Business Today Digest

House building surge, Keating quits and beware of emoji

Get the latest business news and commentary from our expert business team in your inbox every weekday morning

A terminal for processing liquefied natural gas that is under construction in Wilhelmshaven, German. Our Inside Business podcast discusses what the derogation from the EU gas deal means for Ireland. Photograph Patrick Junker/The New York Times

Conn Ó Midheach's face
Conn Ó Midheach
Thu Jul 28 2022 - 06:24

Residential construction activity accelerated in the first half of the year, with 22,390 residential buildings under construction in June 2022, according to figures released in the latest GeoDirectory Residential Buildings Report. Laura Slattery has the details.

Beware the peach and the aubergine emoji, friends, for they are fraught with miscommunication potential, writes Karlin Lillington in her weekly column.

Shoppers are swerving department stores even while they continue on a post-Covid spending binge, employers say. Irish people spent €8.7 billion on their debit cards, including cash-machine withdrawals, in the first six months of this year. Barry O’Halloran reports.

Andrew Keating, the former Bank of Ireland chief financial officer who quit three years ago to join CRH, has left the building materials giant to pursue other opportunities, according to sources. Mr Keating was director of group finance at CRH, reporting to Jim Mintern, a company veteran of two decades, who took over as group finance director a year ago. Joe Brennan reports.

READ MORE

Thrust into stardom as young as five or six years old, can ‘kidfluencers’ understand the world they’re in? Hannah Murphy reports.

Google has just released the Pixel 6a, a more affordable version of its flagship Pixel 6 device. Ciara O’Brien checks it out.

Tech sector veterans John O’Neill and Denise O’Kelly are the brains behind logistics platform HUB360 which uses smart technology to make the distribution of goods more efficient, writes Olive Keogh.

More than a decade after Apple disrupted the music industry and Amazon upended retail, the tech heavyweights have set their sights on a new arena ripe for change: live sports. Emboldened by their deep pockets and eager to boost viewership of their streaming-subscription services, Apple and Amazon have thrust themselves into negotiations for media rights held by the NFL, MLB, Formula One racing and college conferences. Tripp Mickle, Kevin Draper and Benjamin Mullin report.

Stay up to date with all our business news — sign up to our Business Today daily email news digest.