Welcome to the Business Post’s Live News section. Catch up here on today’s developments in business, tech and current affairs.
Governments should not be tempted to give firms extra credits or reliefs to make up for a new 15 per cent minimum multinational tax, a senior EU official has warned.
Benjamin Angel, the European Commission’s director-general for tax, insisted the “work is not over” on implementing the new tax, which came into force in Ireland in January.
“The simple question is making sure countries do not give back with the right hand the money they have taken with the left hand,” he told MEPs on Thursday
Our Europe correspondent Sarah Collins has more from Brussels.
Spark Crowdfunding, the Irish equity investment platform, has experienced a data breach exposing the email addresses and other personal information of thousands of users.
“We takes matters of this nature very seriously,” Chris Burge, co-founder and chief executive of Spark Crowdfunding, told the Business Post. “Our IT team is investigating this.”
The Iseq All Share has closed in the red today, down 0.42 per cent at 9,596.66.
Datalex saw the largest rise, up 5.88 per cent to €0.36, with Corre Energy (up 4.76 per cent), Uniphar (up 2.67 per cent) and Kingspan (up 1.73 per cent) also making gains.
Origin Enterprises saw the biggest drop, down 1.65 per cent to €2.98, with Bank of Ireland (down 1.49 per cent) and Kerry Group (down 0.87 per cent) among those making losses.
Losses before tax reduced by nearly 50 per cent at Emerald Airlines last year to €11.5 million from €21.3 million in 2022, according to newly filed accounts for the airline.
During 2023 the company said it operated 31 routes, with nine new routes launched. It now employs over 500 colleagues between its bases in Dublin and Belfast.
Ellie Donnelly has been looking through its accounts.
The U.S. Department of Justice has argued that Google, owned by Alphabet, must divest its Chrome browser, share data and search results with competitors to restore fair competition.
Prosecutors also suggested that selling Android could be a potential remedy to dismantle the tech giant’s dominance in online search. The proposals, part of a pivotal case in Washington, could fundamentally alter how users access information online.
Staff at Tesco’s Irish arm are to receive a 3 per cent pay rise – with the average worker set to earn €17.61 an hour from January.
The grocery retailer, which employs 13,500 people in Ireland, will introduce the increase to in-store assistant and warehouse staff pay in the new year, as part of €14 million investment into wages and benefits.
The measures include increases to paid maternity, adoptive and paternity leave, the company said.
Mediahuis Ireland Limited, the newspaper and media publisher, saw its revenue decline by nearly 25 per cent in 2023 according to newly filed accounts.
The firm’s revenue dropped by more than €16 million – from €68.3 million in its financial year to December 2022, to €51.94 million last year.
Vish Gain has more on the accounts.
Investment and employee benefits firm Mercer Ireland has grown its after-tax profits from €60.3 million to €74.9 million on the back of a rise in interest payments and moderating costs.
However, a change in calculation for its defined benefit pension scheme resulted in a rise in pension liabilities, ultimately leading to an 18 per cent shortfall in its recognised gain for the year.
Insurance giant Aon has moved its staff into a new office at George’s Quay in Dublin.
The 30,000-square-foot space brings together Aon’s 587 Dublin-based staff in a move it says will “enhance collaboration and innovation” across its risk capital and human capital capabilities.
The new space will serve as Aon’s corporate offices in Dublin and will include designated space for its board of directors as well as Dublin-based Aon colleagues.
Ellie Donnelly has the full story.
The NYSE, meanwhile, opened with a 0.21 per cent jump.
The Nasdaq has slipped since its early rise, down 0.46 per cent in early trading.
In New York, the Nasdaq Composite has opened in the green with a 0.50 per cent jump to 19,070.30.
The state’s leading start-up accelerator is set to shut at the end of next year in a significant blow to the critically important tech sector.
NDRC will be forced to close its doors from November 2025 unless new funding is found after the Department of Communications decided to cease funding for the programme.
Efforts to have another department fund the programme have so far failed.
Charlie Taylor has the exclusive.
Irish Rail is seeking approval for a new order of 100 electric carriages worth an estimated €250 million to replace the original Dart fleet.
The company has determined that the cost of keeping the original fleet, which dates to 1984, is prohibitively more expensive than buying new carriages.
This is due to increased heavy maintenance, a new train protection system, and the limited passenger amenity in comparison to new trains.
The Irish Times has the full story.
Tributes have been paid to John Prescott, the former UK deputy prime minister, who died on Wednesday at the age of 86.
Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, described the former trade union leader as a “true giant” of the labour movement.
Tony Blair, who defeated Prescott to become leader of the Labour party in 1994, said that there was “no one quite like him in British politics”.
Two landlords linked to large US and Dutch funds have started to promote “Black Friday deals” for apartments in Dublin.
