Business News

Farmer fury at Greencore malting unit sale
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

GREENCORE shareholders have voted to sell the company's malt business, enraging barley farmers and effectively ending the former state-owned company's manufacturing links with Ireland.

IRISH Stock Exchange boss Deirdre Somers said yesterday that a year-and-a-half-long ban on 'short-selling' of Irish financial stocks should remain in place until the banks are recapitalised.

Brussels is expected to outline its verdict on the restructuring plans of Ireland's two big banks by the end of the month.

Telefonica O2 Ireland has announced that it is extending its range of landline and fixed broadband business services, targeting both SMEs and larger businesses.

BANKS have defended the fact that fewer than 70,000 people have switched current accounts in the past five years.

PEOPLE with money on deposit are being subsidised at the moment and mortgage payers will end up bearing the pain -- unless the Government moves to cap saver rates, a leading broker said yesterday.

A major gap has emerged in relation to Irish authorities' ability to probe the conduct of stockbrokers prior to the introduction of key EU rules in November 2007, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.

ROYAL Bank of Scotland, subject of the world's biggest bank bailout, has the largest pension deficit relative to its market value out of UK finance firms in the FTSE 350 index, according to a report.

AIB, the country's second largest bank by value, has admitted that rural land offered up by its borrowers as collateral has "typically'' come down in value by at least 50pc.