Subscriber OnlyBusiness Today Newsletter

Cyber attack at Irish telecoms firm?

The best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

A British Virgin Islands business has bought swathes of Irish property in recent months

Peter Flanagan's face
Peter Flanagan
Wed May 1 2024 - 06:28

Telecoms company Magnet+ is investigating a possible breach of its systems that may have exposed the private information of staff and customers. Ciara O’Brien reports that the incident, which took place on April 8th, was picked up by the company’s internal IT security systems. Magnet+ said it disconnected all potentially affected servers from the company’s network, stopping the onslaught. Still, the attacked servers contained personal information of staff and customers.

The most exposed Irish-based bank to Russia, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Ireland, reduced loans to clients from that country by close to 80 per cent in the past two years as a result of the war in Ukraine. Joe Brennan has the details.

A company based in the British Virgin Islands has been buying swathes of property around Dublin. But who is behind it and why are they doing it? Colm Keena delves into the story.

New business orders in manufacturing slid to a 16-month low in April, compounding a sector-wide decline, according to the most up-to-date barometer of the sector. Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports that AIB’s latest Purchasing Managers’ Index for the manufacturing sector here pointed to a “sustained reduction in output volumes and incoming new work during April, with both rates of decline accelerating since the previous survey period”.

READ MORE

Eoin also reports the Revenue Commissioners will keep open phone lines for businesses working on warehoused debt repayment plans until Friday, past the May 1st deadline for companies to engage with the tax authority on the matter.

The company which operates the country’s most expensive day school recorded pretax losses of €2.2 million last year. The top annual fees for students attending Nord Anglia International School (NAIS) at Leopardstown in south Dublin now stand at €23,523. Gordon Deegan has read the accounts.

In his column, Martin Wolf outlines where there is still an awful lot to learn about why central banks were caught out so sharply as inflation spiked in the last three years.

Gordon also reports the way is now clear for Guinness brewer and drinks giant Diageo to build its planned €200 million brewery for Newbridge, Co Kildare. The sole objector to the brewery, John Lynch, withdrawing his High Court challenge seeking to quash An Bord Pleanála’s December green light for the project.

Law firm Mason Hayes and Curran has been ordered to retrain its managers on disability policies and pay €5,000 compensation to a dismissed solicitor suffering from long Covid and depression following a ruling that it discriminated against him. Stephen Bourke reports.

The euro zone has rebounded from a shallow recession with the big four economies of Germany, France, Italy and Spain recording stronger-than-expected growth in the first quarter of 2024. After back-to-back quarters of contraction in the second half of 2023, Eurostat figures showed gross domestic product (GDP) across the single currency area rose by 0.3 per cent in January, February and March. Eoin has the details.

Bank of Ireland said it now expects its full-year net interest income to decline by only 3-4 per cent its exit level last year, compared with its previous forecast for a 5-6 per cent drop, as it sees a slower pace of rate cuts from the European Central Bank (ECB). Joe reports.

In commercial property, Ronald Quinlan reports that CRH is putting a landbank it owns with scope for 1,700 homes on the market for about €25.5 million, while the offices occupied by Goodbody Stockbrokers in Ballsbridge in the capital are on the block for €32 million. Meanwhile the well known hardware business in Dublin Weirs is also up for sale.

Stay up to date with all our business news: sign up to our Business Today daily email news digest. If you’d like to read more about the issues that affect your finances try signing up to On the Money, the weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers.