Business

Fortune 500 insurance company Genworth is investing over €15m in a new base in Shannon, which will include the development of a data centre to support its global operations. Genworth’s new international service centre will be located in the Westpark Business Campus following its purchase of the facility from global biopharmaceutical firm UCB. It will occupy 103,000 sq ft of office space and will house world class facilities, providing a flexible working environment for Genworth staff. Founded in Virginia, Genworth established operations in Shannon in 1997 and has nearly 400 people employed at the current site, the largest concentration of Genworth staff outside the US. The current Shannon base is…

Vacancy rates across Dublin city centre now stand below 10pc within the Dublin City Business Improvement District (BID). The BID area stretches from Stephen’s Green on the south side of the city to Parnell St on the north side. This is a reduction from the peak of 15.4pc experienced in February 2011 and is the first time since BID began collecting occupation data in 2009 that the level of vacancy has fallen below 10pc. Meanwhile, Dublin City BID has welcomed the news that Carraig Donn is opening a store in the Jervis Shopping Centre. “The news that Carraig Donn is coming to Mary St is a huge vote of confidence…

Provider of risk management and other services Aon is creating 30 new highly skilled jobs at its centre for innovation and analytics in Dublin, which opened in 2008 and already employs 100 people. The innovation and analytics team in Dublin has designed and developed the world’s largest proprietary platform of insurance placement data. The ability to analyse this data on behalf of clients gives Aon a unique competitive edge globally, according to Constantin Beier, CEO of the Aon Centre for Innovation and Analytics. Employing 600 people in total in Ireland, Aon plans to recruit the 30 new people by March 2014. The new roles will strengthen ACIA’s expertise in the…

The Irish retail sector could create up to 40,000 new jobs by 2020 if it can be put on a sustainable path to recovery, according to Ibec group Retail Ireland, which has published its ‘Strategy for Retail 2014-2016’. Retail sales figures up to now have been disappointing and many retailers continue to struggle, but Retail Ireland is optimistic about Christmas sales. “Consumer sentiment is at a five-year high and there are 58,000 new jobs in the economy,” said Retail Ireland director Stephen Lynam. “This should translate into higher spending this Christmas. Together with the fantastic value available in Irish stores right now, we are hopeful that tills will be ringing…

The number of firms becoming insolvent has fallen by 18pc during 2013, while the number of company and business start-ups is up by 9.4pc in the year to date, according to new data from Vision-net. In November, 130 companies, 58pc of which have a Dublin-registered address, were declared insolvent. Of those, 65 were liquidated, 52 entered receivership, and an examiner was appointed to 13 companies. Vision-net’s figures show that 84 companies held creditors meetings this month – a 26pc fall on November 2012 – with the total amount owed by these companies just under €40m. November has recorded 2,550 company and business start-ups, an average of 102 each day. While…

Irish GDP is set to grow by 1pc this year and by 2.5pc in 2014, according to Davy. The financial advisory company is more optimistic than the majority of other forecasters, including the Department of Finance, which last month revised downwards its projection for growth in 2014 from 2.4pc to 1.8pc. Last week, EY said it expected the Irish economy to contract by 0.2pc this year and to grow by 1.6pc next year. However, Davy said a range of indicators signify that Ireland is set for a robust recovery. The company also predicted a re-rating of Ireland’s credit worthiness by Moody’s as an inevitable and positive milestone for Ireland. Davy…

Aer Lingus has today announced additions to its schedule for summer 2014 with new routes and increased frequencies being added to Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports. New routes from Dublin to Hanover and Pula will start from April, as will the recently announced new services to San Francisco and Toronto. The new service to Hanover will bring to seven the number of German cities served by Aer Lingus. Pula is on the Istrian peninsula of Croatia and is a Unesco world heritage site. Aer Lingus is also introducing a twice weekly service to Malaga from Shannon airport. The airline will also increase frequencies on transatlantic routes from Shannon to New…

AdRoll has announced that it is setting up its European headquarters in Dublin, creating 100 jobs in its first 12 months and what it described as “ambitious plans for further staff growth”. The company, which provides a retargeting platform for advertisers, said its move to Europe is driven by strong annual growth of over 600pc in this market in 2013. The Dublin operation will be responsible for sales, account management, marketing, HR, and finance across a number of languages and countries. The company opened its Irish office in August and has so far taken on 15 people. “We have seen exceptionally strong demand from advertisers across Europe attracted to our…

Four companies introduced to Ireland through ConnectIreland are establishing new operations in Dublin and Cork which will lead to the creation of a total of 83 new jobs. ConnectIreland is the company responsible for delivering the Government’s ‘Succeed in Ireland’ initiative, as part of the Action Plan for Jobs, in association with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and IDA Ireland. The four companies are Sound & Sea Technologies (SST), Improv Asylum, Strategic Marketing Innovations (SMI) and the Bayne Law Group. Washington based SST provides a range of ocean and marine engineering services for the analysis, engineering development, fabrication and installation of undersea systems. In setting up its European…