TESCO MOVE NOT GOOD FOR IRISH FOOD COMPANIES - The Tesco supermarket chain is reorganising its shelves to accommodate cheaper imported brands. One Irish company - Ballymaloe Country Relish - has been told by its distributor Shamrock that Tesco is delisting some of its products and does not have the shelf space for any new ones.
Yasmin Hyde is the owner of the Ballymaloe brand and she employs 16 people at her company in Little Island in Co Cork. She says all the information she has heard so far has come from Shamrock - or from the newspapers. She heard that at first a number of the Ballymaloe range would be delisted or removed from the shelves. However, she says that Tesco seems to have backed down from that stand a little and at the moment, the company is concentrating mainly on Ballymaloe's salad dressing range. Ms Hyde says that Shamrock is not accepting this as a final stance, and continue to make representations on behalf of the firm to get one or all three of its salad dressing range back on to the Tesco shelves. The company has also been told that no new products will be accepted by Tesco.
Ms Hyde, whose company has a turnover of €3m, says the removal of its salad dressings range will be a disaster for the firm as it is a profitable source of business. She says all these moves towards imported goods and the money people think they will save when they buy these cheaper goods, will actually result in their paying more in higher taxes, reduced welfare payments and increased social unrest as jobs are cut in Irish food companies. She points out that money spent on imported goods is lost and gone from the country forever.
She urges Tanáiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan to bring in a law which states that every supermarket must dedicate an area to local produce that can be purchased by the local manager. She also says that supermarkets should set a target for national produce to reach a certain percentage of turnover and let that be published annually.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Independent News & Media has proposed to holders of an overdue €200m bond that it should hold a 'deeply discounted' rights offering to help repay it. In a statement this morning, INM said that the 'standstill' on the bond was likely to be extended to July 24 from June 26 while talks with creditors continued.
*** AIB says it has boosted its core capital strength by an expected €1 billion following a debt swap exercise with its bond holders. AIB has swapped one type of debt for another in a complex move which has strengthened the bank's position to absorb bad debts arising from past imprudent property lending.
*** The board of sports broadcaster Setanta Sports meets in London later today in a further effort to try to rescue the company from going bust. Crisis talks took place over the weekend after Setanta lost the rights to broadcast 46 English Premier League football matches next season. Setanta lost the contract after failing to make a scheduled £10m sterling payment to the English Premier League on Friday, and now faces the prospect of administration.
*** New research suggests that rents on Grafton Street in Dublin have fallen 15% or by €1,500 per square metre in the first six months of the year to €8,500. CB Richard Ellis says that while official figures show retail sales haemorrhaging, it has not measured any particular drop in footfall, or numbers of people on visiting either Grafton Street or Henry Street. It does predict that recession will make international retailers bite at Ireland. Falling rental prices mean it is more cost effective for international brands to set up shop here. Ireland currently has 34% of international branded chains.
*** On the currency markets, the euro is worth $1.3852 US cents and 84.37 pence sterling.
