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First Active to refund its insurance customers
Ulster Bank's First Active unit will in the coming week alert thousands of its mortgage protection insurance customers that they are due a refund after an overcharging error that was detected at the start of 2004. p
Drury's Platinum One scores with Barcelona two-match deal
Fintan Drury's Platinum One conferencing and sports management
agency has signed a deal with FC Barcelona to organise a two-match
pre-season tour of Scotland for the Catalan club in July. p
BWG's €200m loan to expand Spar
The owners of BWG have secured a €200 million loan facility from AIB to fund the expansion of its chain of Spar and Mace convenience stores over the next three to five years. Ciarán Hancock reports. p
Other Stories
Barclays bid for ABN Amro in balance after court ruling
Barclays's hopes of buying ABN Amro in the largest-ever banking deal suffered a serious blow last night when a commercial court in Amsterdam blocked the Dutch lender's $21 billion (€15.5 billion) sale of its US subsidiary to Bank of America. pRyanair shares fall 5% as passenger loads drop
Shares in Ryanair dropped more than 5 per cent yesterday as the low-cost airline surprised the market by warning that yields were under pressure and were likely to stay that way for the first and second quarters of the next financial year. pConsumer code to ban pre-approved credit increases
Regulator tells financial institutions to implement all provisions by July pExporters warned over US risks
Irish exporters with exposure to the air transport, construction and car sectors in the US should exercise greater vigilance against creditor defaults due the increased risk of business failures in that market, a leading credit risk expert has warned. pUBS shuts loss-making hedge fund
UBS's attempts to launch a hedge fund business using its proprietary traders ended in failure yesterday when the Swiss bank announced it would fold Dillon Read Capital Management (DRCM) back into its investment banking arm less than two years after it was set up. pRTÉ losses of €1.88bn may offset licence tax liability
RTÉ had accumulated losses of €1.88 billion at the end of December 2006, according to the company's latest annual report. pCologne Re paid $100m dividend by Irish unit
Warren Buffett's Cologne Re group has received $100 million (€73.53 million) in dividends and capital repayments from its Dublin subsidiary, the firm which played a key part in a big accounting scandal at insurance giant AIG. pHMV Ireland struggling against cut-price competition, online rivals
Music retailer HMV and its wholly-owned book chain Waterstone's are struggling to grow their business in Ireland amid cut-price competition and online retail formats, new filings reveal. pServices growth falls for second month
Growth in services slowed for the second consecutive month in April, the latest figures show. pPension funds boosted by global stocks
Irish pension funds recorded a strong performance in April, with the average managed fund producing a 1.6 per cent return, the highest so far in 2007. pCiti acquires fund administrator for $1.45bn
Citi will become Ireland's fifth largest fund administrator and the country's largest foreign bank employer following the $1.45 billion (€1.07 billion) acquisition of Bisys by its US parent. pIreland's inflation double average rate, says OECD
Ireland's inflation rate of 5.1 per cent is more than double the average rate for leading industrialised countries, according to data released yesterday. pFall in Ryanair bucks positive trend
Market Report: It was a day of extremes in the Irish market yesterday. Most of the members of the Iseq index of Irish shares had a healthy day, buoyed by takeover speculation in the banking sector and the promise of takeover activity in the building materials arena. pIn short
A round-up of today's other stories in brief p
Inflated prices
Domestic services sector inflation is outstripping overall increases and needs to be tackled after the election, writes Paul Tansey pSo Spar, so good
The Friday interview: For a man who owes about €100 million to the bank, BWG chief executive Leo Crawford is remarkably relaxed. Sitting in the Grand Canal Hotel in Ballsbridge, he says it doesn't give him too many sleepless nights. "I don't wake up every day thinking that I owe the bank €100 million," he says with a broad grin. pSuccess stories know no limits
Beltway diary: It is not acceptable for us to say a problem is too big too solve, or a sector is too saturated, or that vast geographical mass and mind-blowing competition are reasons not to engage pAttention to stamp duty out of proportion
Economics: Uncertainty about stamp duty has had little impact on house prices pRinging changes at Claddagh
Supermacs owner considers purchase as part of compromise for $21m the Irish-themed chain owes him, writes Sean O'Driscoll in New York pSunderland score
A £10 million investment turned into a potential £100 million in just 10 months? Any venture capitalist would take those numbers PLATFORM Richard Gillis pPlanet Business
Compiled by Laura Slattery p
Making a good return
Mortgage overpayments are a good deal when the best deposit rates fall short of inflation, writes Laura Slattery pA dream holiday home or a nightmare investment?
