Breakfast Business

A look at today's business papers and markets with Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam.

In Ireland, if a large company abuses its position in the marketplace, the regulator still has to get a high court judge to punish that business and huge extra costs and delays to taxpayers.  That changes today with the introduction of the Competition Act.  It means that if the consumer watchdog - the CCPC finds evidence of anti-competitive behaviour, it can act and punish wrongdoing directly.   This matters in Ireland because we’re home to some of the biggest firms in the world.  Brian McHugh is the Chair of the CCPC joined Joe on the show this morning.

In half almost half of those who work in the private sector aren't saving much at all according to research from Bank of Ireland for Pensions Awareness Week.  And even those who are saving for retirement, 67% say they're probably not saving enough. Speaking to Joe this morning was Bernard Walsh the Head of Pensions and Investments at the Bank of Ireland. 

Joe Lynam takes a run-through of some of the business stories featured in today's papers and websites.

The biggest search engine in the world - by a mile - wants to encourage SMEs to digitise their business and get online.  To achieve that Google is providing companies with accessible courses, online webinars, and even some free advertising with them.  The initiative is called You're the Business and Cera Ward from Google Ireland joined Joe this morning with more details on the incentive.

Despite its relatively small size, Dublin is a fairly big Financial Centre i.e. a hub for banking and finance.  Like all sectors, Financial services must do its bit to combat climate change and attract talent from all parts of society.  And to that end, there’s a meeting today at the Depot of Foreign Affairs of financial centres that hope to agree on a set of rules for sustainable finance - including a new Gender Finance Charter Speaking to Joe this morning was Marcos Neto, the Director of the United Nations Development Programme’s Sustainable Finance Hub. 

Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynma takes a look at today's business papers and websites.

Combilift is a Monaghan-based manufacturer of multi-directional forklifts.  Thousands of warehouses and storage facilities are populated with Combilifts all over the world.  Now the company is moving into the wind turbine space to catch the renewable energy wave sweeping the world. Joining Joe this morning was Martin McVicar, Chief Executive of Combilift.

For decades trade between the Republic and Northern Ireland was modest, to put it mildly. Both jurisdictions tended to ship eastwards to Britain - rather than head north or south.  But then the UK decided to quit the single market but left NI in it with unfettered access to the EU.  It’s led to a surge in trade - reaching an all-time high of €12bn last year.But this might only be the start - as Northern Ireland takes increasing advantage of the fact that it is in both large open markets.   This will be discussed at a big conference on Wednesday in Dublin run by InterTradeIreland and Colin McCabrey is the Director of Trade with InterTradeIreland joined Joe ahead of the conference.

A look at today's business papers and websites with Newstalk's Business Editor Joe Lynam.

The credit union consumer sentiment index for September has been released and to discuss the findings was Austin Hughes Economist. 

Leading Irish law firm Mason Hayes & Curran recently hosted their Energy Conference   The Future of Energy Investment in Ireland. Journalist and author Simon Mundy was the keynote speaker and Simon joined Emmet on the show.

We take a look at today's business papers and markets with Aidan Donnelly from Davys.

Lakeland Dairies are a cooperative of 3000 farmers mostly based in and around Monaghan.  They produce millions of litres or milk and tonnes of dried milk products and now they've signed a new deal with Aldi to supply wet milk to roughly half the country  Tommy O’ Donaghue, Head of Consumer Foods at Lakeland Dairies spoke to Joe this morning about their new deal with Aldi.

The problem with renewable energy is that it’s unreliable, i.e. we don't know when the wind will blow for sure and when the sun might ever shine.  The other issue facing the industry is storing renewable energy once you've generated it.  Is the technology getting there when every household will be able to store its own energy and use it whenever they want and remove dependency on importing energy or using fossil fuels? It’s an issue which will be discussed today at the Energy Storage Ireland’s annual conference.  Speaking to Joe this morning was Bobby Smith is the boss of Energy Storage Ireland. 

A run-through of some of the business stories today with Joe Lynam.

Vodafone took over from O2 as the main sponsor of the Irish national rugby team just in time to be on the famous green shirts for Ireland’s first-ever victory against the All Blacks in 2016 in Chicago.  The team has since won 2 grand slams and is now ranked number one in the world. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that Vodafone is renewing its contract with the IRFU.   Sinead Bryan from Vodafone IRL joins Joe on the show this morning.

You may have seen adverts for the new electric car brand Polestar. Or perhaps you've seen their distinctive white container showrooms.  They're certainly making an impact on the car market here.  Polestar is owned by Volvo which itself is part of the Chinese Geely group. Speaking to Joe on the show was Jonathan Goodman, Head of Polestar Ireland & UK 

A look at today's business papers and websites with Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam.

Last week the cardboard and packaging giant Smurfit Kappa confirmed that it was merging with the Atlanta-based West Rock in a deal worth €10bn.  It also told us that it would be delisting from the Dublin stock exchange in another blow to Euronext. But what does the deal mean for the industry and is Smurfit tilting away from Europe and towards America? With more on this Joe spoke to Ken Bowles - the CFO of Smurfit Kappa.