Planet business

LAURA SLATTERYon the world of business

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"A danger is that we stay stuck in a new normal where unemployment rates stay high, people who do have jobs see their incomes go up, businesses make big profits, but they've learned to do more with less, and so they don't hire, President Barack Obama has told the US television show 60 Minutes.

The phrase "new normal", used widely on Wall Street, describes an economy in which growth is too slow to reduce unemployment, while governments are forced to intervene with even greater force in the private sector. In fact the phrase is a handy one for any kind of economic expectations that have shifted during the recent chaos and show little sign of reverting. In a sentence: "Irish bond yields of more than 8 per cent are the new normal."

What is important to know is that we have all the necessary instruments in place now to support Ireland if necessary

– Speaking yesterday, European Commission president José Manuel Barroso says the EU is ready and able to bail out Ireland.

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The size of the only bid for a 67-acre farm near Kells, Co Meath, that was put up for sale by a receiver appointed by ACCBank.

Status update

Engine trouble: Singapore Airlines is to switch the engines on three Airbus A380 aircraft due to "oil stains", following the Qantas discovery of "slight anomalies" on three of its fleet.

Safety last: An inquiry into the Gulf of Mexico oil catastrophe found there was "a culture of complacency" at BP, Transocean and Halliburton in the days leading up to the disaster.

Label loser: EMI owner Guy Hands lost his fraud case against Citigroup, which advised him to buy the music label. The judge said it was "a catfight between two rich companies".

How much money is there in cleaning products?

There is so much to be learned from The Apprentice(the Lord Sugar variety). For example, there is always at least one person who can be persuaded to buy a dress made of old recycled ties. When it comes to the sterile world of the humble household cleaning product, it isn't necessarily true, as contestant Christopher Farrell confidently claimed, that "sex sells".

But while bleach may not be sexy, there is a certain appeal to being in the germ-obliteration game. Take for example, Reckitt Benckiser, the maker of Cillit Bang. In the third quarter, the company’s pretax profits soared 21 per cent to £568 million (€665 million) thanks to soaring sales of Dettol soap and Vanish stain remover in emerging markets. Not encumbered with The Apprentice contestants’ “Octi-kleen” and “Germ-o-nator” brand disasters, the professionals at Reckitt expect sales to rise 6 per cent and net profit this year to surge 16 per cent. Indeed, there is so much cash in cleaning that its chief executive, Bart Becht, is on course to be the highest paid FTSE chief executive this year, taking home a record £90 million.

Reckitt also owns Durex, so if, for some reason, the dosh in detergent ever dries up, it can fall back on the “sex sells” maxim to flog contraception instead.