Archive for August 2020

The head of the Irish Strategic Investment (ISIF) Eugene O’Callaghan plans to step down from his role at the end of 2020. ISIF falls under the management of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), which will begin a recruitment process next month to appoint a new ISIF director. ISIF was created in December 2014 from…

German coalition parties have agreed to extend measures to cushion the effects of the coronavirus crisis on Europe’s biggest economy at a cost of up to €10 billion. The measures include prolonging a short-time work scheme and freezing insolvency rules.  The German economy contracted at its steepest rate on record in the second quarter. The…

Up to €20,000 in emergency funding will be made available for small businesses affected by flooding caused by Storm Ellen in Cork this week. The funding will also be available to help community and sporting groups get back on their feet, as part of an extension to the Humanitarian Support Scheme. “It’s been a really…

There are many funding programmes for entrepreneurs opening throughout the year, and as the country re-opens there are more grants being offered to help support SMEs during the Covid period.  Below are a selection of some the current funds and supports open for applications.  Acorns: the accelerator focused on supporting early stage female entrepreneurs living in…

About one in ten property sales was renegotiated due to Covid-19 with an average price reduction of 3%, a survey of over 260 estate agents carried out by the Society of Chartered Surveyors of Ireland shows. About two thirds of practitioners said property values had remained unchanged compared to the situation before the pandemic and the…

Enterprise Ireland has re-opened a grant scheme that pays up to €40,000 to Irish-owned retail businesses to develop their online sales channels, especially for export markets. Yesterday the agency launched a €5.5m programme that is expected to attract bids from hundreds of firms. Grants can cover 80pc of an investment in improved online sales channels.…

Enterprise technology giant Oracle’s main Irish arm bounced back from a near €500 million loss last year as it acquired $11.4 billion in intellectual property rights from another group company by way of a promissory note. Oracle EMEA Limited, which employs more than 1,400 people in Ireland, recorded a €504 million pretax profits for the year ending…

Nearly 29,000 Irish nationals returned home to live and work in the year to the end of April, the highest number for 13 years. Figures published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show the overall population rose by 1.1 per cent, or 55,900 people, year-on-year to 4.98 million. An increase of 1.3 per cent, or 64,500 individuals…

While Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on the global economy with a long recovery to follow, certain sectors have benefitted from its effects. Not just retail giants such as Amazon but small and scrappy Irish start-ups have experienced growth and even secured funding in these tumultuous times. Lasting memories of lockdown will be grocery-related: queuing for…

Offr, a property tech startup co-founded by former Savills and Allsop / BidX1 auctioneer Robert Hoban, has raised €3m in funding from Barclays Bank and a group of angel investors and venture capital firms. Offr is the first Irish company to receive a follow-on investment from Barclays through its London accelerator programme. The bank and…