Leading commercial agents DTZ Sherry FitzGerald are to trade from today as Cushman & Wakefield.
The rebranding follows the 2015 global merger of Cushman & Wakefield and DTZ. Sherry FitzGerald Group had been DTZ’s Irish partner since 1998.
The newly announced arrangement brings together Cushman & Wakefield’s global platform and Sherry FitzGerald’s considerable expertise across Ireland’s commercial property market.
Under the new arrangement Cushman & Wakefield will hold a 20 per cent stake in the commercial arm of the Irish business.
The company, which was previously linked to Lisney, is a top three global real estate services firm with 43,000 employees in more than 60 countries and recorded revenues of over $5 billion.
In the UK it has 2,000 employees in its London headquarters and in offices in key UK cities.
The Sherry FitzGerald Group’s business has 650 employees in 97 offices and a presence in every county in Ireland.
The newly branded Cushman & Wakefield office will have a 100-strong team working out of offices in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway.
Aidan Gavin, managing director of Cushman & Wakefield Ireland, described the rebranding as “a very significant watershed”.
It was more than a rebranding exercise, he said, which gave it access to many new services and opportunities driven by the scale of the merged Cushman & Wakefield business. Being the Irish arm of one of the top three global firms gave it access to many more occupier inquiries, finance market intelligence, research and experts than ever before.
Mr Gavin said one of its new service areas would be the substantial debt advisory facilities which were now an integral part of every property transaction.
Colin Wilson, head of UK & Ireland for Cushman & Wakefield, said Ireland had emerged from the recession stronger, and was a very important market for it.

DTZ Sherry FitzGerald to trade as Cushman & Wakefield


Rebranding follows the 2015 global merger of Cushman & Wakefield and DTZ


The European Commission is set to announce early on Tuesday that tax agreements between Apple and Ireland represented illegal state aid to the US multinational. The long-awaited decision will say that Ireland should collect a significant sum in tax from the US multinational.
The decision is expected to contain a direction to the Irish Revenue Commissioners outlining how the commission believes that it should calculate the amount of money which Ireland should recoup from Apple. The Commission is also expected to give an approximate figure which it believes that the company owes in taxes.
Both the Government and the company are expected to say that they will appeal the decision to the European courts, a process likely to take some years. However the Irish Revenue may be obliged to issue a tax demand to Apple while this appeal is proceeding.
Investigation
The contentious investigation has been underway now for more than two years. It concerns two tax rulings which the Revenue gave to Apple in 1991 and 2007. Last week the US Treasury accused the European Commission of acting beyond its powers in its investigations of the tax affairs of US multinationals and in particular objected to the idea of tax being collected retrospectively.
However despite this the European Commission has pushed ahead with its final decision, which will be that Ireland offered illegal state aid to the US multinational.
Early estimates were that Apple could be asked to repay up to €19 billion in tax. While the final figure is expected to be substantially lower, sources say that there is no question but that it will be appealed by both sides.
The decision is expected to attract huge international attention. The Government is expected to immediately challenge the decision, saying that the reasoning used was unprecedented.

European Commission expected to announce Apple decision early on Tuesday


Firm and Government to appeal whatever decision is arrived at


Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy has paid tribute to Robbie Keane ahead of his last game in an Irish jersey by taking out a front page ad in The Irish Times.
Keane is due to line out for his last international cap on Wednesday night as the Republic of Ireland take on Oman at the Aviva Stadium. The game will bring his impressive 18-year international career to an end.
Marking the occasion, Keane’s US club took out an ad on the front page of Wednesday’s Irish Times.
Accompanying a photo of the Dubliner with his fist held up, the ad reads: “Congratulations Keano! The LA Galaxy would like to congratulate Robbie Keane for all of his accomplishments in his remarkable 18-year career with the Republic of Ireland.”
Speaking on Monday, Keane said he was grateful to Martin O’Neill for giving him the opportunity to play on Wednesday.
“I’m going to take it all in as much as I can and enjoy it - everything I’ve done - but it will be an emotional night for me and my family,” he said.
“Physically, I feel I can go on for another couple of years and I’ll keep on playing as long as I can, but in terms of international football this is the right time for me to go.
“It’s important to focus on my club career for a couple of years; after that we’ll see what happens.”
Keane said Ireland had a special place in his heart and he never imagined he would earn 145 caps.
“I played for a lot of teams, wore a lot of shirts, but it always seemed to be the Irish one that fitted me the best.”
Ireland versus Oman kicks off at the Aviva at 7.45pm and can be viewed on eir Sport 1 from 7pm.

LA Galaxy pays tribute to Robbie Keane on ‘Irish Times’ front page


MLS club takes out advertisement ahead of striker’s final Republic of Ireland match


Grafton Group to report results
Builders merchanting and DIY company Grafton Group is due to report interim results this Wednesday, with underlying trading profits of £68.6 million (€80 million) forecast.
Davy Stockbrokers is forecasting underlying trading profits to have grown by more than 17 per cent on a year-on-year basis, or by 10 per cent adjusting for the acquisition of Grafton’s Netherlands operations in the second half of 2015.
Davy said the outlook for Grafton’s earnings remains uncertain, akin to other names in the same sector.
The stockbroking firm noted that Grafton has fallen by more than 20 per cent since the beginning of 2016.
“The stock is the worst performing in the sector on a year-to-date basis despite offering best-in-class growth prospects over the coming 18 months,” it said.
Grafton Group last month warned that Brexit is likely to dampen demand for new housing and home improvements for the remainder of the year in the UK, its most important market.
Growth in UK merchanting like-for-like sales, which make up more than 70 per cent of group revenues, slowed to an annual 1.6 per cent in the second quarter from 5.3 per cent in the first three months of the year. Sales turned negative in June.
Irish merchanting like-for-like sales rose by 10 per cent in the second quarter, while Belgian sales declined 9.5 per cent. A recovery in retail sales in its Woodies’ DIY business in Ireland has continued so far this year, the company said.
Robust results expected at Total Produce
First-half results are due tomorrow from Total Produce, the fruit distributor spun out of Fyffes.
The company’s initial 2016 EPS guidance range was 10.50 cent to 11.50 cent, but it narrows this to 11 cent to 11.50 cent, after trading for the first four months of the year had been satisfactory.
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Davy analyst Declan Morrissey said pricing in Total Produce’s European markets remained positive in the first half despite the ongoing Russian trade embargo on fresh produce.
“We expect a robust performance in the first half, in line with the upbeat trading statement at the end of May,” he said.
For the first-half of 2015, Total Produce reported adjusted pre-tax profit that was up 11.5 per cent to €30.3 million.
Pre-tax profits were unchanged at €24.2 million, while revenue rose 9.2 per cent in the six months to the end of June 2015 to €1.73 billion.
Earlier this year, Total Produce announced it had acquired a 65 per cent stake in US-based Progressive Produce, a grower, packer and distributor of conventional and organic produce with 2015 sales in excess of $200 million.
Davy said last year’s €20 million share buyback, combined with the annual dividend, underpins a focus on shareholder returns.
Monday
Results: Samsonite
Indicators: Irish retail sales (Jul); Irish residential property prices (Jul); US Dallas Fed manufacturing index (Aug)
Tuesday
Results: Abercrombie & Fitch; Bunzl; Total Produce
Indicators: Japanese unemployment rate (Jul); Japanese retail sales (Jul); German import prices (Jul); Euro zone economic sentiment (Aug); Euro zone industrial sentiment (Aug)
Wednesday
Results: Grafton Group; Irish Continental
Meetings: FBD Holdings EGM (Irish Farm Centre, Dublin 12)
Indicators: Euro zone unemployment rate (Jul); US MBA mortgage applications (Aug 26); US pending home sales (Jul); German unemployment rate (Jul); German retail sales (Jul); UK Gfk consumer confidence (Aug)
Other: Launch of Hotel Industry Survey 2016
Thursday
Results: CPL; Donegal Investment Group; Genesco; Hays; Pernod Ricard
Meetings: Future Ready event (Convention Centre, Dublin 1)
Indicators: Irish consumer confidence (Aug); Irish Investec manufacturing PMI (Aug); Irish live register (Aug); Euro zone Markit manufacturing PMI (Aug); German Markit manufacturing PMI (Aug); US Markit manufacturing PMI (Aug); Japanese Nikkei Manufacturing PMI (Aug); US initial jobless claims (Aug 27th).
Friday
Meetings: National ePayments Conference (CityNorth Hotel, Co Meath); Cork Chamber Brexit business breakfast (Clarion Hotel, Cork);
Indicators: Irish industrial production (Jul); UK Nationwide housing prices (Aug); Japanese consumer confidence (Aug); US balance of trade (Jul); US non-farm payrolls (Aug); US unemployment rate (Aug)

Coming up: the big business events of week ahead


Grafton Group and Total Produce to report; Irish porperty prices and US jobless rate


As shareholders prepared to vote on SoftBank’s £24 billion (€28bn) takeover of ARM, former City minister Lord Myners made a last minute plea for the Cambridge-based technology company to remain under British ownership.
“We are selling our winners,” he said, “and we are being left with companies which are either not globally successful or businesses which are controlled from overseas.”
His words went unheeded, however, and just hours later, shareholders in Britain’s most successful technology company gave their overwhelming approval to the £17-a-share, all cash bid from Japan. Friday will be the last day ARM shares are traded on the London stock market and the deal will be formally completed next Monday.
ARM is the closest Britain has to a global technology giant and the loss of its independence has raised fears over the future of Britain’s technology industry. ARM chief executive Simon Segars sought to ease these concerns after yesterday’s shareholder meeting, insisting: “We are not going anywhere. We are still going to be at the heart of British technology.”
SoftBank has given a number of assurances over the future of ARM, whose microchip designs are used in the Apple iPhone and billions of other devices. It has pledged it will double ARM’s British workforce of around 1,700 over the next five years and keep its headquarters in Cambridge. It will also maintain its “unique culture and business model”.
As Myners pointed out, however, decisions on the future of the business will now be made in Tokyo rather than Cambridge. He dismissed the Japanese company’s promises as “not worth the paper they are written on”.
New takeover rules were brought in after Pfizer’s attempted takeover of AstraZeneca in 2014, making such pledges binding, although it’s not clear whether such promises are legally enforceable – and five years can be a very long time in the technology industry.
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Government response
The takeover was warmly welcomed by Theresa May’s government when it was launched last month, just a few weeks after the Brexit vote. It was proof, the prime minister said, that Britain remained attractive to international investors despite the result of the referendum.
For Myners, though, the deal underlines the City’s failure to back British business. “This is evidence once again of the City’s predilection to sell at a premium, get out, don’t invest for the future, don’t back the British economy and don’t back Britain’s future.”
Such a takeover would never have been allowed to go ahead so swiftly in America, Germany, France, or, indeed, Japan, he believes. “There would be a question of national significance and public policy to determine whether we should sell.”
But the sale of ARM was inevitable once SoftBank delivered its terms, a knockout 43 per cent premium on the Cambridge company’s previous share price – and in cash.
The ARM board recommended the deal and urged shareholders to do the same; not that they needed much urging at £17 a share. The only thing that might have derailed the move was unrest from SoftBank’s own shareholders, who fear that it already has too much debt.
Its borrowings are a hefty £90 billion and its shares fell sharply immediately after the deal was announced.
Shareholder windfall
ARM shareholders are not the only winners – the deal has triggered windfalls in the Cambridge company’s boardroom, with chief executive Segars and chief technology officer Mike Muller collecting £55 million between them. Employees at the group could also ultimately benefit to the tune of almost £400 million through share incentive schemes.
It has also been a hugely lucrative deal for the City, with fees for financial advisors and lenders running to just over £200 million. One can only imagine what they would have charged had the takeover been hostile rather than an agreed deal. Include taxes, and the final bill jumps to £350 million.
The firms sharing in the fees bonanza include Goldman Sachs, Lazards, UBS and Barclays, along with law firms Slaughter & May and Freshfields. The bill for financial public relations advice alone is put at £6 million, shared between Brunswick and Finsbury.
The biggest beneficiary, though, is the UK government, which will receive £120 million in stamp duty as a result of the deal. Not enough to make much of a dent in the deficit but welcome nonetheless.
There are plenty of winners in the ARM deal, but will Europe’s biggest technology takeover be good for Britain, as the prime minister believes, and for ARM employees? That will largely depend on whether its new Japanese owner keeps its promises – and sorts out its own debt mountain.
Fiona Walsh is business editor of theguardian.com

ARM shareholders to approve £24bn SoftBank takeover


Decisions on the business will now be made in Tokyo rather than Cambridge


Current transatlantic trade talks should be halted and a new set started, France’s trade minister said on Tuesday, adding his voice to some calls from Germany for an end to the negotiations.
Matthias Fekl said he would request a halt to negotiations with the United States over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on behalf of France at next month’s meeting of European Union trade ministers in Bratislava.
“There should be an absolute clear end so that we can restart them on good basis,” he said on RMC Radio, adding he would suggest that course to fellow ministers.
German economy minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Sunday that TTIP negotiations had effectively failed after Europe refused to accept some US demands.
Mr Gabriel is the chairman of Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD), who share power with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives. Many Social Democrats have serious reservations about TTIP but Dr Merkel backs the talks.
Her spokesman insisted on Monday that talks should continue, while Germany’s foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier - also a member of the SPD - said on Tuesday that both sides were still far away from agreeing on standards and procedures.
Mr Fekl’s and Mr Gabriel’s highlighted discrepancies between the views in the EU’s two biggest economies and the official line from both the European Commission, the bloc’s executive, and the US Trade Representative Michael Froman.
Three years of talks have failed to resolve multiple differences, including over food and environmental safety, but the USTR’s spokesman told German magazine Der Spiegel the negotiations “are in fact making steady progress”.
The White House has said this week it aims to reach a deal by the end of the year. “It’s going to require the resolution of some pretty thorny negotiations, but the president and his team are committed to doing that,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Washington.
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The Commission also remains upbeat.
“Although trade talks take time, the ball is rolling right now and the Commission is making steady progress in the ongoing TTIP negotiations,” the executive’s spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, told a news conference in Brussels on Monday.
Supporters say the TTIP could deliver more than $100 billion worth of economic gains on both sides of the Atlantic, but critics say the pact would hand too much power to big multinationals at the expense of consumers and workers.
Paris threatened to stall further negotiations as long ago as April, but there are national elections due in both France and Germany in 2017, and before the summer, experts were saying that this year - ahead of the US presidential election - may be the best opportunity to strike a deal.
That prospect looks less likely now, and Britain’s June vote to leave the EU has further clouded the picture, even though the Commission has a mandate to finalise TTIP talks on behalf of all EU 28 members.
Reuters

France joins calls to halt to trade talks with US


Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations ‘have failed’, Germany says


The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, which was narrowly beaten in April in the race to buy the Blanchardstown Centre, is among parties circling the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in west Dublin, according to sources.
The centre, which was put up for sale in recent months with a €600 million price target, has also attracted Germany’s largest public pension fund, Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK) in Munich, the sources said.
The process is being kept tight, with four to five parties involved, with a view to selecting a preferred bidder for the property by the end of September and closing a deal as soon as possible thereafter.
A consortium led by Hines, a US-based international commercial property firm, and HSBC Alternative Investments hired real-estate investment bank Eastdil Secured in recent months to sell the shopping centre. The two firms had paid about €250 million in 2014 for a 73 per cent stake in the mall, with total floor area of 46,500sq m (500,000sq ft), buying out UK insurance giant Aviva.
No comment
A spokesman for the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board declined to comment, while representatives for BVK, Hines and HSBC didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The remaining 27 per cent stake in the centre is owned by the Grosvenor Group, the UK property group operated mainly on behalf of the new Duke of Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor (25), who is set to inherit his father’s £9 billion (€10.5 billion) estate following the latter’s death earlier this month.
Grosvenor Group, which has been involved the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre since it was developed and opened in 1998, also plans to exit its investment under the current process. Grosvenor’s core property portfolio comprised 300 acres of Mayfair and Belgravia in London.
While there has been speculation in property circles that Hines plans to remain a minority investor in the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in order to retain its position as the property’s asset manager, sources said that the Houston, Texas-based firm plans to exit its investment. However, it remains open to being retained as asset manager, should the new owner require one, they said.
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Separately, BVK hired Hines earlier this year to identify and buy European retail property on its behalf.
Planning permission
Last week, South Dublin County Council planners granted planning permission for a 51,545sq m extension to the Liffey Valley centre, including a 2,500-seat Olympic-sized indoor ice arena, capable of hosting international skating, ice hockey matches and entertainment performances.
Investor interest in Irish retail centres has surged in recent times as consumer demand recovers following the economic crisis. German insurer Allianz and UK property group Hammerson paid €1.85 billion last year to acquire loans associated with the Dundrum Town Centre and 50 per cent stakes in the Ilac Centre in central Dublin and Pavilions Shopping Centre in Swords from the National Asset Management Agency.
Last month, Hammerson and Allianz secured underlying ownership of the Dundrum centre and a neighbouring six-acre site earmarked for mixed-use development under a consensual deal with Chartered Land, the Joe O’Reilly-controlled company that developed the asset. The deal also allowed Hammerson to take ownership of the Ilac and Pavilions stakes.
US investment group Blackstone closed a €950 million deal in June to acquire the Blanchardtown Centre from Green Property. The Canadian Pension Investment Board and Chartered Land, backed by financing from Morgan Stanley, had also been in the mix for the 20 year-old centre.
Data released by the Central Statistics Office on Monday show retail sales, excluding motor trades, increased by 2.7 per cent by volume in the year to July. The Central Bank sees personal consumer spending rising by 4.5 per cent this year, having returned to growth last year following the downturn.

Liffey Valley centre attracts Canadian and German funds


Shopping centre’s owners, Hines, HSBC and Grosvenor, seeking to sell


The opportunity to pelt an irritating co-worker with paint might seem like the answer to a prayer. But paintball, a military-style game in which participants shoot paint-filled guns at each other for fun, can turn nasty and end up polarising the teams it was supposed to unite.
Opinion is divided between those who say that activity training adds little to the bottom line and those who believe it makes a contribution even if that contribution is difficult to quantify. And there’s the rub. It has proven very difficult to establish if employees make the connection between an activity and their job, if they bring the learning back to their workplace and if they can apply it in different circumstances.
What seems clear from sifting through the arguments on both sides is that activity training is more likely to work when there is clarity around why a company is doing it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with treating employees to a fun day out as a reward for achieving certain targets or to boost morale after a major restructuring, for example, but don’t confuse socialising with team-building.
Assuming there’s an underlying strategic objective to the “day out,” then it is likely to be most successful if the activities are “real” and related to key business areas such as defining strategy or improving process or accountability. Reality matters because adults generally learn best by engaging with relevant tasks.
Groundbreaking theory
In 1984 University of Leicester academic David Kolb published his groundbreaking theory on experiential learning. At the heart of the so-called Kolb cycle is the concept that for an individual or a team to learn effectively they must “do” rather than be passive receptors. Activities such as problem-solving and team games facilitate learning that is far more likely to be used on the job.
Activities must also suit the teams they’re aimed at. The adrenalin rush of whitewater rafting may appeal to the confident, outgoing types typically found on sales teams, but could be highly divisive for more reflective groups.
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“You have to be careful with the exercises chosen as it’s not in anyone’s interest for people to fall flat on their faces or feel diminished by the process,” says Patrick Flood, professor of organisational behaviour at DCU Business School.
“It’s also important to work with an experienced facilitator, ideally someone specialised in team dynamics, to ensure you ‘can bring people back’ during a debrief after the event. There is always the potential for major bust-ups, especially within management teams, as people at senior level are often individualistic, highly motivated and tend towards rivalry. Do you really want this to spill over in front of a general audience?”
Flood, who is also co-director of the Leadership and Talent Institute, has experienced activity-based team-building first hand.
“I’ve been on a high wire between trees where you are totally dependent on the people below. When you get to the other side in safety, the beneficial impact on trust levels is enormous and this can be used to foster alignment – always one of the most difficult things to achieve – within a team,” he says.
Flood says activity teambuilding can also show up strengths in employees that managers were not aware of.
“It’s about recognising the skills and leadership in others and using it,” he says. “You will always get some who are reluctant to participate, but if there is a genuine commitment at the top, most people will row in.”
Pulling together
Sarah Anderson is service coordinator at the Cheshire Ireland facility in Shillelagh, Co Wicklow . Earlier this year she arranged an activity day for the 80-strong staff.
“The facility had been through a lot of upheaval with changes in personnel and the stress of a Hiqa audit so the objective was to break down barriers and say thanks to everyone for pulling together,” she says.
“We included all staff but there was an option not to participate. A small number availed of it, but I think some regretted their decision afterwards, as it was a great day. People are already asking when are we doing it again.
“For us it definitely achieved the objective of people getting to know each other and appreciating that everyone who works here makes an equally important contribution to the quality of the service we provide.”
Joe Hayden set up The Orchard activity centre in 1999 to run conferences and corporate training events for Irish and international clients on a 300-acre site in Co Wicklow. Domestic sales took a hard knock during the recession, but Hayden says local business is now picking up dramatically and The Orchard is on course for a 40 per cent growth in bookings this year.
“What we’re seeing is a big demand from Irish companies that downsized during the recession for help with building new, cohesive teams from those who remained,” he says. “Companies also want help with energising and motivating these teams and we build our activities around achieving these objectives.
“Companies either come here or we travel to them and fit an activity around a conference or other event. What we’re doing is serious in nature, but we also try to inject humour into the programme. Setting teams the challenge of rounding up wild Wicklow sheep on a hillside without the help of a dog is a great ice-breaker.”

How playing games can really help to build teams


Employees can be cynical about a ‘day out’ for staff but it can help if done properly


Dublin Zoo has welcomed a new 60kg baby – an as yet unnamed white rhino calf.
It was born last Thursday afternoon, and becomes the seventh member of a growing herd of the once-endangered animals alongside mother Ashanti and father Chaka in the zoo’s African Savannah section.
There are now 20,000 white rhinos left in the wild after poachers whittled their numbers down to a low of around 50 in the early 1900s. Dublin Zoo’s latest arrival comes as part of the European Endangered Species Programme which was established to assist the survival of the species.
“We are absolutely thrilled with the new arrival. Ashanti is an experienced mother and the birth was very relaxed. The mother and calf are bonding and will remain very close for the first year of his life,” said African Plains team leader Helen Clarke-Bennet.
Male rhinos can grow to be up to 2,300kg in size, and are mostly found in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Zimbabwe, where Dublin Zoo is teamed with the Lowveld Rhino Trust.
Children have been invited to suggest a name for the new calf at www.DublinZoo.ie, and it will host a “Rhino Awareness Weekend” on September 24th and 25th to teach visitors about the animals and the threats they face in the wild.

Dublin Zoo ‘thrilled’ with birth of baby rhinoceros


Children invited to suggest name for calf of mother Ashanti and father Chaka


The North’s Minister for Finance Máirtín Ó Muilleoir will be keen to ensure there are no slip-ups this week during a scheduled visit to the Lurgan plant of an American-owned manufacturer of commercial carpet tiles.
Interface, a key employer in Lurgan, is due to play host to Ó Muilleoir as part of an initiative that aims to give the North’s business community an opportunity to get up close and personal, so to speak, with Executive Ministers.
During the event, organised by the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce, Ó Muilleoir wants to update local businesses about what his department has been doing recently and probably talk about his own endeavours to, as he puts it, “maximise EU funds” as the Brexit clouds hang overhead.
But probably what the business community would be more interested in hearing about is whether Ó Muilleoir is likely to have the rug pulled from under his feet any time soon.
In the last seven days while carrying out the responsibilities of Minister for Finance, Ó Muilleoir has also repeatedly rejected calls to temporarily step aside – or resign – primarily because of the latest Nama-related drama to unfold in the North.
Leaked Twitter exchanges obtained by BBC NI and the Irish News between former Sinn Féin MLA Daithí McKay, the previous chairman of the ongoing Stormont inquiry into the sale of Nama’s Northern Ireland portfolio and the loyalist blogger Jamie Bryson, have cast a shadow over not only the work of the previous committee, but also the way Stormont operates behind the scenes.
It is claimed that the Twitter exchanges suggest McKay and another Sinn Féin member Thomas O’Hara coached Bryson before he appeared in front of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Committee for Finance to give evidence about the North’s then first minister Peter Robinson. Robinson has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
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Ó Muilleoir, who at the time was also a member of the committee that conducted the inquiry, is also referenced in the Twitter exchange.
The Minister for Finance has strenuously denied any knowledge of any communications between McKay, Bryson or O’Hara and has said accusations that he did, are “no more than petty party politicking”.
For Ó Muilleoir , who consistently and very loudly condemned Nama throughout the previous Stormont inquiry, these twittergate revelations are far from helpful as he continues less than four months into the job to try to win the support of the local business community.
One of his first actions as Minister was to release additional information to the current Stormont Committee for Finance relating to the Project Eagle sale in the “interests of transparency and public confidence”.
When he first became Minister back in May he spoke of the “great responsibility” of the job and said it was “not a role I will take lightly”.
He has embraced it with some enthusiasm – there has been no shortage of ministerial visits to small firms and inward investors alike while the North’s Assembly has been on holidays. But Ó Muilleoir is facing into a key period.
First up he has the “Brexit effect” to contend with including the questions about what could potentially happen to the €1.2 billion structural and investment fund programmes that the European Union had pledged to Northern Ireland to run between 2014 and 2020.
Then there is the looming likelihood of further intense budgetary pressures for the North as the UK government continues to regroup after the EU referendum vote. Ó Muilleoir is already hearing in person from firms who are deeply worried that the Executive may not be doing enough at the moment to make sure that Northern Ireland will get its own “bespoke arrangements” post-Brexit.
A coalition of 11 industry organisations, convened by the Derry Chamber of Commerce, have also urged the Executive to step up and provide “reassurance and confidence” at this time of economic uncertainty.
In the short term, however, Ó Muilleoir will focus on holding on to his job. The UUP, Alliance, SDLP and the Finance committee have all called for him to stand aside, as the Project Eagle inquiry takes yet another unexpected twist.

Máirtín Ó Muilleoir finds himself battling on Nama and Brexit fronts


Minister for Finance under pressure to resign is due to visit Interface’s Lurgan plant


A potentially high-yielding office and warehouse investment at Ballymount Cross Industrial Estate in Dublin 24 is on the market at €1.1 million through agent QRE.
Should it sell at its guide price the so-called Elizabeth’s Block on Ballymount Road Lower would reflect a net initial yield of 8.7 per cent.
The modern building is let on a 10-year lease from January 2010 at an annual rent of €100,000. There was a tenant break option at the end of year five, but this has passed.
Tenant Tocana Ltd specialises in the design, development and manufacture of electrical and electronic insulation solutions.
Elizabeth’s Block is a detached warehouse facility extending to 1,329sq m (14,308sq ft) and this includes 311sq m (3,352sq ft) of office accommodation. There is also a metal deck mezzanine level providing a further 335sq m (3,608sq ft) of space.
The building has a clear internal height of eight metres and loading access is via two automated roller shutter doors. An enclosed yard to the front has ample car parking.
Ballymount Cross Industrial Estate is 9.6km west of Dublin city centre. It is accessed via the Ballymount Road Lower, which is 0.4km from the Walkinstown Roundabout and 0.8km from the M50 Ballymount Interchange. Proximity to the M50 makes for easy access to all arterial routes.

Office and warehouse at Ballymount for sale at €1.1m


Elizabeth’s Block is a detached warehouse of 1,329sq m and this includes 311sq m of office


Revenues at Total Produce rose by 10.4 per cent to €1.9 billion in the first half of the year, as the fresh food group got a boost from acquisitions and higher average prices.
In the six months to June 30th, total revenues rose by 10.4 per cent, while adjusted EBITA was up by 13.2 per cent and adjusted fully diluted earnings per share grew by 11.6 per cent. Profit before tax rose by 5.8 per cent to €25.6 million. The fruit distributor spun out of Fyffes said it benefited from acquisitions completed in the period and a circa 5 per cent like-for-like growth in revenue on the back of both volume growth and higher average prices. A strong operational performance was offset in part by a small negative impact on translation to Euro of the results of foreign currency denominated operations.
Chairman Carl McCann said the group delivered “a very strong performance” in the first six months of the year, as the group continued its expansion in north America in 2016, acquiring 65 per cent of Progressive Produce, a company headquartered in Los Angeles, as well as a number of other investments.
“ The group continues to actively pursue further investment opportunities,” Mr McCann said, adding that the interim dividend is up 10 per cent to 0.8096 cent per share.
“The group is now targeting increased full year earnings at the top end of the previously announced range of 10.50 to 11.50 cent per share,” he said.
On the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, Total Produce said while it has “created some macroeconomic uncertainties, it is not expected to have a material impact on the group”.
In a note, Davy Stockbrokers said it was a “strong” set of results, adding that the international segment represents “a significant growth opportunity” for the group, as it reiterated its “outperform” rating.


Acquisitions and expansion in north America boosts fresh food group as pre-tax profits jump 5.8%; Davy reiterates ‘outperform’ rating


EU regulators have adopted a strict interpretation of rules limiting how telecoms firms can prioritise some types of internet traffic. The aim is to protect the principle that all web traffic be treated equally.
The guidelines on net neutrality were welcomed by internet activists as ensuring the web remains an open platform and not a two-speed highway benefiting only companies with deep pockets that can pay for prioritised delivery.
The European Union adopted its first-ever net neutrality law last year. The latest guidelines, adopted on Tuesday,will help determine how regulators enforce those rules.
Companies had pushed for leeway that allowed them to prioritise some types of data over others.
Under the latest guidelines, however, they will only be able to offer so-called specialised services – such as connectivity for driverless cars and internet-connected devices – over dedicated network capacity if it is “objectively necessary” and only if it does not negatively affect the Internet.
Specialised services
Services such as high-quality voice calling on mobile networks, live television delivered over the internet, and remote surgery, or telesurgery, are likely to be allowed as specialised services, according to the guidelines.
The telecoms industry said it was essential to avoid “restrictive interpretations” of the net neutrality law.
“Let’s make sure the implementation of net neutrality rules does not hamper new applications and services,” said Lise Fuhr, director general of Brussels-based Etno, a telecoms lobbying group representing operators, including Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica and Telecom Italia.
Regulators have also limited the extent to which telecoms operators may exempt some applications, such as Facebook, from a customer’s data usage, a practice known as zero-rating.
Customers cannot continue using Facebook or, say, Spotify, for free once they have used up all the data in their subscription.
– (Reuters)

Strict take on ‘net neutrality’ by EU telecom regulators


Principle that all web traffic is equal designed to keep internet an open platform


The wagons are being circled in Dublin as the signs grow that a final decision from the European Commission is due shortly in relation to Ireland’s tax deals with Apple. There is no question but that the decision will be that Ireland offered the US giant illegal state aid. The question, however, is how much the commission will suggest Ireland has to raise from Apple, and how its final decision relates to Ireland’s tax code today.
There is no question but that the decision will be negative and will, for a time at least, put Ireland in the firing line. Much will depend on the amount of cash involved. When the affair broke first, there were estimates from investment bank JP Morgan that the amount of back tax involved could be up to €19 billion, were the commission to decide to go back to shortly after Apple established here.
A bill of this size never looked likely, and the indications are that what is in prospect is only a fraction of this. However, this figure has been in circulation and featured in media reports so often since the preliminary negative decision from the commission in 2014 that it is inevitable that it will frame some of the reaction.
One issue for the commission and competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager is that a much lower figure may lead to accusations, rightly or wrongly, that political pressure from the US had an impact on the decision.
The length of time spent reaching a final decision also surely reflects the highly political nature of what has gone on behind the scenes. Sources in Dublin contend that the commission is on shaky legal ground – a case also made by the US treasury in a special White Paper on the subject of EU tax investigations into US companies, published last week.
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Formula
In Dublin, the hope is that the final figure will be in the hundreds of millions, rather than the billions, but nerves remain on edge. Sources believe that the commission will come forward with a formula it believes the Revenue Commissioners here should use, and possibly an estimate of what it believes this should raise. Even a total in the low-single-figure billions would be hugely damaging for Ireland.
Either way, Ireland is likely to face a public relations hit, despite measures taken in recent years to start to close off some of the more aggressive tax loopholes exploited by Apple and a number of other multinationals to funnel profits earned in Europe through Ireland and out to offshore tax havens.
The controversial double-Irish tax scheme, for example, is being phased out by 2020 and a loophole used by Apple – which effectively moved cash through a company with no tax residency anywhere – was also closed off. Close attention will be paid to how the text of the judgments reflects on tax practices still in place here.
As well as the Government, Apple has been anticipating the decision. It has ended the practice of moving cash through a “stateless” company and is believed to have moved the intellectual property rights for the sales of many of its key products into Ireland over the past year. Its tax bill for money moving through Ireland has risen. The Government will hope that Apple’s decision to move key intellectual property rights here is a sign of ongoing commitment to Ireland.
So the Government – and Apple – will both claim that they broke no laws, but will also indicate that policy and practice has changed in recent years.
This is unlikely to stop international criticism. As shown by the US treasury report, the American side says the commission may oblige Ireland to collect tax revenue at the expense of Washington. This neatly avoids a central issue, which is that the US way of taxing corporations lies behind much of the legal tax-avoidance structures.
US election campaign
Irish officials express some fears that the Apple case could get caught up in the US presidential election campaign, where multinational tax is a big issue. And, ironically, there may also be criticism from elsewhere in Europe. What is at issue is how Ireland taxes profits which, while they accrued to Apple subsidiaries here, related to product sales across Europe. Many other European countries may thus feel that the tax revenue is rightly theirs, rather than Ireland’s.
For all these reasons, the Government will feel obliged to appeal the decision. The bigger the amount of money involved, the trickier this may be politically, as pressure will come on the Government to collect the cash and spend it. Ministers will argue, however, that not appealing would be at the cost of inward investment in future.
Whatever the sum involved, sources here believe it will be a large figure, albeit one that is not financially significant for Apple. In response, Ministers will continue to insist Ireland did not offer Apple a special deal, and that our corporate tax system is open and transparent. In an era where corporate tax payments are a big issue, however, the Irish side will realise that this is now about damage limitation.

Ireland set for damage limitation over EU decision on Apple tax


Analysis: even a figure in low-single-figure billions would be damaging for the State


When I was at university I spent a summer travelling around Europe with some friends, and one of them suggested we drop in on his parents’ place in the south of France.
There are two things I remember about that visit. There was the mortification of being greeted by a butler who ceremoniously carried my tatty luggage – a few things stuffed into a plastic bag – to the suite of rooms I’d been allocated. But what stays in my mind even more was the image of his father – who turned out to be a famous tycoon – clad in small swimming trunks with cigar clamped between teeth, holding a gin and tonic in one hand and a telephone receiver in the other.
The year was 1979 and this was what power looked like. The man was too important to be out of touch with the deals he was doing. So he had installed a telephone line by the swimming pool and passed his summers issuing instructions from a lounger by the water.
A quarter of a century later, technology allowed all of us to pretend to be tycoons. We might not have had the butler or the pool house but everyone could head to the beach with a BlackBerry packed along with their towels. And because we could, we did. Only for most of us, what we were doing was not deals, it was responding to mundane inquiries that could have waited two weeks – or forever.
This year, I decided to do something radical that I hadn’t done for almost a decade. I took a proper holiday. I disconnected myself from work altogether. I didn’t open any work messages. I spent time reading, walking, looking at the sea – and sometimes getting into it – while I thought about not much at all.
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Immersion in work
When I returned to work and reacquainted myself with email, it was perfectly straightforward. I deleted almost all of them unread, responding only to the things that looked interesting. Far from feeling overwhelmed, I felt a certain excitement in the sudden immersion in work. It was a new-shoes and sharp-pencil sort of feeling that used to go with the beginning of a school term.
Over the past week it has started to dawn on me that my radical action was not radical at all. I was merely following the latest fashion.
Last week I sent an email to an entrepreneur I know, and within seconds the automatic reply came back: “I am on holiday until August 30 and will not be checking messages.” This was particularly remarkable given that last time I’d seen him – some five years ago – he had told me how he expected all his employees to respond to messages instantly wherever they were and whatever they were doing.
So I emailed back asking what had made him change his mind – but all I got in return was the same automatic message telling me he wasn’t reading whatever I was sending.
The very next day I got an email from a woman who I had contacted before I went away. It began: “Sorry for my radio silence – I have had a blissful two-week holiday and am just catching up on emails on my return.” Here was the same thing again: a driven, thirtysomething entrepreneur who wanted me to know not how hard she worked on holiday but how she loafed around, and how much she enjoyed it.
Experiment
To see how widespread this change is, I’ve done a little experiment. I’ve collected all the out-of-office emails I’ve had this summer, and counted the number that were followed at once by an email sent from the beach. Three years ago, it was very unusual for an automatic message not to be quickly followed by a real one. This year I’ve had a total of 38 automatic messages telling me the sender was away, only six of which have been succeeded by a personal, poolside reply.
Bragging about not working on holiday seems to be part of a wider trend - which I wrote about a few months ago – in which fashionable execs flaunt not their long hours, but their short ones. To be emailing from the pool does not prove you are powerful, it is starting to be seen for what it is – a sign of weakness, poor time management and an inability to delegate. If you can take two weeks off altogether it shows you have overcome all gadget addiction, and like a modern-day tycoon can control when you work – and when you don’t. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016)

Poolside working no longer a sign of importance


Bragging about not toiling on holiday part of wider trend of shorter working hours


The unwanted tax bonanza that may flow to Ireland from a ruling against Apple in Brussels should be used to fixed the health service and build houses, Minister of State for Training and Skills John Halligan has told the Sunday Independent.
The Independent Alliance Minister of State said no company should able “to hold the country to ransom” and “if Apple owes taxes to the State they should pay them and that’s it”.
Minister of State for Disability Issues Finian McGrath echoed Mr Halligan’s view.
The European Commission’s ruling on whether Ireland’s tax deal with breached state-aid rules is expected this week. Brussels is widely expected to find that illegal state aid was given to Apple.
Zenith exit linked to fraud data access
A dispute over access to a new industry database was partly responsible for Zenith Insurance’s decision to exit the Irish motor cover market, according to the Sunday Times.
The Gibraltar-based insurer is to stop offering car coverage here from February, citing soaring claims costs in a loss-making market.
Zenith has sought membership of Insurance Ireland, the umbrella group for the industry, but could not reach agreement about access to a database containnig information about drivers’ penalty points and no-claims bonuses.
The database was established to identify fraudulent and incorrect information.
Among other issues, Zenith is believed to have baulked at the cost it would have to pay to use the database, which was developed jointly by rival insurance firms, the paper said.
Vulture funds turn up heat on SMEs
According to the Sunday Business Post, the rate at which vulture funds are moving in to seize or sell assets held by small businesses has doubled this year.
An analysis of enforcement orders by the newspaper indicates that a handful of funds were behind 20 per cent of the total in the last eight months of 2015. However, that rate jumped to 43 per cent in the first eight months of 2016.
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The paper cites an expert who says US private-equity firms are likely to accelerate their enforcement activity even more in the coming months as they look to cash out of the Irish market in the shortest time possible.
Billionaire snaps up Ex-Quinlan French Riviera bolthole
Kazakhstan’s richest man, not Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen’s comic alter ego) but Bulat Utemuratov has emerged as the €65 million buyer of a lavish French Riviera house once owned by Dublin financier Derek Quinlan.
Quinlan sold the Cap Ferrat mansion, known as Villa La Carriere, in 2011 to a French limited company, according to a story in the Sunday Business Post. The paper noted that funds from the sale went to Barclays Bank, which was repaid in full by Quinlan.
Utemuratov, a former economics teacher, made his fortune from mining, banking, property and private equity.
He is a friend and adviser to Kazakhstan’s long-time president Nursultan Nazarbaev.

