Breakfast Business

Tuesday's business news along with Tom McEnaney. 

Every year, the Society of Chartered Surveyors releases updated house rebuild figures and a rebuild calculator to help homeowners determine the correct level of insurance for their property. Tom spoke to Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland President Gerald O’Toole. 

Sanmina announces expansion of Ireland manufacturing site, creating up to 150 jobs. Emmet was joined on the show by  Sean Moran, SVP of IMS Europe at Sanmina. 

Aidan donnelly from Davys and Tom McEnaney brings us Friday's business new headlines.

Joining Tom on the show is Newstalk’s Green Businessperson Of the Month is Oscar Lai, Director and Co-founder of Ecoset.   All with thanks to Repak.

Halloween is here and that means it’s time for your annual dose of monstrous workplace behaviour! Joining Tom to give us the ghoulish details is Moira Grassick, Chief Operating Officer at Peninsula Ireland.

Today's business news review with Joe Lynam.

There’s been a lot of talk about our infrastructure deficit and how to circumvent it.  There’s no doubt that major physical digging needs to be undertaken -whether that’s for water, power networks or houses. Sabrina Casalta the Chief Executive of Vodafone Irelan thinks nothing future-proofs an economy better than investment in communications and telecoms: hard and software. Sabrina Casalta the Chief Executive of Vodafone Ireland joined Joe on the show this morning.

The biggest cardboard box maker in the world Smurfit Westrock has trimmed its expectations for annual profits and the markets really didn't like it.  In its 3rd quarter financial statement, the US-listed but Irish headquartered giant says it expects to earn around $5bn in profits this year down from 5.1.  It’s been just over a year since Smurfit Kappa formally merged with Westrock and the business is still bedding in changes.  All to discuss with Ken Bowles is the CFO of Smurfit Westrock. 

Joe Lynam takes a look at Wednesday's business news headlines.

The rising cost of going to a restaurant for a proper meal probably hasn't escaped your attention.  It means that many of us are trying to cook quality food for ourselves at home.  The pre-portioned home preparation business is growing here and Gousto is one of the biggest.  Set up just before Lockdowns, Gousto has seen a surge in its business and Joe was joined on the show by its founder Timo Boldt.

Around 2.2% of the population has a hearing-related disability. The HSE suggests that as many as 8% have the much broader "disabling hearing loss".  The technology has advanced now to the point that hearing aids are so small and effective that they are no longer visible. With the stresses that the HSE are under, finding private solutions is increasingly the way thousands of us solve the problem and the 2nd biggest company for that in Ireland is Hidden Hearing. Joe sits down to chat to Duncan Graham, Managing Director of Hidden Hearing.

One sector which knows a bit about objections is the Data Centre industry.  David Smith is building a large one in Arklow as we speak and hoping to build something even bigger in Waterford. They want to do so by supporting rather than drawing upon the electricity grid. All to chat with David Smith the Deputy Chief Executive of Echelon.

The budget 3 weeks ago increased the cost of fuel up to an average of €1.72 per litre of petrol and €1.68 for diesel.  We’ve also learned that EV sales are starting to take off in Ireland.  All these reasons mean that petrol forecourts are no longer places just for fuel.  Mini supermarkets are often attached to them to boost revenues. And that's one of the reasons why turnover was up 4% at Maxol to €486m last year.  Brian Donaldson is the Group Chief Executive of Maxol spoke to Joe this morning.

Tuesday's business news headlines along with Joe Lynam.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the finance arm of the EU. It provides loans and grants for projects which it believes will support start up and government, especially in the space of decarbonisation. It funded the highly successful Luas construction and the less successful unfinished National Children's Hospital. The EIB has now launched a new toolkit for companies to see where the organisation can help. And it’s hoping to boost Ireland’s almost non-existent district heating scheme. Diarmaid Kehoe is the head of the EIB in Ireland and joined Joe Lynam on the show this morning.

Singapore is on the other side of the world, and like Ireland is a small and very open economy. It relies on free trade and has grown wealthy on FDI. As the world heads into a more protectionist stance and de-globalisation kicks in, both countries fear for the new world order. Both nations also want to find new trading partners to wean themselves off dependencies on much larger economies. The Editor of the Financial Times, Roula Khalif, spoke to the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lawrence Wong, and began by asking him about America's withdrawal from the role of leader of the free trading world. 

Kate English, Chief Economist from Deloitte, joined Joe this morning to look at all the business news.

Ireland is a nation of emigrants, explorers and travellers and many of us miss the flavours of home when we’re abroad.  Paddy Box is the company that sends a curated and personalised box of stuff we get in our supermarkets but which may not be available overseas. They’re approaching Christmas - their busiest time when they ship up to 10,000 care boxes a month.  Speaking to Joe this morning was Mark Loftus is the founder of Paddy Box .

It’s been a year since the Dublin taskforce reported and the changes have been incremental at best and glacial at worst.  Dublin accounts for 50% of Irish GDP and pays the lion's share of income tax.  But the Dublin chamber is not happy.  It wants a vast improvement in infrastructure delivery in the capital, reform of venture capital schemes and more support for indigenous Irish startups if Dublin is to be Europe’s Silicon Valley. All to discuss with Eoghan Quigley the President of Dublin Chamber.