In Short

A round-up of other business news in brief

Irish Nationwide agm set to be held in May

Irish Nationwide is expected to announce shortly that its annual general meeting will be held at the Croke Park conference centre in Dublin on May 5th.

The building society has yet to release its annual results for 2008 but the figures are expected to be signed off by Irish Nationwide’s auditors KPMG shortly.

Revenues up 11.8% at Henderson

Henderson Group, owners of the Spar, EuroSpar, Vivo and VivoXtra retail brands, said that revenues grew by 11.8 per cent in 2008 compared to 2007, while operating profit was up 10.7 per cent.

The company attributed the growth in profit to “continued investment and cost-efficiency measures being put into place”.

Henderson redeveloped 60 stores and added 28 new stores into the group last year, which saw employment grow by 312 to over 2,300. The group plans to invest £14 million (€15.4 million) this year on expansion.

Computer Associates move

Computer Associates (CA) has confirmed that its Irish operations have moved to smaller serviced offices “as part of an ongoing review of CA’s office real-estate worldwide”.

The US software company did not say if there had been any job losses as part of the move but said it “remains fully committed to the Irish market”.

Plc profit warnings at eight-year high

British plcs issued 117 profit warnings in the first quarter of this year, the highest first quarter figure since 2001 according to new research from Ernst Young.

The most warnings came from the support services sector (22), followed by media (13), industrial engineering (10), software computer services (10) and general financial (9).

Expansion on the cards for Snap

Snap Printing has completed a €2 million expansion of two of its franchise operations, located in Little Island in Cork, and Clonshaugh Industrial Estate in Dublin. Nine additional jobs have been created.

Stelios eyes London property prices

EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou is to delve into the commercial property market as he looks to take advantage of rock bottom prices. Stelios is looking for property in London to expand easyOffice — a venture that provides temporary working space for small businesses and individuals.

He is also looking to buy buildings for his easyHotel chain, which currently leases its locations. “I am tempted to call the bottom of the property market in London,” he told the Financial Times.

“I don’t own any property in the UK at the moment but now I am looking again at London real estate.

“The numbers have come down for everyone – suddenly you can buy a building in London for £3 million.”