Breakfast Business

Wednesday's business news headlines along with Joe Lynam.

Something worrying is underway in Irish tourism.  The number of visitors to this country in February was down a whopping 30% on the same time last year.  And those who did come spent less as well.  The great and the good of the tourism sector meets in Killarney this week as part of the ‘Meitheal conference’ and one of the key speeches will be from the Tourism Ireland chief executive is Alice Mansergh who joined Joe on the show this morning.

Monday's big business stories along with Joe Lynam.

Nua Money is a non bank mortgage lender, which has been in the home loan market for less than a year. Alongside normal home loans, Nua has also just launched a new Freedom product which can release so-called ‘mortgage prisoners’.  Now with interest rates falling Nua might be able to steal some market share from the pillar banks.  Speaking to Joe this morning was Mark Watson the Chief Executive of Nua Money. 

Datavant is an American health data platform which helps companies in the healthcare sector to process the terabytes of data garnered every year from patients and hospitals.  Now they are opening in Galway and creating 125 jobs in the first phase. Datavant adds to the growing Medtech cluster in the West of Ireland which already includes Medtronic, Boston Scientific and Aerogen. Ciaran O’Toole is Datavant Vice President, Engineering and Galway Technical Lead and joined Joe Lynam on the show this morning.

The number of companies going into insolvencies fell in the first quarter of this year. And according to PwC creditors are more patient these days than banks or the taxman.  They are just 2 of the findings in the latest insolvency report, which also found that not as many retailers went bust this year than last year just after Christmas. Ken Tyrell is the Business Recovery Partner with PwC and joined Joe Lynam on the show this morning.

Russ Mould from AJ Bell joins Joe Lynam for Breakfast Business to go through all the big business news.

Anne Butterly is March’s Repak Business Person of the Month.Anne is the brain behind EasyDry, a strong disposable paper towel business that you’re sure to see in most hairdressers across the country.In the process, those same hairdressers have saved an estimated 4 litres of water for every towel no longer washed.

The UK state pension currently stands at £170 or just over €200 a week. That is about €63 less than here in Ireland but nothing to sniff at if you worked for a few years in Britain – and you may be entitled to it.But the deadline is rapidly approaching to buy up to 18 years of credits at a low rate.John Ring is the chief executive of XtraPension and he join Joe Lynam to go through your best approach.

Deloitte’s Kate English joins Joe Lynam for Breakfast Business to go through all the big business news from the past week.

Tom Hayes used to be a trader with the investment banks Citigroup and UBS based in London. He was found guilty in 2015 of manipulating the key LIBOR interest rate -- something he always vehemently denied.But this week - after serving 5 years in jail - he appears before the top court in the UK hoping to overturn that conviction and clear his name.Andrew Verity, correspondent with the BBC and author of book this case called ‘Rigged,’ joins Joe Lynam to go through the latest on this case.

Dr Conor O’Toole from the ESRI joins Joe Lynam to go throw the growth forecast for the Irish economy this year.the ESRI says that even if 25% tariffs are applied on Goods entering the US and the EU retaliates; growth -- measured as Modified Domestic Demand -- would still be a healthy 2.8% this year before falling to 2.1% next year.

Joe Lynam goes through all the biggest business news of the day.

Kathryn Hannon from RBC Brewin Dolphin joins Joe Lynam to go through some of the big economic news across Europe. From The UK’s Spring Economic Statement to positivity in the German market, get all the latest here.

Joe Lynam is joined by Matthew Coffey; the co-founder of Squid Loyalty which provides customer insights via loyalty programmes to businesses.Matthew raised €1.7m in a share offering last week which was paid for by ordinary retail investors as a type of crowdfunding, an innovative way to tap venture capital in a world that traditionally relies on bank loans or state investment.

Joe Lynam takes a look at all the business headlines this morning.

The switch in fortunes between the American and European stock exchanges since Donald Trump came to power has been swift and pronounced. But is it a blip or a trend?Joe Lynam is joined by Gary Connolly, Head of Advisory and Execution-Only at Davy to go through the change in markets today.

Tuesday's business news review along with Newstalk's Business Editor Joe Lynam.

Although Trump hasn't yet enacted a global tariff on all goods coming into the United States, the mere threat of it happening as early as next week has disrupted the cost of doing trade as well as supply chains.  Companies are looking at who they trade with and where they make their products to avoid tariffs which could be life threatening for some businesses.  So how bad is the issue? Joe asked Grit Young the EY Ireland Technology, Media and Entertainment and Telecommunications Industry Leader. 

The Central Bank of Ireland has updated the Consumer Protection Code for the first time in 13 years.  From March next year banks will have to clearly set out for homeowners how much they will pay for mortgages and what the options are in plain language - when they come to the end of their fixed rate period.  This new code comes despite the central bank disbanding the consumer protection division. With more on this Joe spoke to Derville Rowland, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland.