Business Post
Head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, reveals in an interview that the Church will run a massive campaign ahead of the next abortion referendum and that the Pope will be airing his opposition when he comes here in 2018.
New Beginning founder Ross Maguire has raised an initial €20m fund from high-net-worth Germans to buy up a number of residential loans from the loan book buyers with a view to renting them back to the current owners and giving them a buyback option. New Beginnings seem to have bigger ambitions in this space.
“A member of the Central Bank’s board has expressed reservations about the controversial changes recently made to its mortgage lending rules.”
Garrett Kelleher, the former owner of the controversial Apollo House, has an interesting answer when asked if he believes NAMA missed an opportunity to develop the site earlier. “NAMA has no business in the development business. It was not its opportunity to miss or not. It does not have the in-house skill sets or the expertise to brief and instruct professionals. NAMA has never had anyone on its board with real estate development experience, which is really amazing.”
Dublin-based Boulder Media’s profits rose from €544k to €600k last year. The animation company had 110 staff on its books last year.
The seven directors in Communicorp (Denis O’Brien, Lucy Gaffney, Gervaise Slowey, Mike Lee, Maria Mahon, Paul Connolly and Ronan Harris) shared remuneration of €904k this year, up from €717k last year.
“Ryanair has spent €211m buying up its own stock since early November.”
In a letter to Minister for Housing Simon Coveney, Johnny Ronan writes that restrictions on residential developments in the Docklands to seven stories are “not only wasteful, but also stupid”. He cites it as a once-off opportunity to get it right and that the policy is inconsistent with the City Development Plan.
“Denis O’Brien has submitted a personal data request to IBRC, the former Anglo Irish Bank, seeking all information relating to his business affairs.”
There is an interesting review of residential property transactions in 2016:
– Over half of the value of property transactions that took place this year were in Dublin.
– 85% of the €1m + transactions took place in Dublin.
– The sale of 19 Temple Road for €10.2m to Patrick Kennedy, former Paddy Power boss, was the biggest residential sale.
– “The highest price paid for a single dwelling in Ireland in 2016 was €12.07m for the late Tony Ryan’s Georgian mansion at Lyons Demesne in Celbridge, Co. Kildare.”
Joe O’Reilly’s Castlethorn have been granted permission to build 76 homes in Dublin 15.
Galway-based Ward and Burke looks set to acquire Cork-based Response Engineering. Half of Ward and Burke’s turnover comes from Canada. It posted a €8.7m profit off turnover of €150m last year. Response specialises in wastewater and water. It had €18m turnover last year.
John Given, the former A&L Goodbody partner and co-founder of Malin, is stepping down as chairman and Kyran McLaughlin is taking over his role.
Ed Micheau has an interview with Gordon Elliot ahead of the Leopardstown and Limerick Christmas festivals. Elliot is leading Willie Mullins on the trainer’s table. Elliot says on his main patron Michael O’Leary, “Ah listen, Michael would give you a bollocking now and again and we might bounce off each other, but he’s been with me for eight or nine years. If you’re straight with him, he’s great to train for.” He credits Martin Pipe with giving the best career advice when he said, “keep your horses in the worst of company and yourself in the best”.
There is also a correction in the Business Post in reference to a quote summarised in last Sunday’s synopsis.
“In last week’s newspaper the Week in Business section included a quote made by NAMA chairman Frank Daly in relation to the records of Project Eagle meetings. This newspaper [Sunday Business Post] would like to make it clear that, while hand written notes taken during the meeting were disposed of, minutes of the meeting were not destroyed. Instead the handwritten notes were used to prepare the final agreed minutes.”
The rest of the paper focuses on various yearly reviews and round-ups, including a pull-out with all the best articles from this year. Brexit, Trump, wage demands and tax inversion get a lot of coverage.
3% – The projected rise in British house prices next year, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. @examinerbiz
€13bn – The value of bond sales planned by the @NTMA_IE in 2017
17.3% – The percentage of non-performing loans Irish banks currently hold, according to @centralbank_ie governor Philip Lane