Category: Syndicated

The number of people approved for a mortgage shot up last month as new rules on lending and the Government’s help-to-buy scheme kicked in. A total of 2,861 people were approved to borrow to buy a home in January, up 47pc on the same month last year, according to figures from the Banking and Payments […]

The country’s biggest hotel group, Dalata, is considering paying a dividend for the first time since it listed three years ago, as a period of rapid expansion draws to a close. Dalata yesterday reported pre-tax profits of €44.1m for the year ended December 31 2016 – up 55pc for the same period the previous year. […]

Arguments about the potential €60bn bill that the UK may owe the EU as it prepares to quit the Union could eat into the time left for the UK to strike a new trade deal, a leading economist has warned.UK economist Ruth Gregory at Capital Economics in London said the dispute over the outstanding bill […]

Banks are losing millions of euro as more people are choosing to go bankrupt, it has emerged. The number of people with mortgage debt they are unable to repay who chose bankruptcy doubled to 100 last year. Banks lost two-thirds of the mortgage debt in these cases, as they are forced to write off most […]

Dalata has reported pre-tax profits of €44.1m for the year ended 31 December 2016 – up 55pc for the same period the previous year. Ireland’s largest hotel operator has also recorded revenue of €290.6m, up 28.8pc compared with the year ended in 2015. Dalata operates Ireland’s two largest hotel brands, Clayton Hotels and Maldron Hotels […]

BANK of Ireland lent more than £1bn to businesses in the North last year – up by a third. The bank said the growth took place across small, medium and large businesses. Overall, small company lending saw a 22pc increase in 2016. And the bank said that, “despite the headwinds”, demand for agri-business was also […]

Online financial services and lending companies are increasingly being targeted by fraudsters and costing consumers millions of pounds around the world last year alone, according to research. Cyber attacks against online lending companies and alternative payment systems increased 122pc last year, according to ThreatMetrix, a security company that monitors more than £20bn(€23.5bn) online transactions a […]

Cork-based financial services firm Global Shares aims to be in a position in 2020 where it could stage an initial public offering (IPO) on either the London Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq. The firm is expected to be valued at about €100m by then and making pre-tax profits of $16m (€15.1m) A recent fundraising by […]

Consumers are less confident about the economy this month than they were in January, as Brexit and US President Donald Trump’s protectionist rhetoric played on their minds. But the latest Bank of Ireland Economic Pulse shows that businesses were slightly more upbeat, with continuing evidence that the economy is improving, and employment rising. The Bank […]

Eir has launched a process to cut the cost of its debts, by asking lenders to accept lower interest payments. Last summer Eir, formerly Eircom, reaped savings of €17m a year when it refinanced bonds that carried a 9.25pc interest rate and were set to mature in 2020, with new bonds issued at a rate […]