Greystar, a US residential investor and one of Ireland’s biggest landlords, is promoting “Black Friday deals” for some of its €3,700 a month apartments in a bid to secure new tenants.
Hali, a rental platform linked to US and Dutch investors, is also pitching a “Black Friday Offer” to tenants for its €2,200 a month one-bed apartments in its Cherrywood development.
Killian Woods has the full story.
Investors at three UK water providers will have to pick up the tab for executive bonuses after a watchdog determined that they had been given “undeserved” payments worth £6.8 million.
The UK regulator has used new powers to force shareholders and bondholders at Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water to pay for bonuses that it said had not “adequately reflected overall company performance issues”.
Read the full story in the Guardian.
There may have been a slowdown in hiring, but top companies are still seeking talent in tech.
Fionn Thompson rounded up some of the best roles currently available – including Google, Etsy, Asana, Verizon and Catalyst.
Staff at Tesco’s Irish arm are set to receive a 3 per cent pay rise.
The grocery retailer will introduce the increase to in-store assistant and warehouse staff pay in the new year, as part of €14 million investment into staff wages and benefits.
The measures include increases to paid maternity, adoptive and paternity leave, the company said.
Dozens of PwC partners in the UK are set to take early retirement next month, as new boss Marco Amitrano takes steps to boost performance.
Sky News are reporting that the firm’s 1,030 UK partners were notified this week that a larger-than-usual round of partner retirements would take place at the end of the year.
BlueSnap, the US fintech with operations in Ireland, has been fined €324,240 by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI).
The regulator found that BlueSnap broke EU payment services regulations between January 2021 and December 2022.
BlueSnap, which is authorised to provide merchant acquiring services, did not deposit its customers’ funds in its designated safeguarding account, according to C BI.
CurrencyFair, the Irish currency exchange platform, is on track towards profitability by 2026 after the group saw losses drop substantially last year.
According to recently filed accounts, CurrencyFair made €14.13 million in revenue in 2023, dropping slightly from €14.24 million in the previous year.
Revenues at Cork-based software company Teamwork rose 11.3 per cent to $43.1 million (€40.8m) in 2023 as the firm managed to trim its losses.
Newly filed accounts for the software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm show that it trimmed its after-tax losses from $10.2 million in 2022 to $9.6 million the next year.
Fionn Thompson took a look at the filings.
Grocery retailers are facing increased wage pressures next year, according to new research.
Excel Recruitment’s latest Grocery Retail Salary Guide 2025 reveals that while a minimum wage increase to €13.50 in January will help protect workers, it will also create a ripple effect on overall wages, pushing most stores to increase pay by at least 5 per cent.
According to Excel, new regulations on pension auto-enrolment and extended sick leave benefits will add to the pressure, making it difficult for retailers, particularly smaller and independent stores, to absorb the increased costs.
The UK government borrowed more than expected in October, as debt interest payments pushed the public finances deeper into the red, piling pressure on Rachel Reeves as she attempts to grow the economy.
UK borrowing rose to £17.4 billion last month, the second highest October figure since monthly records began.
City economists had expected a figure of around £12.3 billion for the month, after the UK borrowed more than £16 billion in September.
The Guardian has the full story.
DAA, the operator of Dublin Airport, has announced plans to add up to 100 new security officers over the coming months.
As a record year for passenger numbers at Dublin Airport comes to an end, DAA said it is already gearing up for the coming 12 months and is inviting applications for a number of permanent full time roles.
Ellie Donnelly has the full story.
JD Sports, the UK retailer, has warned that its annual profit will come in at the lower end of guidance after discounts, mild weather and consumer caution sent shares sliding 9 per cent in October.
The London-listed firm said today that volatile trading last month resulted in a 0.3 per cent slip in underlying sales in the third quarter.
The cabinet has been warned about the economic fallout for Ireland from the election of Donald Trump and heightening geopolitical tensions worldwide.
In its first meeting since the start of the general election campaign, senior officials have drawn up a stark warning about the external dangers to Ireland’s economic prosperity.
Ministers were told that the world is in an “especially challenging time for global peace and security” and that it was likely that Ireland would feel economic consequences from this.
The Irish Times has the full story.
Suntory, the Japanese drinks giant, plans to move its operations from the Cooley Distillery in Louth – where it bottles the Kilbeggan, Tyrconnell and Connemara whiskey brands – to Spain and Scotland.
The company informed staff at the distillery outside Dundalk of the move in October, but has still not finalised the change, according to new filings with the CRO.
The Irish Independent has the full story.
Donald Trump’s team is holding discussions with the digital asset industry about whether to create a new White House post solely dedicated to cryptocurrency policy, according to people familiar with the transition efforts.
Trump’s team is vetting candidates to serve in what would be the first ever crypto-specific White House role, according to the sources.
