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AIB offers to buy small shareholdings for €100 that were once worth €120,000

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AIB's logo on its headquarters building at 10 Molesworth Street in Dublin. Photograph: Conor Ó Mearáin / Collins Photos

Ciarán Hancock's face
Ciarán Hancock
Fri Apr 5 2024 - 06:17

AIB is planning an offer to buy out thousands of legacy shareholders with small holdings whose stakes were catastrophically diluted by the bank’s crisis-era bailout. Some shareholders would receive cheques for €100 for holdings that would have been worth close to €120,000 at their peak in 2007. Joe Brennan has the details.

The era of over-performing exchequer returns is over, according to Minister for Finance Michael McGrath. Corporation tax receipts were down by €805 million in the first quarter when compared with the same period of 2023. Eoin Burke Kennedy reports.

Eoin also reports on a warning from Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe to Government departments to manage their spending and “to remain within profile” after the first quarter exchequer returns pointed to a significant build-up in budgetary pressures.

After some tough years around the pandemic, retail is making a comeback on Grafton Street with the number of vacant units down sharply, writes Colm Keena in our Agenda feature.

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Our Interview of the Week is Barry Napier, chief executive of connected technology group Cubic Telecom. He tells Ciaran Hancock how a financial windfall from the sale of a majority stake to Japanese investment giant SoftBank hasn’t changed him, and why he won’t be setting up a family office to manage his newfound wealth. He also discusses partnering with Elon Musk in China, and how he plans to drive the business on to even greater heights in the coming years.

In his weekly column, economist John FitzGerald reflects on the weak state of competition in the Irish banking market and how it is costing consumers.

The Irish McGettigan hospitality group has put its five-star Dubai hotel up for sale with a price tag of €60 million. Barry J Whyte has the details.

The developers of a proposed wind farm off the coast of Wicklow have reduced the maximum number of turbines needed for the project to 75. The figure was originally 440. Laura Slattery reports on the latest iteration of their plan.

In Smart Money, Cliff Taylor looks at how the return of the bridging loan could benefit downsizers and help free up the second-hand housing market.

In our work feature, Olive Keogh explains why entrepreneurs often overlook early warning signs of failure as they cling to common myths about starting a business.

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