S&P removes Irish semi-States from credit watch

BORD GAÍS, ESB and the Dublin Airport Authority have been removed from credit watch by rating agency Standard & Poor’s.

The semi-States have been moved from “negative-watch” to negative by the ratings agency.

The outlook on Northern Ireland Energy, which is owned by the ESB, was revised to negative following a similar action on ESB, Standard & Poor’s said.

The changes were announced as part of a revision by Standard & Poor’s of its ratings and outlooks on government-related entities in the euro zone.

The Irish bodies were placed on credit watch with negative implications on December 8th.

Standard & Poor’s, as well as other ratings agencies, regularly make changes to the credit rating of corporate structures which are supported by the state following rating actions on sovereigns.

On Friday, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the ratings of nine euro zone countries. No changes were made to Ireland’s rating.

Last July, Moody’s downgraded Ireland’s credit rating to junk status.

Standard & Poor’s said it plans to shortly publish individual research updates on the entities.

Other entities that saw their ratings revised by Standard & Poor’s yesterday included Deutsche Bahn, Aéroports de Paris, GasTerra and Sociétee Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français.