Seen & Heard: Spend Apple tax windfall on health, says Minister


Zenith exit linked to row over access to insurance industry database


Bank of Ireland is set to increase the amount it is refunding new mortgage customers, as competition in the mortgage market heats up.
The bank’s existing 2 per cent cashback on mortgages was due to expire at the end of September, but the bank has now replaced it with a new CashbackPlus offer. While the offer has now become even more attractive, rewarding home buyers with a 2 per cent cashback on their new mortgage at drawdown, along with an extra 1 per cent cashback five years later, customers must also have a current account with the bank to qualify.
The improved offer is available to current account customers of the bank who draw down a new first-time buyer, mover or switcher mortgage before March 31st, 2017.
If you don’t have a current account with the bank, or don’t want to switch to it, you can still get the existing 2 per cent cash-back offer. Investors, or those looking for equity release mortgages, will also be eligible for the 2 per cent cash-back offer.
The new 3 per cent offer means that someone drawing down a mortgage of €150,000 will get €3,000 straight into their account, plus an additional €1,500 after five years. If you’re buying a house on a mortgage of €500,000, you will get a cashback of €10,000 straight away, plus a further €5,000 back after five years.
BOI is not the only bank to offer a cashback on mortgages. Permanent TSB is offering its customers 2 per cent cashback until December 31st, while EBS also offers 2 per cent back.
Higher rates
While home buyers will welcome the latest offer from the bank, it’s worth noting that the bank’s variable mortgage rates are some of the highest on the market. Over the long-term, this can defray much of the benefit of the cashback offer. For example, the bank’s standard variable rate is 4.2 per cent compared with 3.5 per cent at AIB. However the bank’s fixed rates are more competitive, with a one-year fixed product offering a rate of 3.55 per cent on loan-to-value of more than 80 per cent.
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Moreover, it’s difficult to avoid charges on your current account with Bank of Ireland. Customers can avoid account transaction fees by keeping a minimum balance of € 3,000 in their current account, but they will still be liable to quarterly fees of €5.

Bank to pay customers €15,000 to take out €500,000 loan


Bank of Ireland will give 3% cashback as mortgage competition heats up


Shannon Foynes Port handles more than €7 billion in trade every year, according to a report commissioned by the State company that runs mid-western harbour.
Research by W2 Consulting, based on 2014 figures from the port itself and 31 companies using it, shows that it is worth €1.9 billion to the wider economy and handles €7.6 billion in trade annually.
It also shows that Shannon Foynes Port Company and its customers plan to spend €277 million between them over the five years to 2019, which will support 3,372 jobs in the region.
The port company intends to spend €130 million on an expansion plan, dubbed Vision 2041 , that will exploit advantages such as its deep water and sheltered harbours to develop an international trade hub there.
Investment
Combined with private sector capital spending, investment there will total €1.8 billion over the plan’s lifetime.
Chief executive, Pat Keating, said that Shannon Foynes will fund its share of this investment from its own resources. “We are generating the cash flow to do this,” he said.
As the EU recognises it as a core European port, Brussels provided it with €3 million last year to aid development. Mr Keating said that it will be able to get more funding from this source as time goes on.
He explained that the company commissioned the study to demonstrate the port’s worth to the regional and national economies.
“We always knew that it had a huge impact, but we didn’t have the figures to back that up,” Mr Keating said. “These are hard figures, collated from at the primary source, there’s no extrapolation.”
Launching the report, Shannon Foynes chairman, Michael Collins, confirmed that business at the port has overtaken levels achieved at the height of the boom in the first decade of the century.
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“We have a clear vision for the company that envisages it doubling its trade over the lifetime of our masterplan and driving very significant employment growth across the region,” he said.
Ambition
He added the completion of the proposed Limerick-Foynes road, already included in Government spending plans, was essential to this ambition.
“The other key project is the regeneration of the disused Limerick to Foynes rail link and a major feasibility study is being advanced in relation to that,” Mr Collins said.
The report’s author, Mark O’Connell, pointed out that the port has already attracted significant investment since the masterplan’s launch in 2013.
“If you take the capital expenditure of €277 million planned by Shannon Foynes Port Company and its customers up to 2019, that’s almost seven times the investment in redeveloping Thomond Park, ” he said.
“ That’s an indication of the importance that the port authority and the estuary will have in the years ahead.”
The port company has statutory jurisdiction over all marine activities and port management on the Shannon Estuary, covering 500sq km from Kerry and Loop in Co Clare to Limerick city.

Shannon Foynes Port handles €7.6bn in trade annually - report


Business has surpassed levels achieved at height of boom, says port firm chairman


Lifeline, the private ambulance operator service owned by businessman David Hall, reported a €101,231 profit for the 12 months ending June 2015. This compares to a €436,412 loss the previous year, newly-filed abridged accounts show.
The company, recently involved in a high-profile court action involving employees, had net assets of €106,794, as against just €5,563 a year earlier.
Turnover rose to €4.3 million as against €4.1 million the year before, having halved between 2008 and 2014.
Established by David Hall in 1998, Lifeline is the largest private ambulance operator in the State with a fleet of 49 vehicles. Based in Leixlip, Co Kildare, the company employs 66 people.
Mr Hall is also founder of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation (IMHO), which last year helped over 2,500 people to come to an arrangement with lenders over their debts.
HSE contract
Lifeline has a framework agreement with the Health Services Executive (HSE) through a service level contract for patient transport services. However, the company has previously taken legal proceedings against the HSE for alleged breaches of the agreement and Mr Hall told The Irish Times that additional proceedings were currently “on hold”.
Mr Hall said the return to profitability was partly due to better compliance with the Lifeline contract by the HSE.
“We won the tender to be the number-one provider nationally and that contract hasn’t been adhered too and, while it is not being fully complied with, there has been an improvement. If we don’t see further improvement though we will end up back in court,” he said.
“The need to injunct the HSE to comply with the contract is currently under review, as is seeking to recover monies not given under it, which were given to third parties.”
Mr Hall added that the turnaround was also due to him being back at the helm again. “I’m back running Lifeline again after being more focused on the mortgage stuff over the last couple of years, “ he said. “There has been a restructuring of the company and a better focus on how it is being run that has involved us looking at our cost base and so on.”
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Mr Hall and his wife Susan Wiseman Hall are listed as directors of Lifeline. Directors’ emoluments for the year ending June 2015 totalled €209,966, down from €217,817 a year earlier.
The accounts show Mr Hall previously provided a guarantee to the value of €377,000 for the company’s banking facilities.
Lifeline operates from a premises owned by Mr Hall, paying him rent in the year to the end of June 2015 of €116,379.
Future viability
The latest set of accounts said restrictive practices in the sector, the state of the economy and a decline in the number of people with private health cover were all concerns that threatened the viability of the company.
However, Mr Hall said that conditions generally had improved over the last year. “All health-related businesses were under pressure for a long time and I wasn’t around. I expect the 2016 accounts will post a higher profit than the 2015 ones. I’m back doing what I think I do well, which is running the business and we’ve acquired an additional 10 ambulances this calendar year and taken on 17 extra staff in the last number of months, so things are going the right way,” he said.
Two managers at Lifeline recently became the first employees in Ireland to win court protection under newly introduced whistleblower legislation.
The Circuit Court ruled late last month that Mick Dougan and Seán Clarke, who were made redundant after accusing Mr Hall of “serious wrongdoing” in a disclosure to the Revenue Commissioners, should continue to be paid until their unfair dismissal case is heard.
The men claimed in affidavits opened in court, that staff were paid mileage expenses in place of taxable pay and alleged they were subjected to bullying and harassment.

David Hall-owned ambulance service Lifeline in rude health


Private ambulance operator service reports a €101,231 profit for year ending June 2015


All the signs are that the EU Commission will shortly issue its final decision on the tax arrangements between Ireland and Apple. This week, the row started to heat up. Everyone expects the European Commission to stick to its original decision that the deal involved illegal state aid to the American giant. But the question is what the commission says should be done about it, and particularly how much tax the Irish Government should recoup.
On Wednesday, the US treasury come out fighting, taking the unusual step of issuing a “ white paper”, which was a strong attack on what the commission was doing. While it was not specifically about Apple – the European Commission is also investigating the tax affairs of a number of other US giants – no-one was in any doubt that this case is the “ big one”.
The treasury said that the EU commission was acting beyond its powers as a “supra-national” tax authority. It went on to argue that, as US companies had no notice of this new approach, it was particularly unreasonable for the commission to tell countries to seek to recoup tax payments going back years. The commission’s approach, it added, threatened the whole multilateral approach to tax.
Add in a warning about the potential “chilling” impact on transatlantic investment and a not very veiled threat to unspecified retaliation and you can see what is at stake here.
The commission is expected to press ahead and make its decision. But how much will it say Ireland should collect from Apple? Either way, it looks very likely that this affair – already three years cooking – will now head to the European courts, meaning we will not get a final outcome for a few more years.
COMPANY RESULTS
In a big week for company results, CRH was in focus, promising a return to dividend growth for the first time in seven years and signalling that full-year earnings will top €3 billion. The company lifted its interim dividend by 1.6 per cent to 18.6 cents, after reporting figures slightly ahead of market expectations. Chief executive Albert Manifold said continued positive momentum in the Americas and some recovery in Europe would continue to boost performance.
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CRH spent a massive €6.5 billion buying assets hived off after the merger of Lafarge and Holcim, but such is its earnings growth that the market remains confident that the extra debt taken on to fund this will quickly reduce. And now, in the relentless drive to growth, Manifold is signalling more acquisitions on the radar, with the possibility of spending €1.5 billion to €2 billion in the year ahead.
Meanwhile, merger costs left Paddy Power Betfair with a £47.5 million (€55.4 million) loss at the end of June. The gambling giant created last February, when Paddy Power and Betfair joined forces, said that revenues grew 18 per cent to £759 million in the six months ended June 30th from £642 million during the same period last year.
Operating profits grew 39 per cent to £147.6 million from £106.5 million over the same period. However, a £195.1 million charge for February’s merger left it with a £47.5 million loss. The group said that it expected full-year earnings to be £365-£385 million.
Kingspan had strong results, reporting that pre-tax profit rose 54 per cent to €155 million in what was a record first half for the insulation and building materials maker. Revenues rose 19 per cent to €1.47 billion in the six months ended June 30th from €1.24 billion during the same period last year.
Trading profit also rose by about 50 per cent, growing to €167.3 million from €111.7 million, well ahead of the €140 million and €150 million predicted by most analysts. Chief executive Gene Murtagh said the Cavan group expected the momentum to continue into the second half.
IFA ROW OVER LEVIES
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) faces substantial losses following a row over the collection of levies from farmers.
Larry Goodman’s ABP has thrown the cat among the pigeons by ceasing automatic collection levies on farm sales, a vital source of funding for the IFA.
The company claims it was acting on foot of persistent complaints from farmers about the way the tariff was administered.
The IFA, however, claims the move was designed to sabotage its funding arrangements and weaken its standing in the farming sector.
In response, it cancelled ABP’s authorisation to collect it, effectively jettisoning up to €300,000 in contributions from ABP suppliers.
Now all eyes on whether other processors will follow Goodman’s lead, a move that could have disastrous consequences for the farmers’ group, which is still reeling from a string of pay scandals involving former bosses.
MOTOR INSURANCE CRISIS
The Irish motor insurance market is in crisis, with premiums rising by almost 40 per cent a year. And there is little sign of relief for drivers. This week’s news that Gibraltar-based underwriter Zenith Insurance is to withdraw from the market will not lead to the same immediate crisis for policyholders as the Setanta collapse. Existing policies will remain in force and claims will be met. It further reduces competition in the market meaning premiums will probably continue to rise. Of course the problem appears to have been that previous competition for market share drove premiums down to unsustainable levels. Add in the high cost of claims here and you have a toxic mix which is hitting policyholders hard in the pocket.
EMPLOYMENT RISES
Amid all the dire warnings about Brexit, there was further good news for the economy this week with the Central Statistics Office’s Quarterly National Household Survey showing the number of people working in the State has reached two million for the first time since 2009.
The survey revealed unemployment had also fallen by 23,400, or 11 per cent, in the year to the end of June, pushing the total number out of work down to 187,800, marking the 16th consecutive quarter in which unemployment has fallen.
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While unemployment rates are up, with the July figure at 8.3 per cent as against the previous 7.8 per cent, the change was due to an increase in the labour force, rather than newly unemployed people.

