Business

Some £596m (€745m) has been invested in UK and Irish tech companies in the first half of this year, the highest amount in more than a decade, according to new figures from London-based corporate finance advisory company, Ascendant. In the second quarter of 2012, £297m (€372m) was put into 60 UK and Irish companies by 102 investors. This compares to an investment of £234m (€293m) in Q2 2011 invested in 48 companies by 70 investors in the second quarter of 2011. “When added to our figures for Q1 that makes £596m invested in 124 companies in the first half of 2012,” saidStuart McKnight, managing director of Ascendant. “It is worth…

Organisers of the Jobs Expo 2012 event, which was held earlier this year, have said it will return to Dublin this September due to popular demand. This time the event, which will be free of charge, will be held in the Hogan Suite of Croke Park, and will take place on Friday, 28 and Saturday, 29 September from 11am to 5pm. Advice and career opportunities will be available from companies located both in Ireland and abroad such as the British Columbia Construction Association whose members are looking to fill positions in the Canadian province for carpenters, welders, iron workers, plumbers, pipelayers, mechanics, crane operators and sheet metal workers. The exhibition…

Paddy Power has reported a 21pc increase in pre-tax profits to €68.7m for the first half of the year, despite what it said were some adverse sports results since its May trading update.

United Drug has this morning announced two US acquisitions for a total consideration of up US$40m. The Irish-headquartered healthcare services provider has reached agreement to by Drug Safety Alliance, which provides safety and risk management services relating to the detection, assessment, analysis and reporting of adverse drug reactions, for up to US$28m. Of this, US$21m will paid on completion, while up to US$7m will be paid after three years based on reaching agreed profit targets. DSA is based in North Carolina and employs 94 people. United Drug said DSA is complementary to its US medical information business, Alliance, and will allow it to offer clients an integrated call centre and…

Ardagh Group has announced that it has received US regulatory approval and completed the acquisition of the US-based Anchor Glass Container Corporation from private investment funds managed by Wayzata Investment Partners LLC. The transaction involved a total cash consideration of US$880m (€721m). Anchor, which is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, is a technologically advanced manufacturer of glass containers serving the North American food and beverage industries. It is the third largest glass container manufacturer in the US, producing approximately 5.6 billion containers annually from its eight facilities and employing approximately 2,700 people. Anchor has annual revenues of around US$800m (€656m). Ardagh Group is a global leader in rigid packaging, producing metal…

As part of its 2011 global restructuring plan, Boston Scientific is cutting 50 jobs from its Galway operations. The medical device company employs 2,500 at the Galway facility, which is the largest of its three sites Ireland. In a statement Boston Scientific said that the cuts were made to align its workforce and operations with the company’s global initiative to operate more cost effectively. “Boston Scientific will offer affected Galway employees a comprehensive support programme. Boston Scientific remains committed to supporting its employees through this transition,” it added. Last year the company announced it was seeking to cut up 1,400 jobs worldwide in a restructuring programme aimed at saving between…

Ryanair has announced five new routes from Cork to Gdansk, Krakow, Warsaw, Wroclaw and Vilnius, which will operate from November 2012. The airline said its winter 2012 schedule from Cork Airport now increases to two based aircraft and 10 routes, which will deliver over 850,000 passengers each year. It said that this would sustain over 800 on-site jobs at the airport, based on ASI figures estimating that 1 million passengers maintain 1,000 jobs. Flights for the five new routes go on sale on Ryanair’s website from tomorrow and the airline said it is offering special prices until midnight on Monday (6 August). Grainne Rothery

Tax revenues for the first seven months of the year were €20,313m, €500m (2.5pc) ahead of target, according to the latest Exchequer return figures. At the end of July taxes were €1.68bn (9pc) ahead of the same period last year. Adjusting for the impact of delayed corporation tax receipts from December 2011 and a reclassification of PRSI to income tax this year, taxes grew by around 6.5pc in the year to end-July. Income tax was €159m (2.0pc) ahead cumulatively and is over 11pc up on the same period last year on an adjusted basis. VAT receipts in the month of July were €58m (4.3pc) ahead of target and €87m (1.3pc)…

Finance staff continued to be in demand among both Irish organisations and multinationals in the second quarter, according to the latest update from recruitment firm Robert Walters. Most hires were on a contract basis, but there was a general increase in demand for permanent financial analysts and finance business partners at the two to four PQE level. There was a strong demand for supply chain and procurement professionals with specialist multinational project management and systems expertise, particularly in the life sciences sector, as well as in larger food and beverages organisations. The update shows that sales and marketing recruitment activity remained buoyant throughout quarter two, both in the financial services…