Business

Pharmaceutical multinational MSD is closing its manufacturing facility in Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, by the end of 2015, affecting 280 jobs on the site. The move is part of MSD’s ongoing review of its worldwide manufacturing capabilities that has resulted in sites being sold, closed or consolidated in all regions all over the world. The plant in Rathdrum makes ingredients for respiratory care, infectious disease and cardiovascular medicines. Manufacturing activities will start to be phased out in 2014 but no staff reductions are expected until the end of 2014, according to MSD. It plans to relocate products manufactured in Rathdrum to its sites in Ballydine , Co Tipperary and Singapore, as well as…

A €100m pharmaceutical R&D; centre at MSD in Ballydine, Co Tipperary was officially opened by Taoiseach Enda Kenny this morning. Construction on the facility on the existing Ballydine site began in September 2007 and 70 new, high-calibre roles have been created since then. MSD, which employs 2,300 people at eight operations throughout Ireland, said another 50 jobs could be created as further innovative medicines are developed at the centre. Six new medicines are currently in development at MSD Ballydine , including new candidate medicines for the combined treatment of high cholesterol and type II diabetes, and for the treatment of hepatitis C. An additional €6 million investment is already in the planning phase…

TNS Distribution has announced its expansion into the Asia Pacific region by opening offices in Sydney and Singapore. Based in Dublin, TNS Distribution has global operations with bases in the UK, Germany, France, Singapore, Sweden, Australia, Spain, and China. It is a trade-only distributor of consumer electronics and accessories for Apple products. The company has also started to offer services using PCH International entities in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Japan. PCH International acquired TNS Distribution in June 2011. “We have developed a highly successful and sophisticated business model in Europe which we can now offer to our global retail partners for the Asia Pacific region,” said John McHugh, co-founder of TNS Distribution . Ivan Eustace, the co-founder…

500 vacancies on offer at CCMA Ireland call centre jobs fair Amazon, BSkyB, PayPal and EA Games are among the companies that will be taking part in the CCMA Ireland Contact & Shared Services Centre Jobs Fair later this month, at which more than 500 vacancies will be on offer. The event will take place in the Burlington Hotel in Dublin from 10am to 7pm on 26 February. Companies with vacancies that will be participating include: Amazon (Cork), Arise (Limerick), BSkyB (Dublin), CarTrawler (Dublin) , Chill Insurance (Dublin), EA Games (Galway), eBay (Dublin), Eishtec (Waterford and Wexford), Marriott International Global Reservations & Customer Care (Cork), PayPal (Dublin and Dundalk), ServiceSource (Dublin), TrendMicro (Cork),…

Overall trust in government in Ireland has risen 15 points to 35pc over the last year, while trust in banks has risen by three points to 9pc, according to the Irish findings of the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer. The survey of trust in institutions across 25 countries and 30,000 people reveals that globally, trust in government now stands at 43pc, down 9pcc. This is the largest global fall in government in 12 years. Overall levels of trust in Ireland improved very marginally over the past 12 months, rising two points to 41pc. While Ireland was previously the least trusting country globally, trust is now lower in Germany, Spain, Japan and…

Over the past 18 months AirSpeed Telecom has achieved 40pc revenue growth and taken on 12 new staff, according to CEO Liam O’Kelly, who was the winner of the RSM Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the European Business Awards last May. A broadcast engineer by profession, O’Kelly had originally set up a company called Viscom, which built TV stations and broadcast facilities globally. By 2002, new radio technologies were emerging and he could see that these had the real potential to offer an alternative telecommunications system to businesses all over Ireland, including in remote regions such as Donegal, Kerry and along the west coast of Ireland. “The existing operators…

Dublin-headquartered Salmon Software has won a contract to install its Salmon Treasurer treasury management system (TMS) at global charity Plan International. The system was selected after an international tender as Plan seeks to streamline its global treasury management and reporting across 50 countries. Plan International, which works to promote child rights and lift children out of poverty across Africa, Asia and the Americas, had been using spreadsheets to manage its cash, foreign exchange and branch funding. “We asked for expressions of interest from 19 companies,” said Annemarie Moore, group treasurer, Plan International Inc. “Following detailed questionnaires and demonstrations from five shortlisted companies we selected Salmon Software . Our selection team was made up of…

Open access network operator Enet is building ‘Ireland’s first fibre-enabled town’ in Claremorris, Co Mayo, involving a €500,000 investment in broadband infrastructure. Being launched at 3pm today, Enet Fibredirect brings fibre directly into every business in the town with services delivered over the network via AirSpeed Telecom . Supported by Claremorris Chamber of Commerce and Mayo County Council, is a genuine 100pc fibre service, with fibre optic cables being delivered directly into premises. Other so-called ‘fibre’ services connect to a local telecoms exchange or cabinet, but still rely on older copper networks to reach premises, resulting in a significant loss of performance, according to Enet. Construction of the new Enet Fibredirect network…

The National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) in Dublin is currently evaluating 70 Irish and international applications to participate in its Launchpad accelerator programme for digital start-up enterprises. The 15 most promising start-ups will be selected for the investment programme, which starts in mid-February and concludes with a year-end competition for a follow-on investment sourced from VCs and angels. NDRC will provide up to €20,000 per project in micro-seed investment to support the founders during the programme. After the current selection process, NDRC Launchpad participants will begin a three-month intensive mentoring and advisory programme, alongside other start-ups, innovators, engineers and investors.  At the end of this, the start-up promoters will pitch for follow-on…

The L’Oréal Group claims to have opened the most prominent hair color production plant in the world in terms of production capacity, in Mexico, with a $100m investment. The new factory will double the production capacity in Mexico and supply both Latin America and North America. Focusing entirely on hair color products, the 32,000 sq m facility is located in the Logistik II Industrial Park in Villa de Reyes, State of San Luis Potosí. L’Oréal’s other production plant is located in Mexico City. “The L’Oréal Group has decided to open its new production plant in Mexico since this is one of the most strategic countries for the group, a key crossroad between…