Business week: crunch time for Apple, the EU and US


A big results week, IFA rows with ABP, employment is up and car insurance swerves


As EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager took to the stage at the European Commission in Brussels just after midday it quickly became apparent that the final figure in the Apple case was well in excess of what even the most pessimistic Irish officials had expected.
While an adverse finding against Ireland had never really been in doubt, the figure of € 13 billion took even seasoned competition experts by surprise.
The ruling marks a new front in the EU’s battle against tax avoidance and presents a challenge to transatlantic relations. It is also a potential watershed moment for EU competition law.
The recent probes into Fiat, Amazon, Starbucks and Apple have seen the Commission’s competition division move away from its traditional territory of mergers, acquisitions and state aid to tackle the fiendishly complex world of corporate tax.
While technically the commission did look at the state aid implications of tax regimes when it took Belgium to task in the early 1990s, the recent cases against mostly US multinationals are on a much larger scale.
Appeals
The Irish government and Apple are set to launch legal appeals. The cases are likely to go before both the General Court and European Court of Justice, a process that could take five to six years. Competition experts and corporate lawyers will be closely watching the outcome of the case to ascertain its impact on the future of corporate taxation.
As well as the sheer size of the figure unveiled by Vestgaer, officials were caught offguard on the substance of the case.
While the initial preliminary finding two years ago focused on the specific tax agreements revealed in minutes from meetings between Apple and Revenue officials in 1990 and1991 – including a suggestion that Ireland promised a good deal for Apple in exchange for employment guarantees – this did not form the basis of Tuesday’s finding. While the Commission has not rowed back from this analysis, it does not form part of its investigation.
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The European Commission’s case set out on Tuesday is built around the activity of two companies – Apple Operations Europe (AOE) and Apple Sales International (ASI), subsidiaries of the US-based Apple Inc.
Both companies were incorporated in Ireland and were permitted to record profits in Ireland – in essence they were examples of the ‘Double Irish’ structures.
Crucially, both companies were constituted of two parts - a Head Office and an Irish branch. While the Irish branch had employees, the Head Office was a corporate entity with “no employees, no premises and no real activities,” to quote Ms Vestager.
Issues
Its sole activity, according to the commission, was board meetings which took place up to five or six times a year, usually over the phone, during which cash management, dividends and other financial issues were discussed. It was a so-called ‘stateless’ company.
The crux of the European Commission’s case against Ireland is that the vast majority of Apple’s profits were allocated to the Head Office part of the companies rather than the Irish branch, thereby avoiding tax.
They have cited the example of 2011 - the year discussed during the US senate hearings that prompted the EU’s investigation. During that year, ASI made a profit of €16 billion, but only €50 million of this was allocated to the Irish branch. The remainder was allocated to the so-called ‘Head Office’ where it remained untaxed. According to Ms Vestager, Apple’s effective tax rate in 2011 was 0.05 per cent.
“To put that in perspective, it means that for every million euros in profit, it paid just €500 in tax,” she declared on Tuesday.
Profit
By multiplying the commission’s estimate of the proper taxable profit – ie, the liability that would have been applicable if the profits had been allocated to the Irish branch of both companies - by Ireland’s corporate tax rate, the Commission has alighted on the figure of € 13 billion plus interest. This estimate also takes into account the not insignificant contributions both AOE and ASI made to Apple Inc for research and development (R & D) activity.
There are two ways Apple’s € 13 billion-plus repayment bill could be reduced according to the commission. The IRS, the US tax agency, could rule that the amount of R & D contributions Apple received from both subsidiaries should have been higher.
This would reduce the amount payable to Ireland and increase US tax revenue.Alternatively, other EU countries could conclude that Apple should have recorded its sales in their countries instead of Ireland, and insist that Apple paid more tax locally, again reducing the company’s exposure to Ireland. Neither outcome appears likely.
Answer
Ms Vestager said on Tuesday that the commission had concluded that the splitting of Apple’s profits between the two parts of the AOE and ASI companies “did not have any factual or economic justification.”
In short, the commission has concluded that Ireland gave illegal state aid to Apple, in breach of EU law.
It will now fall to lawyers for the accused to contest this.
The refrain from Government circles has long been that the EU may not have liked the tax structures that were in place at the time when the Apple deal was struck but that does not mean that they were illegal.
It may be some years before a definitive answer on this question will be reached.

How the European Commission calculated €13bn tax bill


Move on Apple is new front in EU’s war on tax avoidance


Current transatlantic trade talks should be halted and a new set started, France’s trade minister said on Tuesday, adding his voice to some calls from Germany for an end to the negotiations.
Matthias Fekl said he would request a halt to negotiations with the US over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on behalf of France at next month’s meeting of EU trade ministers in Bratislava.
“There should be an absolute clear end so that we can restart them on a good basis,” he said on RMC Radio, adding he would suggest that course to fellow ministers.
German economy minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Sunday that TTIP negotiations had effectively failed after Europe refused to accept some US demands.
Mr Gabriel is the chairman of Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD), who share power with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives. Many Social Democrats have serious reservations about TTIP but Dr Merkel backs the talks.
Her spokesman insisted on Monday that talks should continue, while Germany’s foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier – also a member of the SPD – said on Tuesday that both sides were still far away from agreeing on standards and procedures.
Discrepancies
Mr Fekl’s and Mr Gabriel’s highlighted discrepancies between the views in the EU’s two biggest economies and the official line from both the European Commission and the US Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman.
Three years of talks have failed to resolve multiple differences, including over food and environmental safety, but the USTR’s spokesman told German magazine Der Spiegel the negotiations “are in fact making steady progress”.
The White House has said this week it aims to reach a deal by the end of the year. “It’s going to require the resolution of some pretty thorny negotiations, but the president and his team are committed to doing that,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Washington.
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The commission also remains upbeat. “Although trade talks take time, the ball is rolling right now, and the commission is making steady progress in the ongoing TTIP negotiations,” the executive’s spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, told a news conference in Brussels on Monday.
Consumers
Supporters say the TTIP could deliver more than $100 billion worth of economic gains on both sides of the Atlantic, but critics say the pact would hand too much power to big multinationals at the expense of consumers and workers.
Paris threatened to stall further negotiations as long ago as April, but there are national elections due in both France and Germany in 2017, and before the summer experts were saying that this year – ahead of the US presidential election – may be the best opportunity to strike a deal.
That prospect looks less likely now, and Britain’s June vote to leave the EU has further clouded the picture, even though the commission has a mandate to finalise TTIP talks on behalf of all EU 28 members. – Reuters

France joins calls to halt trade talks with US


Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations ‘have failed’, says Germany


Retail investments in Dublin city centre continue to attract the highest level of inquiries and the least number of sales because of the shortage of available properties.
For that reason alone Lisney is expecting exceptional interest in a prime investment at 19 Wicklow Street which goes on the market today to coincide with the opening of the new property season.
Chris Belton of Lisney is seeking offers of more than €1.9 million for the 1900s building occupied by Cornucopia and Louis Copeland which will show a net initial yield of 5.19 per cent.
Vegetarian restaurant Cornucopia has traded for the past 30 years out of the ground floor of number 19 and also number 20 which are interlinked at street and basement levels.
Number 19 has 68sq m (732sq ft) at street level and an overall floor area of 289 sq m (3,111sq ft) on five levels including basement. The restaurant is paying €80,000 for the ground, basement and an office on the second floor.
Louis Copeland has a separate access to the first floor and also rents part of the second and third floors, paying a total of €23,100. The overall rent roll of €103,100 is considered highly reversionary and with the two rent reviews due next February the expectation is that the the rental figure will move to at least €120,000/€130,000 per annum.
A short distance away, agents JLL are quoting a rent of €90,000 for a smaller ground floor and basement in number 33 Wicklow Street which does not have permission for food use. The leases in number 19 have a weighted average unexpired term of 10.15 years to run.
Cornucopia’s leasehold interest in number 20 is not affected by the sale nor is Louis Copeland’s additional lease of the adjoining building, number 18.

