
Deirdre Somers resigns non-executive role as Aquis signs deal with Swiss exchange
Ms Somers was appointed a non-executive director of Aquis in 2020. She was appointed CEO of the Irish Stock Exchange in 2007 and led the business until 2018, when the exchange was formally acquired by Euronext.
Aquis noted on her appointment that Ms Somers had led the transformation of the Irish Stock Exchange from a 'relatively small domestic equity exchange to a highly profitable PLC with global specialisms'.
Last November, Aquis and Switzerland's SIX announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash offer made by SIX for Aquis. It valued Aquis at £194m (€226m) on an enterprise value basis.
Six operates the SIX Swiss Exchange, which is currently billed as the third-largest in Europe and features about 250 listed firms.
It said that the acquisition of Aquis creates a pan-European exchange 'innovator', with 15pc market share and access to 16 capital markets across Europe.
Chief executive of SIX, Bjorn Sibbern, said the acquisition of the UK firm marks a 'significant milestone' in the group's evolution.
With Aquis, we gain not only access to new markets, but also the technology and expertise needed to drive innovation at scale
'With Aquis, we gain not only access to new markets, but also the technology and expertise needed to drive innovation at scale,' he said.
Mr Sibbern added that the group can now offer clients access to markets in Switzerland, Spain and the UK. Aquis will continue to operate under its established brand, with its existing management team and business model.
SIX said it will use Aquis' technology to spur capital markets innovation.
Aquis said that the completion of the deal sees Mr Sibbern join the UK firm's board, alongside other SIX executives, Tomas Kindler and Markus Gumpfer.
'Deirdre Somers, Mark Goodliffe, David Vaillant, Dr Ruth Wandhofer and Fields Wicker-Miurin have tendered their resignations and have stepped down from the Aquis board,' it added.
The Irish Stock Exchange has seen a decline in the number of companies it has listed, with giants such as CRH, Flutter Entertainment and DCC having left in recent years. Hotel group Dalata is currently up for sale and the outcome of that process could also see it terminate its listing.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Irish Sun
2 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
I ditched the UK & now I only need to work 13 hours a week – my food shop costs just £10 too
A WOMAN has ditched the UK to move 5,000 miles away, and now only has to work 13 hours a week. Emily Severn, 24, made the "life-changing" decision to leave her home in Nottingham for a 5 Emily ditched the UK to live in China Credit: SWNS 5 She said her rent and bills are now much cheaper Credit: SWNS 5 Her weekly food shop is now just £10 Credit: SWNS The Brit now lives in Suzhou in the Jiangsu Province of Eastern China, where her monthly rent is just £323, a massive saving on the £850 she was paying back home. Working as an teacher in both kindergarten and junior high schools, Emily normally works just 13 hours every week - teaching English to Chinese students - and is paid £20 per hour. Noticing a huge difference in the amount she spends, Emily said that as well as cheaper rent and bills, the cost of days out is much cheaper too. Discussing her decision to move to China, she said: "I think what drew me to it is it's so different to rainy England. Read more world stories "In Manchester the rent for a one-bed apartment, as my university accommodation, was £850 per month. "The rent every month here has been costing me 2,200 yuan which at the moment is about £323 pounds. "You can go to the market here and literally buy a full food shop for £5 and that can last you a few days." And bills are much cheaper now for Emily than they were in the UK. Most read in The Sun "The utilities in China are 100 yen for the electricity per month and in British pounds that's about £10.15, that was costing me £37 in the UK", she explained. We ditched the UK and bought a 200-year-old French village for just £22k "My water bill is 100 yuan but we only really have to pay it every three months, so £10.15 every three months - compared to £37 in the UK." Emily first began learning Chinese alongside her masters degree in Journalism - where she also met boyfriend Wei, 30. After securing a job in Suzhou whilst completing her TESOL qualification - which stands for Teaching English to Speaker of Other Languages- the couple moved out to China together, where they now live in a one-bed apartment. She said: "It was actually my Chinese teacher's old boss that was hiring teachers in China. How easy is it to move abroad? Brexit means British citizens now have to apply for visas to move to countries within the EU. While some countries residency restrictions are easier than others, here's what you need to do at home before moving: Notify HMRC about your upcoming move. Let your local authority know and provide a forwarding address. Contact your mortgage and utility providers and bank before leaving. If you have paid enough UK national insurance contributions, you can qualify for a state pension abroad - contact the You can sign up to the Royal Mail's If you have outstanding student loans, contact the If you have children, give due notice to childcares and schools. "Once I had my TESOL certificate they could start giving me my contract and work permit. "Personally within the company I work in there is more of a work life balance. "There's more flexibility than in the UK. "I think I wanted to move to explore and see something new because a lot of the time in the UK there's not a lot that goes on. "In summer in China there are a lot of light shows and concerts at parks. "There's a hustle and bustle and a lot going on. Emily explains most attractions - like water towns including Mudu, Nanxun and Zhouzhuang - cost as little as £1 for entry, and says she spends a lot of her time walking in the different parks on offer in her area. Teaching a mixture of class based and one-to-one sessions, Emily is paid around £20 an hour, and estimates she earns £10,145 over the year. Living in a one-bed apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, living area and mezzanine floor for their bedroom, the couple spend their weekends travelling to local "ancient towns". Despite loving life in Suzhou, Emily can see herself returning to the UK at some point. "I think it's more wanting to come back to family," she said. "When you're in China you kind of value family a lot more because everyone places a big value on family." 5 Emily teaches English and works just 13 hours a week Credit: SWNS 5 She plans to move back to the UK eventually Credit: SWNS


Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Ireland must ‘diversify' its tourism market to counter drop in visitor numbers, says tourism chief
Tourism is Ireland's biggest indigenous industry and largest regional employer with 257,900 people working in tourism and hospitality businesses nationwide. Figures released by Fáilte Ireland show an 18pc decline in tourists from all major overseas markets between January and April of this year versus the same period in 2024. Tourism operators have also reported that revenue generated by visitors from Great Britain had dropped 52pc compared to last year, while revenues for French holidaymakers dipped by 55pc and Germany by 53pc. Commenting on the figures, chief executive of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC), Eoghan O'Mara Walsh, said that Ireland must lessen its reliance on the North American tourists due to a series of complex economic factors contributing to their decline. 'The dollar is weakened - I think it's about 15pc in the last three or four months,' he told RTÉ Radio 1. "Obviously all the tariffs, we fear, are going to impact on the US economy and there's kind of lots of macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty out there, which doesn't suit tourism.' However, Mr Walsh says a proactive approach must be taken to stem the dwindling numbers of US tourists to Ireland. "I think we need to defend and deepen the US market because we can't just turn our back on our most valuable market. "But we do need to be more active and penetrate other markets.' Another challenge facing the tourism sector is Ireland's status as the second-most expensive holiday destination in Europe, according to Eurostat. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more "If you think on holiday destinations, we look at what's in our bank account, what's in our wallet. "Unfortunately the German economy, the French economy, the British economy are all struggling. Therefore, discretionary income is tighter, and therefore the second and third holidays are often sacrificed, and Ireland kind of falls into that category.' Key to fulfilling this objective, Mr Walsh says, is raising the current passenger cap at Dublin Airport to above 32 million in order to secure the arrival of more overseas visitors. 'We are an island nation. There's no roads and no bridges, no tunnels off the island. If we want to activate and we want to secure access to our key source markets, we need headroom at Dublin Airport,' he said. "Government have had an awful lot of time to debate it and tease it out and we're still at the same stage as we have been for a long time.' However, he believes more could be done to incorporate regional airports into the pledge to increase the number of inbound flights. "I think Government could be doing more in terms of supporting some of the spend at those airports, allowing those airports to incentivise airlines into those regional parts of the country.'


Irish Independent
6 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Kremlin says it 'noted' Trump's deadline of ‘10 or 12 days' for deal to end Ukraine war
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia was continuing to pursue what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine but was also committed to a peace process that would resolve the conflict and secure its interests. Mr Trump set a new deadline yesterday of 10 or 12 days for Russia to make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine or face consequences, underscoring frustration with Russian president Vladimir Putin for the three-and-a-half-year-old conflict. Mr Trump has threatened both sanctions on Russia and buyers of its exports unless progress is made. The fresh deadline suggests he is prepared to move forward on those threats after previous hesitation to do so. Speaking in Scotland, where he is holding meetings with European leaders and playing golf, Mr Trump said he was disappointed in Putin, and was shortening a 50-day deadline he had set on the issue earlier this month. 'I'm going to make a new deadline of about... 10 or 12 days from today,' Mr Trump told reporters during a meeting with British prime minister Keir Starmer. 'There's no reason in waiting... We just don't see any progress being made,' he added. There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin. In a post on X, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of Putin, said Mr Trump was playing 'a game of ultimatums' that could lead to a war involving the US. Mr Medvedev wrote: 'Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. 'Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with (Trump's) own country.' Ukraine welcomed the statement from Mr Trump. Andriy Yermak, president Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, thanked Mr Trump in a social media post for 'standing firm and delivering a clear message of peace through strength'. Mr Trump, who has expressed annoyance also with Mr Zelensky, has not always followed tough talk about Putin with action, citing what he deems a good relationship that the two men have had previously. Yesterday, he indicated he was not interested in more talks with Putin. He said sanctions and tariffs would be used as penalties for Moscow if it did not meet his demands. 'There's no reason to wait. If you know what the answer is going to be, why wait? 'And it would be sanctions and maybe tariffs, secondary tariffs,' Mr Trump said. 'I don't want to do that to Russia. I love the Russian people.' Ukraine had proposed a summit between Putin and Mr Zelensky before the end of August, but the Kremlin has said that timeline was unlikely and that a meeting could only happen as a final step to clinch peace. Russia's foreign ministry said on Saturday that if the West wanted real peace with Ukraine, it would stop supplying Kyiv with weapons. Mr Trump has repeatedly voiced exasperation with Putin for pursuing attacks on Ukraine despite US efforts to end the war. He has played up successes in other parts of the world where the US has helped to broker peace agreements, and has been flattered by some leaders who suggest he should be given the Nobel Peace Prize. 'I'm disappointed in president Putin,' Mr Trump said yesterday. 'I'm going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number because I think I already know the answer what's going to happen.' Mr Trump, who is also struggling to achieve a peace deal in Gaza, has touted his role in ending conflicts between India and Pakistan as well as Rwanda and Congo. Before returning to the White House in January, he campaigned on a pledge to end Russia's conflict with Ukraine in a day.