GROUPON TO SET UP SHOP IN IRELAND - Groupon, the online discount coupon provider which has over 115 million users in 45 countries, including Ireland, confirmed to the Sunday Times over the weekend that it is to establish a corporate presence in Ireland and begin hiring staff in the near future. The company is the latest addition to a teeming internet cluster that includes Google, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and many others.
Joan Mulvihill, chief executive of the Irish Internet Association, says that the news from Groupon means that the country has ''a full house'' of internet firms and is very good news for Ireland. But she says the news also brings challenges in terms of skills shortages. She says there is just not a shortage of technology skills but also in areas of language, marketing and communications.
Joan Mulvihill also says that the likes of Groupon being in a country also results in spin-off businesses as people who have worked for multi-nationals for many years decide to set up shop on their own. She also says there is no reason why Irish firms can not reach the dizzy heights of the likes of Groupon - the challenge is to understand how technology can help a business grow.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Benign weather compared to the winter of 2010 led to a fall in insurance claims over the opening three months of the year, according to insurer FBD. In its interim management statement released in advance of its annual general meeting of shareholders in Dublin today, FBD also said that motorists have reduced the number of miles they are driving, which is also reducing accident and thus claims numbers. But FBD's assessment of the insurance market overall is that it will continue to contract although it has reaffirmed its profit guidance for the year.
*** More than €10 billion worth of Irish shares were traded during the first quarter of the year. That is up 26% from the previous quarter, though it is slightly down on the first quarter of 2011. In the first quarter of 2007, the value of Irish shares traded was €47.8 billion and the following year it was €40.4 billion.
*** Spain's banks are in discussions with the country's government about setting up a bad bank to take problem property loans off their hands. The bad bank option has previously been ruled out by Spanish government ministers but the idea is now gaining traction.
*** The High Court will today hear Independent News and Media director Paul Connolly's application to have his case against the company fast-tracked in the Commercial Court. He has taken legal action against INM's decision to award departing chief executive Gavin O'Reilly a severance package worth €1.9m. He says the deal should be put to a vote at INM's annual general meeting in June. Paul Connolly, nominated to INM's board by its largest shareholder Denis O'Brien, was one of two directors to vote against the terms of the deal. He has been asked by INM chairman James Osbourne to resign from the board but has refused and will seek re-election at what is sure to be a testy AGM this summer.
