Author: Practicenet

Wind farm prices may have peaked, one of Ireland’s most experienced corporate financiers has warned, despite strong overseas demand for a range of Irish assets. IBI chief executive Tom Godfrey said wind farm assets were probably “as expensive as they’re going to be” now that the low interest rate environment had begun to change. Rising […]

Budget 2019 didn’t put much money back into our pockets. Much of the focus of Finance Minister Pascal Donohue last Tuesday was on housing and health – with little left in the pot for anyone else. Many of us will only be better off to the tune of about €5 or €6 a week next […]

Irish food-to-go supplier Greencore has reached an agreement to sell its entire US business to Hearthside Food Solutions for £817m (€927m). Greencore said it will hand a large part of the proceeds to shareholders via a special dividend of £509m, or 72 pence per ordinary share. The group said that the deal will also “support […]

THE Central Bank has laid out a rosy economic forecast, with continued growth and tens of thousands more people in work over the next three years. However, it warned that a hard Brexit would damage the country – and even a soft Brexit would slow growth substantially for an economy that is more exposed to […]

THE Iseq index of Irish shares slumped to its lowest level since November 2016, mirroring moves in European shares as investors moved to shed risk. The market was gripped by turbulence for a second consecutive day, with sharp falls at heavily weighted stocks almost pushing the index through the 6,000 level. Cement giant CRH – […]

THE self-employed have emerged as major gainers from the measures announced. Those who work for themselves will be able to earn more before paying tax, will get a new entitlement to Jobseeker’s Benefit if they lose their jobs, and have escaped any increase in social insurance contributions. The changes are set to benefit some 150,000 […]

Multinational companies (MNCs) moving assets offshore to another tax jurisdiction now face an exit tax of 12.5pc as a result of Budget 2019. The new measure, which took effect from midnight last night, will tax unrealised capital gains where companies migrate residence or transfer assets offshore. The “big surprise” from the Budget follows sweeping changes […]

The Finance Minister described it as a “caring” budget that will secure Ireland’s future. He spent some 75 minutes outlining the budget with spending plans amounting to 66.5 billion euro Here are some of the key points from Budget 2019: – Spending on health will increase by a billion euro which brings the total budget […]

A share option scheme for Irish SMEs launched as part of Budget 2018 has had no uptake and needs to be modified, according to an industry group that lobbied for it last year. The Key Employee Engagement Programme (Keep) is supposed to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) hold on to talent by granting workers […]

Shares in Asia slumped Monday as China’s markets stumbled in their first trading day after a one-week holiday even though Beijing’s Central Bank increased liquidity to offset the impact of an escalating trade dispute with the United States. European markets were also set to weaken, with financial spreadbetters expecting the FTSE to open 0.07pc lower, […]