on Elgin Road in Ballsbridge for €5.25m.
Niall Connolly has a good article on the uncertainty and anxiety that Brexit is causing for Ireland’s leading companies.
This week’s chief executive interview is with Michael Stanley, chief executive of Cairn Homes.
Sandra O’Connell has a very informative piece this week on the tendering opportunities for Irish companies presented by Brexit. Once Britain leaves the EU, companies there will be unable to tender for European Commission funded development work. Given British companies currently win the lion’s share of the multi-billion public tender work, Brexit presents the opportunity for even the smallest of Irish businesses, according to O’Connell.
Appointments
Jason Bradshaw has joined JPA Brenson Lawlor as Partner, Corporate Finance. The firm is a Top Twenty accountancy firm recognised for its expertise in the broad healthcare sector, one of Jason’s specialist areas. He also has experience in the early-stage tech sector. Jason joins five existing partners and fifty-five other staff.
13% – Annualised fall in the number of company failures in the first three months of this year, according to @DeloitteIreland. @examinerbiz
€25.4bn – €65.1bn – The potential exit bill the UK will have to pay for leaving the EU, according to @Bruegel_org. @IrishTimesBiz
5.9% – Year-on-year decrease in the number of trips by residents of Great Britain to Ireland in the three months to February. @CSOIreland
22.1k – The number of housing units for sale in January this year, a year-on-year decline of 17%, according to @Sherry_Fitz. @IrishTimesBiz
1.1% – The year-on-year increase in the volume of retail sales for the Month of February, according to @CSOIreland. @IrishTimesBiz
€7bn – The forecast amount of total mortgage lending in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 24%, according to @Investec_Irl. @IrishTimesBiz
52% and 68% – Year-on-year increases in the number of mortgage approvals and the value of those approvals for February. @IrishTimesBiz
10.9% – The increase in the average price of a house in the past 12 months, according to @REAIreland. @IrishTimesBiz
c. €4.11bn – The value of food Ireland exported to the UK in 2016. @IrishTimesBiz
€433m – Predicted spend on digital advertising in 2017 in Ireland, a year-on-year increase of 12%, according to @eMarketer. @IrishTimesBiz
€404k – Average price of a three-bed semi-detached house in Dublin as of Mar’17, a year-on-year increase of 12.8%, according to @REAIreland.
40% – The extra amount on average public sector workers earn versus their private sector peers, according to @DavyResearch. @IndoBusiness