Prime Wicklow Street retail investment for €1.9m


Property home to Cornucopia restaurant and Louis Copeland has rent roll of €100,000


Premium passengers are going to enjoy using the United States preclearance facility at Dublin Airport knowing there is now a new lounge beyond. The 51st and Green Lounge has seating for 180 people, along with food and beverage options, a concierge service, free wifi, cable television, charging points and a shower room.
Located past gates 405-406, it serves passengers of the 138 outbound Atlantic flights a week. The lounge is free to access for business-class passengers of Aer Lingus, United, Delta and American. Walk-up passengers on the day can use the lounge for a fee of €39.
Following the collapse on July 15th of online travel agency Lowcostholidays, the Commission for Aviation Regulation(CAR) has received claims from more than 3,000 holidaymakers. It is the biggest agency collapse ever handled by CAR. The previous biggest was Budget Travel, in 2009, when just over 2,000 refunds were made. Customers have until September 19th to submit claims for refunds. Forms are available from the website aviationreg.ie. Accommodation-only bookings made through this website are not covered by the licence and bond issued by CAR. It is believed that a number of travel agents that sourced accommodation on the Lowcost sister site Lowcostbeds will have to refund their customers or pay again for accommodation. The CAR phone number is 01-8889000.
If “music hath charms to soothe a savage breast,” does that also apply to raging travellers? London City Airport has been experimenting with music playing in the security area. The airport is trying two playlists: ambient electronica and upbeat acoustic music. The tunes are selected by music consultancy C-Burn. So far, Ed Sheeran is proving a favourite with passengers. You can listen to the favourite tunes on Spotify, where LCY has a playlist.
The Global Business Travel Association predicts that world business travel will surpass $1.2 trillion in 2016. The annual Global Report & Forecast also expects travel to increase by 5.8 per cent and reach $1.6 trillion by 2020.
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jscales@irishtimes.com

Road Warrior: Dublin Airport adds US preclearance lounge


‘51st and Green’ lounge can seat 180 people and has a shower room


A new Tourism Ireland Japanese language website has been launched to capitalise on a growing market for Irish tourism.
About 20,000 Japanese tourists visit Ireland every year. It is a small fraction of the nearly 18 million trips taken abroad annually by Japanese tourists.
It makes Japanese the 11th language featured on the Tourism Ireland website at ireland.com.
Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said the Japanese market into Europe is on the rise after a dramatic decline following the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001.
“We had a presence in the market a number of years ago, but we pulled back from it,” he said.
“The numbers had declined to 12,000 in 2010, but are on the rise again Ireland.com has been a very strong portal for us and this gets us into another market.”
Mr Gibbons said the Star Wars franchise and Game of Thrones had help increase Ireland’s profile in Japan.
Skellig Michael features on the front page of the Japanese version of the Tourism Ireland website.
The new portral was launched by Minister for the Diaspora and International Development Joe McHugh at the Chester Beatty Library.
Mr McHugh said the website was part of an attempt to strengthen the Irish presence across Asia.
The Japanese language version of the website can be found atireland.com/ja-jp/.

New website to encourage Japanese tourists to visit Ireland


Lucrative market on the rise again after falling dramatically following 9/11


Shares in Grafton Group dropped in early trading on Wednesday as analysts prepared to cut their earnings forecasts for the group as its key UK building marchanting business faces challenges following the Brexit vote.
Grafton shares lost as much as 9.5 per cent of its their value, to £5.50 (€7.21), within minutes of trading getting underway in London. It marked the biggest sell-off in the stock since the end of June, when UK voters decided to exit the EU.
Earlier, the company said its adjusted operating profits for the first half soared 12 per cent as strengthening Irish and Dutch economies offset weakness in its UK builders merchanting business amid concerns about Brexit.
Adjusted operating profit rose to £68.4 million from £61.2 million for the same period last year, helped by the €91.5 million acquisition late last year of a Dutch took distributor, Isero.
And while thee Dublin-based company said its UK trade-only Selco Builders Warehouse business continued to see its profits grow during the first half, its traditional UK merchanting businesses, which accounts for more than 70 per cent of group sales, faced “more challenging markets”.
“Progressively weaker trading conditions were encountered during the period at a time of increased uncertainty in the lead-up to the UK’s EU referendum,” Grafton said on Wednesday.
The group had previously warned in mid-July that its UK merchanting sales had dipped in June and that Brexit is likely to dampen demand for new housing and home improvements for the remainder of the year in its most important market.
On Thursday, it said: “It is still too early to assess the likely impact on the UK economy of the vote to leave the European Union. Following weak trading in June, demand in the UK merchanting business was relatively flat during July and August with markets remaining very price competitive.”
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“Against a backdrop of a challenging UK merchanting market and the associated start-up costs with a pick-up in Selco branch openings, we see full-year 2016 operating profit forecasts being reduced by circa 10 per cent to £131m,” Robert Eason, an analyst with Goodbody Stockbrokers, said in a note.
“Revisions are likely to be larger for full-year 2017 as we start to incorporate slower growth across our merchanting coverage to factor in the potential impact of Brexit,” Mr Eason said.
Analysts at Investec said they expect consensus forecast for the group to fall by 8 per cent, as the group’s operating martings face pressure.
Meanwhile, Grafton said its Woodie’s DIY retailing business in Ireland performed well in the first half as a result of management actions combined with increased household spending in the sector.
The interim dividend approved by the board has been increased by 6 per cent to 4.75p, in line with its progressive dividend policy.

Grafton shares slide most since Brexit vote on UK merchanting woes


UK merchanting sales were ‘relatively flat’ in July and August after Brexit vote


COMEDY TENT
SATURDAY
20.15-21.00 Dylan Moran
19.35-20.05 Reginald D Hunter
18.55-19.30 The Rubberbandits
18.30-18.50 Aisling Bea
18.00-18.25 Colin Murphy
17.35-17.55 Kevin McGarhen
17.05-17.30 Eric Lalor
16.25-17.00 Deidre O’Kane
15.55-16.20Colm O Regan
15.20-15.50 Dublin Comedy Improv
14.55- 15.15 Danny O Brien
14.40-14.50 Colm Tyrell
14.10-14.35 Damian Clarke
13.45-14.05 Fred Cooke
13.30-13.45 Andrew Stanley
SUNDAY
20.10-21.00 David O’Doherty
19.35-20.05 Abandoman
18.45-19.20 Al Porter
18.15-18.40 Joe Rooney
17.45- 18.10 Chris Kent
17.15-17.40 Patrick McDonnell
16.45-17.10 Karl Spain
16.20-16.40 Ian Coppinger
15.55-16.15 Kevin Gildea
15.25-15.50 Rory O Hanlon
14.55-15.20 John Colleary
14.40-14.50Ashlee Bently
14.15- 14.35 Alison Spittle
13.45-14.10 Gearoid Farrelly
SALTY DOG STAGE
FRIDAY
02.30-3.45 Salty Dog NoStars play Bowie
01.35-02.15 Pete Pamf Sextette
24.25-01.15 Stomptown Brass
23.15-24.00 Third Smoke
22.00-22.55 Swords
20.45-21.35 Bronagh Gallagher Band
19.25-20.15 Five by Five
18.10-19.00 These Charming Men present The Queen is Dead
17.05-17.50 Buffalo Sunn
16.00-16.45 Rob Walsh Band
14.00-16.00 Will Softly
SATURDAY
02.50 - 04.00 Le Galaxie Soundsystem
01.35 - 02.30 RSAG
24.25-01.15 Eskies
23.00-24.05 The Pale
21.55-22.40 Ross Breen
20.40-21.35 Square Pegs
19.30-20.20 Prison Love
18.40-19.10 Gavin Glass
17.25-18.15 The Portside Hootenanny
16.10-17.05 D Riculous Allstars
15.00-15.50 Leila Jane and the Healers
14.00-14.45 Sion Hill
13.00-13.45 Trinitones
12.00-12.45 Love for Arthur Lee presents Forever Changes
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SUNDAY
01.35-03.00 Kormac
24.25-01.15 New Secret Weapon
23.20-24.05 Manden Express
22.10-23.00 Mongrel State
20.55-21.50 Cronins featuring Shane MacGowan
19.30-20.20 Mick Pyro & The Dublin Blues Cartel
18.15-19.10 David Kitt
17.10-18.00 Aine Cahill
16.05-16.50 My Fellow Sponges
15.05-15.50 Emma Lou & The Agenda
14.05-14.50 Old Hannah
13.00-13.50 Dr Strangely Strange
12.00-12.45 Aidan Kavanagh‘s Sunday Morning Dishgo
RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY
FRIDAY
01.30-03.00 Colm K
23.30-01.30 Fish Go Deep
21.30-23.30 Timmy Stewart
18.30-21.30 KC
16.30-18.30 Galactic Beat Club
14.30-16.30 Discotekken
12.00-14.30 Ciara Brady
SATURDAY
23.00-03.00 Mr. Scruff
20.30-23.00 Phil Boyle
18.30-20.30 Nialler9
16.30-18.30 Sim Simma
14.30-16.30 This Greedy Pig
12.00-14.30James Hannan
SUNDAY
01.00-03.00 New Jackson
23.00-01.00 Billy Scurry
21.00-23.00 Stevie G
19.00-21.00 Donal Dineen
16.30-19.00 Hubie Davison
14.30-16.30Mr Ray
12.00-14.30 Dave Fear
JERRY FISH ELECTRIC SIDESHOW
FRIDAY
23.30 Fire Show with RealTa Circus
Past Midnight-01.00 The Jerry Fish Electric Sideshow feat. Jeremy Hickey aka R.S.A.G
01.00-04.00 Kelly Ann Byrne + Billy Scurry
SATURDAY
00.00-04.00 Johnny Moy + Mulljoy + Special Guests
23.00 -00.00 The Strypes
22.00-22.45 Gavin James
21.00-21.45 The Frank & Walters
20.00-20.45 The Academic
10.15-20.00 Special Guest DJ
18.30-19.15 EngineAlley
17.45-18.15 Le Boom
17.00-17.30 Wob
16.1516.45 The Outer Limits
15.30-16.00 Weenz
14.45-15.15 The Vincents
14.00-14.3 Foxjaw
13.15-13.45 Ceili All-Stars
12.00-13.00 House of Yoga feat. Get Down Edits
SUNDAY
01.00-02.00 End of the World Party
00.00-01.00 The Jerry Fish Electric Sideshow
23/00-23.45 The Blizzards
22/00-22..45 Exmagician
21.00-21.45 Bitch Falcon
20.00-20.45 Relish
19.15-19.45 Veda, Regina, Pixie & Sngelica - stars of Witchy Wednesdays @ the George - present Drag, Sex & Rock ’n’ Roll
18.30-19.05 Interskalactic
17.45-18.15 Mariachi San Patricio
17.00-17.30 Barq
16.15-16.45 Orchid Collective
15.30-16.00 Ivy Nations
14.45-15.15 Craig Gallagher
14.00-14.30 White Cholera
13.15-13.45 Absolutely Yo
12.00-13.00 House of Yoga
TRENCHTOWN
FRIDAY
01.00-03.30 Dirty Dubsters w/ Kwasi, Mango, RV, Jago & Deemas j
23.55 -00.45 After The Ibis
22.50-23.40 Gangsters
21.55-22.35 Jafaris
20.10-21.40 Jameire
18.40-20.10 Dub Foundry & Ranking Fox
16.40-18.40 Junior Spesh
14.40-16.40 t woc
SATURDAY
01.30-03.30 Ras Kwame & Serocee
23.25 -01.25 Worries Outernational
22.20 -23.10 Adeniyi Allen Taylor & the Afrobeat Orchestra
21.15-22.05 The Bionic Rats
20.10-21.00 The Hacklers
19.05-19.55 Johnny Pluse & the Stormtroopers of Love
17.20-18.50 Word Up Collective
16.15- 17.05 Skazz
14.30-16.00 Rub A Dub Crew
13.00-14.30 An Galar Dub
SUNDAY
02.00-03.30 Cian Finn
00.45-01.45 Ajo Arkestra
23.30-00.30 Wob! (Sambass Set)
22.15-23.15 Andrew White
21.10-22.00 The Service
20.05-20.55 The Little Beauties
19.00-19.50 Dah Jevu
17.15-18.45 Tom Beary & MC Little Tree
16.20-17.00 Bevin Rimson
14.05-16.05 Tim Timmah
GLOBAL GREEN Village Hall
FRIDAY
01.00 Start The Dance. featuring RobotRock and DJ Dave Caffrey till late
23.20 Phases DJs
22.40 Cinema
21.50 Wastefellow
21.00 Jem Mitchell
20.00 WEAVE
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SATURDAY
23.20 Hip Hop Hooray. featuring Re.Raw, Gin n Juice, Rosko til very late..
21.40 Caz9
19.50 Voices Rising. Spoken Word
19.00 Cult Called Man
18.10 The Witch Trials
17.00 Reconnecting With Nature - Panel Discussion
16.15 Swords
15.20 CreamDream
14.30 Anna-Mieke
13.30 Community Energy - Panel Discussion
13.10 Community Power - Screening
12.00 Yoga
SUNDAY
02.15 Ben Live/DJ Set - Breaks, jackin house, trap and dubstep
21.40 Last Train to Skaville. featuring Rub A Dub, Pressure Drop DJs and The Service
20.00 Atlantic - Screening and Discussion
19.15 The Savage Jim Breen
18.20 Black Bank Folk
16.00 The Show Must Go On - Panel Discussion
17.00 Pop Icons. Sing Along Social for GOAL
15.00 David Keenan
14.10 I Am Niamh
13.20 Sarah Buckley
12.00 Yoga
CASA BACARDÍ
FRIDAY
22.00-00.00 Huxley
20.00-22.00 Hercules & Love Affair (Dj Set)
18.00-20.00 Stevie G
16.00-18.00 Stephen Manning
SATURDAY
00.00-02.00 DJ Deece
22.00-00.00 Nicky Siano
20.00-22.00 Horse Meat Disco
18.00-20.00 Krafty Kuts
16.30-18.00 Get Down Edits
15.00-16.40 Groovement Soul
13.30-15.00 Modern Magic
12,30-13.30 4wrd Grad
SUNDAY
22.00-00.00 The Magician
20.00-22.00 Disco Bloodbath
18.00-20.00 A-Skillz
16.00-18.00 Kelly Anne Byrne
14,00-16.00 Ghostboy
12.00-14.00 Christian Homan
From Friday The Irish Times will be onsite at Stradbally proper, with our live blog for all your news, traffic and weather updates, and those essential first-night reviews. We’ll have daily editions of The Ticket on-site on Saturday and Sunday, as well as online video, blog, news and feature content all weekend.
And if you need a little break from the musical affairs, we’ll have a full programme of talks at the expanded Irish Times Ticket Tent in the Mindfield section. There will be discussions with the best arts and sports writers, panels with experts in film and TV, and a look at the state of our 100-year-old nation.
For more visit our Electric Picnic page here

