400 new jobs in testing and software; bleak horizon for hotels; and Cork firm goes for China

Diligent, a US software business that helps top companies manage governance-related issues, is to create 200 jobs at a new European hub in Galway, its first investment in Ireland, writes Charlie Taylor.

Also creating jobs is RocDoc, a private testing business that is seeking to hire 200 people as it rolls out three new Covid testing centres around the State. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.

In breaking news, Ryanair this morning reported it lost €197 million in the six months ended September 30th as the Covid-19 pandemic hit air travel.

Cork supplements business Solvotrin Therapeutics has raised ¤6.7 million in funding that values the business at €45 million as it looks to expand in China and the United States.

Policy failed us during the banking crisis and it’s failing us again

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Retailers seek rent-free ‘Covid clauses’ from landlords

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Trinity College’s Geraldine Ruane named CEO of the RDS

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Missing Wirecard executive could be Austrian spy, prosecutors say

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Doyle Collection, the parent of Dublin's Westbury Hotel, says it could be two more years before it sees a "substantive recovery" in its business. Chief executive Pat King was talking to Ciarán Hancock.

Separately, a new study shows that prices in Dublin hotels and holiday accommodation have fallen by 25 per cent as a result of the pandemic which has obliterated tourism and convention business. That is worse than the EU average of 17.8 per cent, writes Eoin Burke-Kennedy, but just half as bad as Amsterdam. Marrakech in Morocco might be worth a look for industry players: it actually saw holiday accommodation prices rise by 15.5 per cent.

Manufacturing companies reported a slowdown in new orders in October as fresh Covid-19 restrictions in Ireland and abroad began to bite, according to the latest activity report on the sector.

Activity in Ireland's commercial property market has been severely hit by Covid-19 and the threat of a no-deal Brexit, according to CBRE, with the office and retail markets particularly fragile.

Big Four accountant EY has delivered a 9 per cent rise in revenues for the year to end-June across Ireland despite the impact of Covid. The firm credits its quick pivot to virtual operations helped.

In her column, Pilita Clark assesses a world in which whoever wins the US presidential election will be the oldest ever to be sworn into the White House and finds an awful lot of elderly folk still very active in their respective fields.

Meanwhile, Chris Johns sees no upside in a Trump re-election and notes that, for different reasons, analysts at both ends of the US political spectrum agree with him.

Finally, Stefan Wagstyl examines why people who are so successful at building up businesses are so reluctant to let the next generation take control. As Covid triggers a rethink, he says they ought to have more faith in the young, especially their own young.

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