Thorough research could mean the difference between owning a glorious villa or a vacant, money-sucking foreign property, writes Laura Slattery pThe rain in Spain
Spain: The original destination for sunshine-lovers fed up with slumming it with the masses in overcrowded holiday complexes, an estimated 50,000 Irish people are thought to have their names on the deeds of a Spanish property. pPrime investment hot spot
Germany Germany is tipped by some pundits to head the list of investment hot spots for Irish investors, a remarkable achievement for a country where property prices have been falling for the best part of two decades pBest investments in cities
France Peter Mayle's account of French rural life in A Year in Provence may have sparked a British love affair with idyllic Provencal retreats but Irish buyers stick firmly to a "bucket and spade" mentality. pFlorida may have weathered storm
The US The US property market as a whole may be ailing but, by cherry-picking the best locations, property speculators can still make healthy returns. pTop 10 tips when buying abroad
• Be clear about what you want from your foray overseas: is it a holiday getaway or an investment wealth-generator? pQuestions & answers
Dominic Coyle answers your questions pSub-prime market beckons
An investors view: A combination of reasonable credit quality and higher profit margins makes the sub-prime mortgage market attractive for providers such as Fire and Start pLarge caps a safe bet
Serious money: Beleaguered pharmaceutical companies and embattled consumer brands like Coca-Cola are turning the corner and offer investors considerable growth opportunities pMargaret E. Ward 'Generation Text' and the skills gap
Cents & nonsense: Businesses have identified a significant deficit among employees and are struggling to remedy it p
Safe keeping
A new book published this week aims to help human rights defenders ensure their digital security, writes Karlin Lillington pThe skills factory
Nortel in Galway is developing global multimedia contact centre technologies pWhitebridge widens its search
Tech-focused corporate financiers Whitebridge Capital is seeking €21 million in venture capital funding for three client companies. However, director Mark Fenelon will not be knocking on the doors of Irish VCs and instead will be focusing his search in Europe and the US. pIrish software company tops poll
An Irish software company has beaten off competition from international competitors to see its flagship product named the top operational risk software by industry bible Operational Risk & Compliance magazine. pBlogspot
Bertie may have surprised the Opposition when he called to the Áras early last Sunday morning to ask for the dissolution of the Dáil, but he also laid down the gauntlet for Ireland's political bloggers, writes John Collins. pPlaying games
Inbox: Now that all the big games consoles have launched, we can afford to sit back for a minute and ask ourselves - which one can cut it now all the hype is over? After all, given the amount spent on developing the hardware and the games, we are going to be saddled with these machines for probably the next three or more years, barring the occasional new upgrade, writes Mike Butcher pSearching for ad revenue
Wired: What does it take to make money on the internet? I wish I knew the answer: in the last month, I've managed to make a grand total of $10 (€7.35) on the internet. On the other hand, other website producers doing the same as me earn as much as $300,000 over the same period, with hardly more resources. They may, I suppose, have something else going for them, writes Danny O'Brien. pSign of the times at Maynooth
Net results: Students' software entry in global contest has creative merit and commercial potential pIn short
A round-up of this week's other stories in brief p
Green benefits pay off
More and more workers think that it is important for their employer to have responsible environmental policies in place, writes Gabrielle Monaghan pUS 'turning up the heat' on cartels
Irish executives involved in cartel activity not only face prosecution in Ireland, but also abroad, warns Claire Kelly of McCann FitzGerald pFilm adaptation
Ireland must work to ensure it remains attractive as a location for film-makers, writes Caroline Madden p
One more thing
Ciaran Hancock on An Post's startling announcment; Tipperary objections; Michael O'Leary and Channel 6 versus Sky pThe sum of its parts
Under the radar/micksgarage.ie: Twins Ciarán and Michael Crean are motoring along nicely after setting up Ireland's only online car accessories and parts supplier p
