Business Week: Announcements just the job for Coalition

New posts just the job for Coalition Despite troubles in the polls, the Coalition parties may have been somewhat buoyed by a raft of jobs announcements as they head for the final furlong of the general election campaign.

Much of the good news came from the pharmaceutical and health sector as MSD announced the creation of 200 jobs. With suggestions that the recovery has been confined to Dublin, the Coalition will be glad of the opportunity to point to these jobs in Carlow, Cork and Tipperary.

Also in Tipperary, still smarting from the loss of 140 jobs when C&C closed its bottling plant in Borrisoleigh last month, Technopath Clinical Diagnostics announced 60 new posts as part of a €5 million investment at the company’s Ballina facility. Meanwhile, not far off in Birr, Co Offaly, Grant Engineering is to expand its manufacturing facility, which it says will generate 50 jobs.

Dublin will also share in the spoils as pharmaceutical research firm APC says it is to create 100 “highly skilled” research and development jobs.

Separately, Swissport, a company that provides ground handling services at Dublin Airport, is to create 200 jobs, while nursing home Ardmore Lodge in northwest Dublin says it will create 140.

North of the Border, the news is not so good. Plans by healthcare services company Connected Health to create 120 jobs could do little to soften the “hammer blow” announcement – as Unite put it – that more than 1,000 other jobs are to be lost in Belfast. Canadian giant Bombardier Aerospace had repeatedly warned that it needed to reduce costs in order to protect jobs, but, despite talks with workers to that end, no agreement was reached.

The news shook the North, with First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness both describing it as a "devastating development". Shaking up the sites As well as all the jobs announcements, the other main theme of the week was significant moving and shaking in the world of property development.

US investor Starwood Capital Group and Irish developer Chartered Land are to spend €35 million on finishing the Elm Park office and residential development. The sale of the 750,000 sq ft campus on Merrion Road in south Dublin was completed on Wednesday by receiver Duff and Phelps on behalf of Nama.

A deal in another plush part of the capital means Dublin is about to have another hotel. The Charlemont Clinic site was sold to hotels group Dalata by property group U+I, which made a tidy profit of £2.3 million (€2.9 million) in just 14 months.

The €11.9 million deal will lead to the construction of a four-star facility, with 181 bedrooms, a restaurant, a cafe/bar, basement parking, and business facilities. Planning permission has been secured.

Tipperary, meanwhile, had lost the Aherlow House Hotel in the Galtee Mountains last week, leaving 43 couples due to have weddings there in limbo. This week, however, it was sold to Dublin-based hotel operator Adrian Shanagher by receiver Grant Thornton.

Elsewhere, 128 acres at six well-located sites in key commuter towns close to the capital came on the market at more than €44.75 million. In what is likely to be one of the largest development land sales this year, Nama agreed to the sale of the assets acquired by David Daly’s Albany Homes.

Meanwhile, developer Gerry Gannon was in the news again, unveiling plans to build more than 80 apartments and townhouses in a project on Park Street, Clongriffin, on the capital's northside. Industry figures value the project at €20 million. BT2 to go in Secret deal In big news on Dublin's flagship street, Victoria's Secret is in advanced talks to replace BT2. The US's most famous lingerie company has already set hearts racing in the UK market, where annual sales of women's underwear exceed £2 billion (€2.6 billion). The company has been operating a store in Dublin Airport's Terminal 2 for more than a year, but it is thought a new outlet on Grafton Street would have a substantially broader appeal and attract more young shoppers.

Milking and markets Farmers have always been considered strong lobbyists. With the election approaching, they will likely be shouting from the rooftops about their analysis that €800 million has been wiped off the value of Ireland's dairy sector because of the collapse in milk prices over the past two years.

The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association says its calculations, which are based on Central Statistics Office figures, show that the near 40 per cent drop in prices since 2014 has also reduced annual incomes by up to €35,000.

Better news for the milk industry is Glanbia Ingredients Ireland’s plan for a €35 million expansion of its Wexford cheese plant, where it proposes to double its milk-processing capacity. The company says the plant on the outskirts of Wexford town will create up to 70 jobs during the construction phase, as well as securing the future for the 48 people employed at the facility.

After last week’s “bloodbath” on the markets, some calm returned. There was a rise in oil prices, which bolstered shares in commodity companies and reduced the need for energy-producing nations to sell assets in their sovereign wealth funds to raise cash.

At home, Tullow Oil’s shares slumped more than 11 per cent on Thursday amid fears that a technical problem could hit production at its flagship Jubilee Field off the coast of Ghana.

Fresh from full-year results that showed Irish Life contributing €204 million in profit last year to its Canadian parent company, Great-West Lifeco, it emerged that the insurer is in talks to buy Aviva Health, which was put up for sale late last year. Aviva has about 300,000 customers in the Republic and Irish Life already owns a 49 per cent stake in GloHealth. It is expected to merge the two over time.

In banking, staff at Ulster Bank are to get a 2 per cent rise in April, while KBC Bank Ireland announced a return to profit during last year. A decision on the bank’s future in Ireland is likely to be made by the end of the year, according to its chief executive, Wim Verbraeken.