Weekend Business Papers

Sam Peters is a former national newspaper reporter credited with driving a cultural change in sport’s attitude towards brain injuries and concussions. Between 2013 and 2017, Sam was the driving force behind the Mail on Sunday’s concussion in rugby campaign and was subsequently short-listed as sports journalist of the year at the 2014 UK Press Gazette Awards. Sam’s exclusive report in 2014 also revealed the FA’s failure to deliver promised research into the link between heading footballs and dementia following the death of a former England player   

In his 2023 book, ‘Concussed: Sport’s Uncomfortable Truth’, winner of the Best Sports Writing Award, Sam recounts the untold story of the most influential sports campaign in British newspaper history, asking how rugby and other sports can save themselves from the vested interests which threaten not just players’ livelihoods but the very existence of the sports themselves.

●      The Business Post says that Ireland’s trillion-euro trade industry is uniquely exposed to a “major risk” of becoming caught in the crossfire of escalating geopolitical tensions

●      The Sunday Independent details Fine Gae’s new plan for every baby born in Ireland to receive at least €1,000 lodged into a new savings account in their name 

●      The Sunday Times says DCC shareholders are in line for a ­£3bn payout over the next two years

●      The Financial Times reports that two of Elon Musk’s private com­pan­ies are set to secure mult­i­bil­lion-dol­lar jumps in valu­ation as investors back his sprawl­ing busi­ness interests 

●      The Wall Street Journal says stocks fell Friday, following a solid retail-sales report that boosts the case that the economy doesn’t need support through lower borrowing costs

Chronic neglect of Ireland’s water and electricity infrastructure has led one of the country’s most ambitious housebuilders to warn: “We can’t build.” Ronan Columb, managing director of Castlethorn, spoke to the Business Post as the three main parties fight the general election on their ability to solve the housing crisis. Castlethorn has plans to build 20,000 homes over the next decade but the firm, founded and led by Dundrum Town Centre-builder Joe O’Reilly, is running into repeated problems due to failures by Irish Water and ESB. Meanwhile, Simon Harris is to announce plans to support self-employed people by axing the Universal Social Charge (USC) surcharge and increasing tax credits for those who build up their business in Ireland. The Fine Gael leader is set to publish details of his party’s manifesto, which the Business Post has learned will commit to implementing a three-point package for businesses. The document says that cash flow for SMEs in Ireland can be enhanced through a targeted approach by not placing undue penalties on the self-employed. According to a landmark government report, Ireland’s trillion-euro trade industry is uniquely exposed to a “major risk” of becoming caught in the crossfire of escalating geopolitical tensions. A series of stark warnings about the far-reaching implications of increasing geopolitical fragmentation and calls for a major government response to protect industry. The report comes amid growing fears over the threats posed to Ireland by the election of Donald Trump as US president. The experts who drew up the report have urged the government to coordinate a “shock diagnosis” on specific strategic sectors in Ireland to assess the impact of disruption to value chains. Elsewhere, transport officials have said the government cannot intervene to remove the controversial Dublin Airport passenger cap. In September, briefings prepared for James Lawless, the Fianna Fáil junior transport, contradict his party’s general election pledge to remove the “self-defeating” passenger cap at the airport “as soon as possible” if returned to government. The documents sent to Lawless, before meetings with Aer Lingus and Ryanair, state that the 32m passenger cap is a planning issue, not a policy issue. In brief ● BlackRock cuts stake in Bank of Ireland by nearly €100m ● DCC plans to sell off health and focus on energy boosts shares ● Burberry shares rise as new boss pledges to go back to roots ● Greencore could be hit by UK Labour tax hike, according to a Davy analysis

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The Sunday Independent reports on Fine Gael’s new plan for every baby born in Ireland to receive at least €1,000 lodged into a new savings account in their name. The child savings scheme, called the Acorn Savings Account (ASA), will come into effect if Taoiseach Simon Harris and his Fine Gael party return to government after the election on November 29. As part of the scheme, the party would establish a managed savings account for every Irish citizen born in the State over the next government’s term, starting with an initial contribution of €1,000. Children from a disadvantaged background would receive €1,500 in their ASA. The State would automatically establish the new bank accounts in the names of the children.   Meanwhile, an internal audit requested by the Health Minister has supported Children’s Health Ireland’s (CHI) use of a €19m fund intended for paediatric spinal services, despite his concerns that the money was not spent as the Government intended. Stephen Donnelly allocated the funding to CHI in return for a commitment that no child would be waiting longer than four months for scoliosis surgery. Mr Donnelly said in July that CHI had spent the €19.2m fund “far more broadly” and not as the Government had intended. However, sources say auditors are standing over the CHI’s use of the €19.2m in an unpublished report given to the minister on October 29.   Aer Lingus is restructuring its ground operations departments at Dublin Airport and asking staff to take unpaid leave in the new year. The plan, which will be implemented in January, “will mean changes in most areas”, including its check-in, boarding, arrivals and baggage-tracing departments, according to an airline document by the Sunday Independent. The document does not refer to job cuts, but unpaid leave was currently being offered to the airline’s workers at Dublin Airport between January and March due to what a source described as “a temporary surplus of ground-handling staff during that period”.   In brief ●      Shortage of qualified workers across trades putting pressure on construction contractors ●      Vantage Towers to give cash upfront in return for long-term leases on sites ●      Dublin’s Infinity Building on market for circa €10m less than its sale price pre-pandemic

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Fianna Fail has accused Fine Gael of using private polling to “cynically” attack its coalition partner and adopting a Sinn Fein-like approach of “promising everything to everyone”. As Fine Gael will today unveil plans to increase the threshold for the higher rate of income tax to €54,000 over the next five years, Fianna Fail has launched a savage attack on Simon Harris’s party, arguing it has abandoned fiscal prudence with its tax and spending pledges in the election campaign. DCC shareholders are in line for a ­£3bn payout over the next two years as private equity buyers queue up to buy its healthcare and technology businesses following the conglomerate’s strategic refocus on energy. Market analysts have estimated the value of the non-core businesses at £3.1bn (€3.7bn) and are assuming that all of it will be returned to investors via share buybacks or special dividends minus fees. Goodbody told clients last week that DCC would still have the capacity to progress its dividend and fund “significant” mergers and acquisitions without retaining the proceeds. A woman who left Dublin to care for her dying mother in Russian-occupied Crimea is being held in jail accused of treason over the purchase of a crypto asset to help Ukraine. Lyudmila “Lucy” Kolesnilova, 35, vanished in June after leaving Ireland. Friends later found that the Russian security services were holding her in Sevastopol. Kolesnilova moved to Dublin in 2022 following the full invasion of Ukraine. She took English classes at Dublin City University and worked as a beautician. She has Russian and Ukrainian citizenship. A network of friends in Ireland and Russia is supporting her, sending clothes and toiletries. They have asked the Irish government to intervene because of Kolesnilova’s status as a refugee. In brief ● Forecourts are fighting to be king of ‘dashboard dining’ as Wendy’s enters fray ● Nigeria is a safe country, says ambassador amid rise in asylum claims ● One year on from the Dublin riots, the event still looms in the city’s memory

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Two of Elon Musk’s private com­pan­ies are set to secure mult­i­bil­lion-dol­lar jumps in valu­ation as investors race to back his sprawl­ing busi­ness interests. SpaceX, the largest private com­pany in the US, is pre­par­ing to launch a tender offer in Decem­ber to sell exist­ing shares at about $135 each. That would value the rocket builder at more than $250bn, up from about $210bn after a sim­ilar deal this year. Mean­while, Musk’s arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence start-up xAI has raised $5bn at a valu­ation of $45bn, almost double its valu­ation a few months ago. The Euro­zone eco­nomy is set to fall fur­ther behind the US, the European Com­mis­sion said on Friday, as it down­graded its 2025 growth fore­cast for the region to 1.3%. The down­grade com­pares with the com­mis­sion’s pre­vi­ous 2025 growth fore­cast in May of 1.4% and high­lights mount­ing gloom over the region’s pro­spects. Brus­sels’ estim­ates remain more optim­istic than those of the private sec­tor. Fore­casts aggreg­ated by Con­sensus Eco­nom­ics pre­dict the Euro­zone eco­nomy will expand 1.1% next year — sig­ni­fic­antly less than the 2% they expect for the US. Investors dumped shares in vac­cine makers and phar­ma­ceut­ical groups on Friday, as con­cerns grew over Don­ald Trump’s nom­in­a­tion of vac­cine scep­tic Robert F Kennedy Jr as the top US health offi­cial. US-lis­ted vac­cine makers were down in morn­ing trade, extend­ing the pre­vi­ous day’s losses. Mod­erna slid 8%, fol­low­ing a fall of more than 5% on Thursday. Pfizer shed 4.6% while Ver­tex Phar­ma­ceut­ic­als dropped 5%. In Europe GSK and San­ofi, the world’s two biggest vac­cine makers by sales, fell 4.1% and 3.5% respect­ively. The broader phar­ma­ceut­ical sec­tor was also hit, with a bas­ket of European health­care stocks down more than 2.9%. In brief ● Nin­tendo and Sony face ‘grim’ hol­i­day sea­son with old con­soles and no big releases ● Nis­san to warn ministers that jobs are at risk over UK elec­tric-car fines ● Cor­por­ate bor­row­ers tapping US bond mar­ket, capitalising on con­di­tions post-Trump win

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WSJ reports that the activist Elliott Investment Management has built a sizable stake in Starbucks and has been pushing the coffee giant privately on ways to boost its stock price. The exact size of Elliott’s previously undisclosed position couldn’t be determined. Elliott’s other demands, including whether it is seeking board seats, WSJ reports that stocks fell Friday, following a solid retail-sales report that could bolster the case that the economy is strong and may not need support in the form of lower borrowing costs. The week marked a sharp reversal from the red-hot performance at the start of the month –– stocks rose to new highs after Donald Trump won the presidential election and the Federal Reserve cut rates by a quarter point. The latest moves highlighted investor uncertainty about whether the Fed is in a position to continue cutting rates as much as markets have come to expect. In part because the economy continues to hold up well. Meanwhile, T-Mobile’s network was among the systems hacked in a damaging Chinese cyber-espionage operation that successfully gained entry into multiple US and international telecommunications companies. Hackers linked to a Chinese intelligence agency were able to breach T-Mobile as part of a months-long campaign to spy on the mobile phone communications of high-value intelligence targets. It is unclear what information was taken about T-Mobile customers’ calls and communications records. Elon Musk escalated his legal feud with OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming the companies colluded to eliminate competition in an attempt to dominate the development of artificial intelligence. Musk also accused CEO Sam Altman of “rampant self-dealing” between OpenAI and other companies in which Altman is involved and of pushing OpenAI into “a de facto merger” with Microsoft. The new complaint is the latest in a series of legal salvos that Musk has launched against OpenAI. An earlier complaint alleges that OpenAI and Altman broke the artificial intelligence company’s founding agreement by prioritising profit over benefits to humanity. In brief ● GM cuts 1,000 jobs in latest effort to reduce expenses amid EV push ● Alibaba’s revenue missed expectations amid weaker China economy and competition ● Prolific Japanese activist investor targeting Nissan Motor, setting up a corporate standoff

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