. . . and some little things

The retail trade has been whining for years about the foul timing of the Budget, coming as it does just before the Christmas shopping splurge.

They might now get their wish for a change.

In his speech to the Dáil on Wednesday, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said changes to the budgetary processes for all euro zone member states might make this the “last December budget in this country”.

Under the new regime a detailed budget will be required by October of each year.

“We might be better doing the whole budget in October rather than have a detailed draft budget out that you’d have to fight every inch of the way for until December 5th,” Minister for Finance Michael Noonan quipped at the press conference on Wednesday night.

Intersnack'spending acquisition of KP Snacks from United Biscuits in Britain means Hula Hoops and Tayto crisps will effectively become first cousins.

Germany’s Intersnack owns 40 per cent of Ray Coyle’s Largo Foods, whose range includes Tayto, King and Hunky Dory crisps.

“They don’t have popcorn or hand-cooked potato chips so I see this as a positive for us,” said Mr Coyle. “They have a very big distribution network in the UK and we could access their distribution with these products.”

Largo is planning a January launch for a new product called Popcorners, which is like a triangular crisp with popcorn in it. “It’s big in the US and we think it’ll do well here,” said Mr Coyle.

PR agencyCorporate Reputations has recruited Niall Quinn from Gibney Communications as its deputy managing director.

Quinn has spent 10 years with Gibney and will head up the corporate division at Corporate Reputations when he joins in February.

Quinn last night also became the president of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland, taking over from Barry Kenny, the face and voice of CIÉ.

IBI CorporateFinance chief executive Tom Godfrey might be needing a new shelf in his office as it has won the Mergermarket gong for corporate dealmaking for the eighth year in a row.

IBI has once again topped the Irish rankings in the annual review of international mergers and acquisitions by Mergermarket.

Among others, IBI was involved in Glanbia’s recent corporate restructuring, the sale of retailer Clerys and Celtic Media’s acquisition by its management team.