Electric Picnic stage times: the last batch of schedules revealed


Here are the stage times for the Jerry Fish Electric Sideshow, Comedy Tent, Salty Dog, Trailer Park, Global Green, Trenchtown and more


Ireland has been ordered to recoup up to €13 billion from US tech company Apple in unpaid taxes in a landmark ruling by the European Commission this morning.
The EU’s powerful competition arm said on Tuesday that Apple had been granted selective treatment by Ireland through two tax rulings granted to the company in 1991 and 2007 by Irish tax authorities.
That treatment allowed Apple to avoid taxation on almost all profits generated by sales of its products in the EU single market, because Apple recorded the sales in Ireland rather than where products were sold, the commission said. This was achieved by funnelling sales through a “so-called” head office in Ireland with “no employees, no premises and no real activities,” commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.
In a statement, the commission said it “substantially and artificially” lowered the tax paid by Apple in Ireland since 1991, giving Apple a “significant advantage” over other businesses subject to the same national taxation rules.
“Member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies – this is illegal under EU state aid rules,” said Ms Vestager. “The commission’s investigation concluded that Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple, which enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses over many years. In fact, this selective treatment allowed Apple to pay an effective corporate tax rate of 1 per cent on its European profits in 2003, down to 0.005 per cent in 2014.”
Apple said it would appeal and it was confident the decision would be overturned.
While the precise figure will be worked out by the Irish Revenue Commissioners, the commission estimates that the total money recovered will amount to about € 13 billion – far in excess of what had been envisaged by Irish authorities.
The US treasury said it declined to comment on specific cases, but expressed disappointment that the commission was “acting unilaterally and departing from the important progress the US, the EU, and the rest of the international community have made together to combat tax avoidance”.
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“As we have said, we believe that retroactive tax assessments by the commission are unfair, contrary to well-established legal principles, and call into question the tax rules of individual member states,” the treasury said in a statement. “The commission’s actions could threaten to undermine foreign investment, the business climate in Europe, and the important spirit of economic partnership between the US and the EU. We will continue to monitor these cases as they progress, and we will continue to work with the commission toward our shared objective of preventing the erosion of our corporate tax bases.”
The Apple tax ruling The EC issued a ruling on August 30th in relation to the tax arrangements of Apple in Ireland, where it has its European HQ. The EC said Apple had been granted selective treatment by Ireland through two tax rulings in 1991 and 2007. The EC has ordered Ireland to recover up to €13 billion from the tech giant. Minister for Finance Michael Noonan indicated Ireland would appeal the decision "to defend the integrity of our tax system; to provide tax certainty to business; and to challenge the encroachment of EU state aid rules into the sovereign member state competence of taxation”. Q&A: Cliff Taylor answers the key questions I found this helpful Yes No
Though the Apple case follows similar cases against Fiat, Amazon, and Starbucks, the total tax liability is by far the largest judgment handed down by the EU’s competition division in relation to a member state’s tax arrangements. In contrast to the multibillion-euro figure proposed, the commission ordered the Netherlands to recover between €20 and €30 million from Starbucks, and Luxembourg to recover the same amount from Fiat.
The EU’s powerful anti-trust arm, which typically rules on mergers and acquisitions, has increasingly turned its attention to corporate tax arrangements in recent years, focusing particularly on transfer pricing arrangements.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan is to seek Cabinet approval to appeal the decision to the European courts, a process that is likely to take up to four years. In the interim, Apple will be obliged to pay the tax shortfall to the Irish exchequer. It is expected the money will be held in a frozen account.
Reacting to the announcement, Mr Noonan said the decision left him with “no choice” but to appeal the decision. “This is necessary to defend the integrity of our tax system; to provide tax certainty to business; and to challenge the encroachment of EU state aid rules into the sovereign member state competence of taxation.”
Today’s findings follow more than three years of investigations by the European Commission into Ireland’s tax arrangements with Apple, since it first sought information from Dublin in June 2013. A year later, the commission launched its investigation, arguing that its preliminary assessment was that Ireland had illegally granted selective treatment to Apple, in breach of EU state aid law.
Irish officials insisted on Tuesday that the full amount of tax due by Apple has been paid, arguing that, because most of Apple’s profits were not generated in Ireland, they could not be taxed in Ireland. The kind of “stateless”, non-resident companies that were investigated by the commission have since been phased out by the Irish government, which means that the Apple judgment is unlikely to impact on Apple’s future tax arrangements in Ireland.
Much of the commission’s investigation focused on how Irish Revenue officials calculated “transfer pricing” arrangements for Apple in two separate tax rulings offered to the company. Also known as advance pricing arrangements, transfer pricing governs how transactions between different entities of a corporation are priced, a process that can have implications for profit allocation and the company’s tax bill.
The commission believes that the Revenue Commissioners did not apply the proper “arm’s length principle” when calculating the transfer pricing arrangements for Apple. But officials briefed on the matter believe that because transfer pricing is notoriously difficult to price – the OECD outlines five different methodologies for calculating transfer pricing – the commission’s case can be tested in court.
However, minutes from meetings between Apple and the Revenue Commissioners in 1990 and 1991 supplied by Revenue to the European Commission as part of the investigation show how a transfer pricing figure was negotiated between the two parties. The commission has argued that this arrangement was motivated by employment considerations.
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MEP Brian Hayes said credibility of the business environment in Ireland, along with its ability to attract foreign direct investment here, was on the line, and the taxation system should not be targeted for reasons of “anti-American bias”.
He accused the commission of overstepping its role and mandate, and said the ultimate decision in this case must be taken by the European Court of Justice.
“It’s in Ireland’s long-term interest that the Government appeals this,” he said “The figure of €13 billion shows just how politically motivated this decision was. This was a clear statement that the commission wanted to hit US multinationals hard with this announcement.”
Oxfam Ireland chief executive Jim Clarken called on the Government to shut down tax loopholes and reassure citizens that “sweetheart deals” with companies or individuals are a thing of the past.
“Ireland has benefited from multinational investment but all companies should operate here under rules which are fair and which do not benefit some companies over others,” he said. “Deals that exempt companies from paying their legitimate share of tax mean the ordinary taxpayers have to foot the bill.
Today’s announcement comes a week after a US treasury White Paper strongly criticised the European Commission’s recent investigations into the tax affairs of US multinationals. The issue has soured EU-US relations, amid accusations from Washington that Brussels is unfairly targeting US companies, a charge the European Commission denies.
The commission’s findings mark the latest move by the European Commission to clamp down on corporate tax avoidance, a priority prompted by revelations such as the Luxembourg Leaks and Panama Papers scandals. A revised proposal on a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB), to which Ireland has traditionally been opposed, is expected to be announced by the end of the year.

EU orders Ireland to recoup up to €13bn in unpaid taxes from Apple


Sum is far in excess of what had been envisioned by Irish authorities; Government says it will appeal the decision