The week ahead in business: Tariffs, tech and takeovers
American private equity firm TA Associates' takeover offer values the data analytics business at €637m, a rare deal in a year when risk appetite for big deals has been sapped by the volatility triggered by Mr Trump's policy shifts.
Irish drinks group C&C, also London-listed, has full-year results due on Wednesday. The owner of brands such as Tennent's, Magners, Five Lamps and Orchard Pig has a newly-appointed chief executive in Roger White. But a battered share price, as well as external pressures on its UK business in particular, means he has started on the back foot.
In New York, an earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence bellwether Nvidia on Wednesday will be a big focus. Nvidia will be the last of the Magnificent Seven megacap tech companies to report results for this period. Its shares have slipped this year after two years of massive gains as AI enthusiasm waned and the Trump administration's moves to isolate Chinese access to cutting edge technology take shape.
The company said last month it would take a $5.5bn charge after the US capped exports of its H20 chip to China.
At home, the Global Economic Summit is returning to Killarney for the second year from Monday to Wednesday. Speakers will include Micheál Martin, Michael McGrath and Sinéad Fitzmaurice of Transfermate.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the Dublin Tech Summit will be held at the RDS.
The Future Health Summit – looking at investment into the health sector – at the same venue on Wednesday, will see an address by Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.
Dublin will also see the Offshore Wind Conference from Tuesday to Thursday.
'European energy independence has never been more critical. Ireland has six offshore projects within a combined capacity of 4.1GW, that are awaiting planning decisions,' it said.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) will release data on the country's earnings and labour costs for the first quarter on Tuesday, followed by the retail sales index for April on Wednesday.
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Irish Examiner
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The European Union wants to unleash trillions of euro in household savings by encouraging people to invest in capital markets, and it sees Sweden as the template. Europe will soon detail its plan to mobilise citizen funds sitting in bank deposits as part of its savings and investment union. By making it easier for people to invest, it wants to lift household wealth and boost firms' access to funding. According to the Central Bank of Ireland, Irish people have a combined €165.8bn in household deposit savings as of the end of June. Wider adoption of Swedish-style bank accounts would enable people to easily invest savings in stocks. Poland, earlier this month, proposed an investment savings account modelled on Sweden's InvesteringsSparKonto, or ISK system, to create an 'equity culture' attracting the equivalent of €23bn in its first three years. Sweden's retail-trading base is 'among the best in the world' due to the ease with which people have been able to invest in listed companies, Avanza Bank Holding AB savings economist Philip Scholtzé said. The Nordic nation is regarded as a 'best practice' model, said a spokesperson for the financial services department at the European Commission. The bloc aims to provide citizens with 'a wider range of tools and knowledge to invest their savings in ways that can directly benefit their personal economy, while simultaneously turbo-charging the investment landscape in the EU'. National sport Equity investing is akin to a national sport in Sweden. Households invest more than half of their savings in stocks, more than twice the average in the eurozone, according to a report by the European Savings Institute this year. Anyone with a bank account can trade, while the ISK account is not subject to capital gains tax. Securities can be easily bought and sold directly from mobile banking applications. 'Swedes have good reason to be thankful for the ISK account,' said Mohammed Salih, a 32-year-old communications manager who lives in Listerby, Sweden. He has invested with the system for 10 years. I have always saved money and tried to build an economically stable future, but I didn't know how to make the money grow He started an Instagram account to document his journey toward assets equivalent to €90,000. He says he achieved it a few years ago, but still posts stock market tips that attract interest. 'The youngest person who has written to me was 13 years old. His parents had helped him set up an ISK account,' Mr Salih said. The ISK simplified the tax structure around capital investments, removing bureaucratic barriers that had discouraged participation. 'It's just a much simpler way to buy stocks,' Frida Bratt, the savings economist at Nordnet Bank AB, said. 'This has been especially important for young people.' Mutual funds A quarter of Swedes own shares in publicly listed companies, with stakes totalling around €48,000 on average, according to Euroclear Sweden. The Swedish Investment Fund Association shows that 70% of Swedes invest in mutual funds. It remains to be seen what effect the introduction of an EU-wide savings and investment account could have on the wider European market. According to Jonas Strom, the chief executive of the Nordic investment bank ABG Sundal Collier Holding ASA, it is 'definitely possible' to export the Swedish success with the ISK accounts to a wider European audience. The European Commission would only offer a blueprint of how an EU-wide savings and investment account could be constructed, leaving member states to implement it. The success of the proposal depends on the 'political will' of the member states. Bloomberg
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Tech mogul inks deal to purchase controlling share of Boston Celtics
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RTÉ News
3 hours ago
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€46,000 rent increase for Irish ambassador's UK residence
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