Breakfast Business

Leading Irish law firm Mason Hayes & Curran recently hosted their Energy Conference   The Future of Energy Investment in Ireland. Journalist and author Simon Mundy was the keynote speaker and Simon joined Emmet on the show.

We take a look at today's business papers and markets with Aidan Donnelly from Davys.

Lakeland Dairies are a cooperative of 3000 farmers mostly based in and around Monaghan.  They produce millions of litres or milk and tonnes of dried milk products and now they've signed a new deal with Aldi to supply wet milk to roughly half the country  Tommy O’ Donaghue, Head of Consumer Foods at Lakeland Dairies spoke to Joe this morning about their new deal with Aldi.

The problem with renewable energy is that it’s unreliable, i.e. we don't know when the wind will blow for sure and when the sun might ever shine.  The other issue facing the industry is storing renewable energy once you've generated it.  Is the technology getting there when every household will be able to store its own energy and use it whenever they want and remove dependency on importing energy or using fossil fuels? It’s an issue which will be discussed today at the Energy Storage Ireland’s annual conference.  Speaking to Joe this morning was Bobby Smith is the boss of Energy Storage Ireland. 

A run-through of some of the business stories today with Joe Lynam.

Vodafone took over from O2 as the main sponsor of the Irish national rugby team just in time to be on the famous green shirts for Ireland’s first-ever victory against the All Blacks in 2016 in Chicago.  The team has since won 2 grand slams and is now ranked number one in the world. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that Vodafone is renewing its contract with the IRFU.   Sinead Bryan from Vodafone IRL joins Joe on the show this morning.

You may have seen adverts for the new electric car brand Polestar. Or perhaps you've seen their distinctive white container showrooms.  They're certainly making an impact on the car market here.  Polestar is owned by Volvo which itself is part of the Chinese Geely group. Speaking to Joe on the show was Jonathan Goodman, Head of Polestar Ireland & UK 

A look at today's business papers and websites with Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam.

Last week the cardboard and packaging giant Smurfit Kappa confirmed that it was merging with the Atlanta-based West Rock in a deal worth €10bn.  It also told us that it would be delisting from the Dublin stock exchange in another blow to Euronext. But what does the deal mean for the industry and is Smurfit tilting away from Europe and towards America? With more on this Joe spoke to Ken Bowles - the CFO of Smurfit Kappa. 

  Inflation is likely to remain stubbornly high, even next year, and any tax cuts and additional extraordinary supports for households in next month’s budget, could keep inflation higher for longer. That’s according to the Central Bank of Ireland in its quarterly report out today. Robert Kelly is the director of statistics at the Central Bank Of Ireland and Robert joined Joe this morning on the show.

A run-through of some of the business stories today with Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam.

From Schweppes to Orangina and from Jim Beam to Laphroaig whiskies, Suntory is one of the biggest food and beverage companies in the world. This morning Peter Harding, the Chief Executive of Suntory Europe, began by asking him about the drinks industry amid a cost of living crisis for many countries.

‘All in a Day's Work’ is a brand new campaign from the Local Enterprise Offices to encourage companies to adapt to the new fully digital world. The LEOs have 3 strands to their training programmes, entitled Lean, Green, and Digital.  Most of the supports are free and funded by Enterprise Ireland.  John Magee is the chair of the Network of LEOs joined Joe on the show this morning.

A run-through of some of the business stories today with Joe Lynam.

Bryan Habana is known for the dozens of tries he’s scored in the rugby world cups down the years but he is also the Co-Founder and Chief Client Officer at fintech firm Paymenow Group which is sweeping Africa.  He’s also over in Ireland for the FinTechNation, hosted by Fintech & Payments Association Ireland (FPAI) and he joined Joe on the show this morning.

The media and advertising groups, WPP & Media Central have been polling almost 100 Senior Irish Marketing professionals to find out what makes the sector cheer or geer.  Some CMOs think they should sit at board level while others complain of a relentless workload.  They also worry about how best to promote their brands and thankfully radio is in the top 3 channels for advertising. Speaking to Joe this morning was Jonathan Conlon, COO of Group M.

A look at today's business papers and markets with Joe Lynam and Mike O’Sullivan from Unio Wealth Managers. 

We’ve been told that AI will be all-pervasive and all over the place.  That includes space now too.  The AI company Ubotica Technologies has signed up with IBM to use its cloud system to send back data that Ubotica will be collecting in space.  How that data will be used is unclear yet.  But maybe Gavin Shorten from IBM can help? who joined Emmet on the show with more details on this.

Defined benefit pensions are also known as final salary schemes.  They are the gold standard in retirement savings because they must pay a fixed generous sum based on your pay when you retire.   They're also very expensive to fund because we’re all living much longer. Many companies are hoping to offload their DB pension schemes and Irish life is one of the biggest customers  Shane O'Farrell, Irish Life Corporate Business spoke to Emmet this morning.

A look at today's business papers and websites with Emmet Oliver.