Business

Shannon Airport has announced that Quintessentially Aviation, the aviation wing of the luxury lifestyle group Quintessentially, is to develop its first Irish VIP lounge at Shannon Airport. Contracts for the investment were signed last week at the second annual ‘Irish Business Aviation Convention’ hosted jointly by Shannon Airport and Shannon Development at Dromoland Castle Hotel. Quintessentially will use the service as its flagship for corporate jet traffic operated from Al Bateen Airport in Abu Dhabi, which is the Middle East region’s only dedicated private jet airport. The investment by Quintessentially Aviation will result in Shannon Airport being heavily marketed for its US pre-clearance facility into this area of the Middle East, which will…

Enterprise cloud computing company Salesforce.com is hiring an additional 100 staff in Dublin to meet the demands of continued growth in Ireland. Salesforce.com first established operations in Dublin in 2000 and IDA Ireland has been working with it since on its developments in Ireland. It currently employs over 400 people here. The company is immediately looking to take on qualified professionals in sales, marketing, IT and customer support functions. “Salesforce.com is driving a massive transformation in the technology industry, showing companies the power of social and mobile cloud computing. Ireland has played a key role in our success and we are delighted to be able to expand our reach in…

Cyprus has applied for a bailout following its exposure to the Greek economy, the country’s government announced in a statement this evening. It is the fourth eurozone country to seek financial assistance from its European partners. “The purpose of the required assistance is to contain the risks to the Cypriot economy, notably those arising from the negative spill over effects through its financial sector, due to its large exposure in the Greek economy,” said the statement. Earlier today ratings firm Fitch downgraded Cyprus’s sovereign credit rating to junk territory. Fitch said the move was “principally due to Greek corporate and households exposures of the largest three banks – Bank of…

Discount retailer Dealz has opened its 13th store, in Shannon, Co Clare, creating 30 new jobs. Located, at unit 40A, Skycourt Shopping Centre, Shannon, with a retail space of 6,900 sq ft, Dealz Shannon is the newest edition to the Dealz portfolio. The new store brings the total number of jobs created in Ireland to date to over 390. An integrated part of Poundland, Europe’s biggest single price discount retailer, Dealz has additional stores across the Republic of Ireland including Blanchardstown, Portlaoise, Letterkenny, Killarney, Newbridge, Limerick, Cork, Athlone, Santry, Mullingar, Gorey and Drogheda, which are overseen by Cork native Leonard Brassel, Dealz senior business manager in Ireland. Commenting at the new…

Subscribe-and-drive service GoCar has today announced the opening of new GoBases in Drury Street car park and Schoolhouse Lane car park in Dublin 2 and Kent Station in Cork City, with a further five Dublin GoBases opening over the coming weeks. This expansion follows significant investment by the owners in the scheme last month. The additional new locations, which have been supported by local businesses, include Northwood Santry and Mark Street (off Pearse Street) along with Iveagh Court in conjunction with Mc Garrell Reilly; and Ballymun, with the support of Ballymun Regeneration Ltd. GoCar is also expanding its existing Smithfield, Ranelagh and South Lotts Road GoBases in the city. The…

Davy has been voted Ireland’s No 1 brokerage in the Thomson Reuters Extel Pan-European Survey 2012. The survey is considered the leading benchmark for excellence in investment banking and is the largest professional investment opinion assessment in the world. The firm also took the No 1 slot in the key category of Ireland Equity Sales. Tim Cahill (Construction & Building Materials) and Stephen Furlong (Transport) had impressive individual performances at a Pan-European level achieving top-10 analyst rankings in their respective sectors. The 2012 Thomson Reuters Extel Survey ran from 19 March to 4 May 2012. It reflects the contribution of over 2,100 buy-side firms, 2,500 analysts from 270 brokerage firms/research…

Well-known TV personality Martin Lewis is set to become £87million richer today in a deal to sell his website, MoneySavingExpert, to a rival. The website, which was set up for £100 nine years ago as little more than a ‘homepage’, is to be sold to MoneySupermarket . Under the deal, Lewis will receive receive £60m upfront in cash and shares plus a further £27million if targets are met under the deal. He has also pledged to give £10m to charity. A hugely popular site, in the year until 31 October, it had 39 million unique visitors and generated revenues of £15.7m in the same period. Under the takeover deal, Mr Lewis…

IDG Connect has announced that the company is establishing a new base for operational support in Dublin, creating about 125 jobs. Located on Great Strand Street, Dublin 1, IDG Direct will play a pivotal role in helping IDG Connect understand global buying behaviour. The group, headed by general manager John Moran, has recently recruited 60 positions and the organisation is looking to grow to around 125 positions by the end of 2013. The roles will be across data analysis, campaign management and telephone research. “A key part of the Government’s plan for jobs and growth is ensuring that we deepen and develop the impact of multinational companies here,” said Minister…

Davy has acquired Bloxham’s asset management business which manages assets exceeding €700m in value. The deal, together with the acquisition of Bloxham’s private client business, announced last March, adds approximately €1.2bn to the value of assets under management by Davy. In Ireland Bloxham’s funds are distributed by both Irish Life and New Ireland and these relationships, together with Bloxham’s asset management team, led by Pramit Ghose, will now transition across to Davy. “Davy is pleased to acquire two profitable and established businesses from Bloxham,” said Tony Garry, chief executive of Davy. “The transition to Davy is a very positive development for Bloxham’s asset management clients who will continue to be…