NEW BRAY WANDERERS OWNERS GIVE COMMITMENT OVER HOME GROUND - The new owners of Bray Wanderers entered into a commitment that they would not seek to acquire the team’s grounds in the Co Wicklow town without having delivered a new location for the club.
The Irish Times reports the Carlisle Grounds in Bray are close to the seafront and across the road from the Dart station and would be a prime development site if they became available.
There are plans for an extension to the Luas that would stop at the grounds, which would further increase the attractiveness of the site.
The grounds are owned by Wicklow County Council. The club was given a 35-year lease in January 2001 which gives it the right to the grounds for a minimal rent, as long as the grounds are used for soccer matches. Any development of the grounds would require a deal with the council.
Earlier this month the club’s board approved a takeover by Milway Dawn Ltd, which is owned by Denis O’Connor, a director and chairman of Bray Wanderers Ltd, and businessman Gerry Mulvey. Mr Mulvey, a former majority owner of St Patrick’s Athletic, owns 80 per cent of Milway.
Prior to the takeover, Milway gave a commitment that, in consideration for the transfer of the shares, it would commit to operating and managing the club to play in the League of Ireland, support the club and foster its development as a community organisation and seek to ensure the club adheres to the terms of the Carlisle Grounds lease.
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33% OF EUROPEAN VENTURE CAPITAL FUNDING IN Q2 TOOK PLACE IN UK - The Irish Independent reports that a third of all venture capital funding in Europe in the second quarter took place in the UK, according to a new KPMG report.
This dominance, the paper writes, chimes with what experts here have been saying about the favourable funding environment in the UK for start-ups and other businesses.
Experts have warned that Ireland is at risk of losing growing numbers of startup businesses to the UK where the tax regime for entrepreneurs is much more competitive, and the funding environment more advanced.
The study from KPMG and CBI Insights, published yesterday, notes that London has developed a strong startup community and culture, which has rippled across the UK, with $351.1m (€319m) invested via 49 deals in London in the second quarter.
Venture capital-backed companies raised more than $32bn globally in the second quarter, across over 1,800 deals, bringing the total raised by VC-backed companies globally to $59.8bn for the first half of the year, according to the study.
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TRUMP VALUES DOONBEG AT €23M - Billionaire Donald Trump’s bargain basement purchase of Doonbeg golf resort in Co Clare is already paying off rich dividends with the businessman placing a price tag of $25m (€23m) on the resort.
The Irish Examiner reports that the valuation is contained in 92 pages of financial disclosures that Mr Trump has filed with the Federal Election Commission in the US, as part of his campaign to become the Republican candidate to stand for US President.
The receivers of Doonbeg golf resort last year received €8.7m arising from Mr Trump’s purchase of the resort.
However, on the crest of additional tourists arriving into Ireland, the Trump Organisation has now placed a potential value on the resort of up to $25m, only 17 months after its purchase.
The exhaustive documentation of Mr Trump’s financial interests states that Doonbeg golf resort is recording revenues in excess of $10m per annum.
However, this is almost half the $20m enjoyed by Trump’s Turberry resort in Scotland that is valued at over $50m.
Documentation shows that Mr Trump has assets worth at least $1.4bn, is paid $250,000 per speech and has an annual income of $380m with more than half of his income — about $200m — coming from golf courses and resorts.
On his first visit to Doonbeg last year, Mr Trump said that the people who love Ireland will thank him for the very special work he is doing at the resort.
He promised an investment of up to €45m in the renamed ‘Trump International Golf Links Resort at Doonbeg’ and hundreds of jobs to flow from the investment.
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RISING LONDON RENTS FORCING COUNCILS TO RELOCATE HOMELESS OUTSIDE CITY - In the UK, rising rents, benefits cuts and a shortage of low-cost homes are pushing a growing number of people out of London, where councils are struggling to cope with demand for housing.
The Financial Times reports that the number of times that low-income London households have been rehoused outside the capital has jumped by a third in the past year, official data show.
In the first three months of this year, households were rehoused outside London 459 times, according to figures released by London Councils, which represents the city’s 33 local authorities.
In the year to the end of March, councils had to move people out of London 1,653 times, an increase of 28 per cent on the previous year.
According to the FT, the data reflect the number of times a placement was made, not the number of people who moved. The figures may include households that moved more than once.
The benefits cap in London, which is set to fall from £26,000 to £23,000, and rising rents are making it harder for authorities to house people in their area, London Councils said.
Most people leaving the capital were rehoused within commuting distance, according to the figures. The biggest influx was to Thurrock in Essex, with 85 placements in the first three months of 2015. Dartford, Kent, Slough, Berkshire, and Harlow, Essex, also received more than 30.
