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Renault’s lack of sales from RTÉ sponsorship, Intel and state aid, and why Digicel ‘mainly’ hires culchies

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The Late Late Show Host Ryan Tubridy with Patrick Magee Country Operations Director Renault Group and former RTÉ Commercial Director Geraldine O'Leary. Photograph: Conor McCabe

Former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy with Patrick Magee country operations director with Renault Group, and former RTÉ commercial director Geraldine O'Leary in a publicity shot for the car maker's sponsorship of the TV show. Photograph: Conor McCabe

Ciarán Hancock's face
Ciarán Hancock
Fri Jul 14 2023 - 07:37

The controversy over Ryan Turbidy’s pay has put a spotlight on car maker Renault, a long-time sponsor of RTÉ's Late Late Show. Our Motoring Editor Michael McAleer profiles Renault Ireland and examines whether the French car maker was getting bang for its buck before this storm blew up.

Aryzta’s chairman and interim chief executive Urs Jordi said the Swiss-Irish baked goods group will start to think about returning to paying dividends “from 2025 onwards”, as long as its reaches debt-reduction targets following a tumultuous recent history. Joe Brennan reports.

In a separate and an engaging interview, Urs Jordi tells Joe Brennan why he believes the Irish-created multinational got bogged down in financial engineering instead of customer taste and product innovation.

When a new-generation Intel plant is needed at Leixlip around 2030, if the EU continues to permit state aids in the sector, Ireland won’t be able to compete with the subsidies larger countries could offer, writes columnist John FitzGerald.

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In his Any Other Business column, John Burns relays how Denis O’Brien’s Digicel “mainly” hires culchies. He also looks at Dee Forbes and Munster Rugby, the Garda College lands controversy, Eir CEO’s attack on ComReg, the GAA’s no-cash at the stile policy, and higher education headhunters.

Reductions in prices are not yet being passed on to consumers as inflation falls, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath has said, calling for prices to be cut to relieve pressure on businesses and households. Naomi O’Leary reports.

A group of Trinity College students are set to take off around the Silverstone track next week, in the Formula One-style car they have built from scratch and unveiled yesterday. Ellen O’Regan has the details.

Arboretum, the Doyle-family owned garden centre brand founded in Co Carlow, will commence work on a €4 million expansion of its Kilquade, Co Wicklow outlet in the coming weeks that its co-owner said will “future-proof” the business for years to come, writes Ian Curran.

In our Work feature, Olive Keogh looks at the findings from a new self-help book that explains how work-related anxiety can damage your wellbeing and effectiveness.

London-based accounting firm Moore Kingston Smith has taken a stake in Moore Ireland for an undisclosed sum in a deal funded by Dutch private equity firm Waterland, the latest transaction in a wave of consolidation in the Irish sector. Ian Curran has the details.

In Planet Business, Ellen O’Regan looks at the runaway financial success of Taylor Swift’s world tour, with sales of tickets for her Irish concerts beginning today.

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