Huawei plans to start mass-producing its most advanced AI chip in the first quarter of 2025 – even as it struggles to make enough chips due to US restrictions, according to Reuters.
The telecoms giant has sent samples of Ascend 910C – its newest chip, meant to rival those made by Nvidia – to some tech firms and has started taking orders, according to sources.
Read the full story on Reuters.
Novartis, the Swiss drugmaker, has raised its medium-term sales target, citing upbeat expectations for new cancer medicines and treatments for neurological and cardiovascular conditions.
The company, which employs around 1,000 people in Ireland, said that its revenue would grow 6 per cent a year through 2029 – an upgrade from previous guidance of 5 per cent.
Read the full story on Bloomberg.
The office market in Dublin is experiencing a “trading vacuum” due to owners of newly-built assets holding firm on pricing, an analysis by BNP Paribas has shown.
New data released by the property agency has shown €601.4 million worth of property assets, including offices, retail, residential and logistics, traded in the third quarter of this year – the highest level since the first quarter of 2023.
Killian Woods took a look through the BNP Paribas analysis.
After falling two months in a row, new car sales in Europe were flat in October – while the transition to EVs or hybrids gained ground.
An increase in total sales in Spain (7.2 per cent) and Germany (6 per cent) offset drops recorded in France, Italy and Britain, according to new industry figures.
The Iseq All Share is in the red this morning, down 0.84 per cent to 9,557.98.
Bank of Ireland is leading the morning’s losses in Dublin, down 2.55 per cent to €8.648.
Across the Irish Sea, the FTSE is steady, trading 0.04 per cent below Wednesday’s close, while in Frankfurt, the Dax is down 0.36 per cent.
Revenues at Origin Enterprises fell by 11.8 per cent in its first quarter as a result of “delayed plantings” in the northern hemisphere and Brazil.
The firm saw its overall revenue growth fall from €532.5 million in Q1 2024 to €469.4 million in its first quarter in its 2025 financial year.
Fionn Thompson has the full story.
A concerted rise in mobile and TV customers helped Eir to a broad improvement in its third quarter results, released this morning.
The telecommunications’ firm saw a 7 per cent rise in mobile customers to just under 1.5 million and a 17 per cent rise in Eir TV customers to 112,000.
This helped push its Q3 revenue to €324 million, a 3 per cent rise year-on-year.
Fionn Thompson took a look through the numbers.
The US justice department has proposed a series of remedies aimed at stopping Google from maintaining its monopoly in online search.
In a court filing late on Wednesday, the DOJ said the tech giant should sell off Chrome, the Google search browser.
Government lawyers also recommended that the company be forced to stop entering into contracts with the likes of Apple and Samsung that make Chrome the default on smartphones.
Read the full story on the BBC.
The legal woes of Allan Beechinor, founder of failed tech company Altada, have worsened with a subsidiary of Rocktop Partners – a Texas-based firm that led a $11.5 million funding round in it in 2021 – initiating proceedings against him and Oysterhaven Ventures.
In court records filed earlier this week, Rocktop is seeking judgement for $500,000 (€474,890) and damages for alleged breach of contract and fraud with a plenary summons issued.
Our tech editor Charlie Taylor has more.
Ires Reit, Ireland’s biggest private landlord, has seen its shares slump to an all-time low.
The company’s portfolio, which was was valued at €1.24 billion in June, is now priced at €440 million by the stock market. The company had net debts of €585.2 million at the end of 2023, but no debt maturities until April 2026.
The growing gap between share price and property portfolio value will revive speculation that Ires could be broken up or sold off.
Read the full story in the Irish Independent.
Nvidia has forecast its slowest revenue growth in almost two years, as the AI chipmaker fell short of the expectations of investors who have made it the world’s most valuable firm.
Shares in the California-based tech giant saw an immediate 5 per cent fall last night following the results, before receding to trade down 2.5 per cent after-hours and closing 0.8 per cent during the regular session.
While Nvidia’s results passed by without a major impact on S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures, analysts at Deutsche Bank noted that the “tepid” reaction had dampened sentiment in Asia.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is 0.36 per cent in the red this morning, while Shanghai’s CSI 300 is steady, up 0.08 per cent.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 is down 0.85 per cent, while in South Korea, the Kospi is trading just 0.07 per cent below previous close.
Eoin O’Hare here with you today to keep you up-to-date with all the latest news.
This morning, we kick off with the multi-billion Trump-sized hole in the manifestos of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin.
All three main parties will run cumulative deficits of tens of billions of euro by the end of the decade in the event of “windfall” corporate taxes drying up – Daniel Murray took a look through the figures.
Elsewhere, new documents submitted to the High Court show how lenders turned the screw on Paddy McKillen jnr over a landmark development in the UK.
