Double whammy on jobs; pharma’s €130m tax deal; and energy saving tips this winter

Not much cheer this morning as the world’s largest listed food company Nestlé announced it was pulling the shutters down on its Irish infant formula business with the closure of a plant in Askeaton, Co Limerick that will see the loss of 542 jobs and knock-on effects throughout the community.

And pharma giant Pfizer is also weighing up cutbacks in staff numbers as it sees where it can trim €3.3 billion annually in costs from its operations globally as a result of sharply falling demand for Covid vaccines and antiviral medicines. Given the importance of Ireland in its Covid product line manufacture, any cuts seem very likely to impact ins 5,000-strong workforce here.

Another pharma having a bad day was Japanese group Takeda which has agreed to pay €130 million to settle a tax bill with Revenue that it inherited when it acquired Irish-headquartered Shire in 2019. It could have been worse though, as the original tax demand was for €398 million. Peter Flanagan has the details

Even on the pay front, despite a general view that the gender pay gap is closing, data from the CSO says that men earned close to 10 per cent more that women, on average, across the economy last year. Eoin Burke-Kennedy looks at the numbers.

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Eoin was also tuned in as the ESRI upbraided the Government for its ongoing penchant for one-off budget measures for households, saying falling inflation and rising wages mean they are no longer necessary. The think tank’s Karina Dooley told an Oireachtas committee that benchmarking social welfare payments instead would provide more certainty to those dependent on them.

Meanwhile, Joe Brennan writes that the Irish Stock Exchange has paid almost €65 million in dividends to its parent, Euronext, since its takeover in 2018 – over 40 per cent of the price it paid five Irish stockbroking firms for the business.

Ciara O’Brien has some tips for people looking to keep a tighter rein on their energy bills, though all her tech friendly gadgets will carry some upfront costs.

In her column, Karlin argues that, regardless of its outcome, the ongoing antitrust case against Google taken by the US justice department over its alleged abuse of its search dominance will influence the future of technology, and thus society, in ways we cannot yet imagine.

Chris Horn looks at Nikola Tesla’s conviction about the potential for wireless transmission of electricity, which would end the need for unsightly and expensive grid infrastructure like electric pylons and towers and the cables strung between them or expensively buried underground. Some companies are playing with the concept but it could be some time yet before we know whether it is really possible.

Finally, in Cantillon, we wonder whether Ireland’s abrupt departure from the Rugby World Cup could have an adverse impact on consumer sentiment.

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