FALLONS NET SHARE OF €1M DAFT.IE DIVIDEND - The millionaire Fallon brothers have shared a further €1.17m dividend windfall with other shareholders at their daft.ie firm.
New accounts filed by the Fallons' Daft Media show that the company returned to profit last year to record pre-tax profits of €2.66m. This followed the company recording a pre-tax loss of €2.49m in 2015 which was attributable to the company writing off €5.5m it was owed by a connected firm that year. The growth in the property market resulted in revenues at Daft Media increasing by 8% from €7.5m to €8.16m in the 12 months to the end of December last. The dividend payout to Eamonn and Brian Fallon and other shareholders since year end followed a dividend payout by Daft Media to shareholders of €2.36m in 2015 - a combined €4m over the three years. This followed a €1m dividend payout to Eamonn and Brian Fallon and other shareholders in 2014 from their Distilled Media Group. In 2011 and 2010, the Fallon brothers shared a €7.3m windfall with other shareholders. The brothers established the daft.ie brand in 1997 when Eamonn was 20 and Brian was just 15. Today, Daft.ie is the number one destination for property searches and enjoys an audience of 2.5 million users each month generating 228 million page impressions per month.
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FINANCE UNION CHIEF TO RETIRE AFTER THREE DECADES - The head of the Financial Services Union (FSU), Larry Broderick, has called on the State to maintain a bonus cap on the bailed-out banks and set out a strategic vision for the industry as he announced he plans to retire next year.
Mr Broderick joined the union, formerly known as the Irish Bank Officials’ Association, 32 years ago and became general secretary in 2001. The organisation has begun an international search for a successor, expected to be named early next year, who will faced the challenge of increased job uncertainty as banks resort increasingly to digitalisation and artificial intelligence. "We’ve been here before. When I joined here in 1984, it was after a dispute between the union and the banks about putting 15 ATMs across the whole of the industry," said Mr Broderick said in an interview with The Irish Times. "The banks themselves, other than saying things can be done more efficiently, are not sure about what [the ultimate impact of digitalisation] looks like. They don’t know what their staffing complement is going to look like."
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'SSIA fund' CAN HELP FIRST-TIME BUYERS - The Government should consider funding an SSIA-type mortgage savings scheme to help young and low-income buyers get on the property ladder, says the Housing Finance Agency.
Housing Finance Agency chairwoman Michelle Norris said other European countries have successfully used such special top-up saving schemes to fund private and public housing needs. The agency, borrowing from EU banks, has a loan book of €3.6 billion which it primarily lends to housing agencies at low rates for building social housing. "In the Austrian model, people save up the money, they get a government subsidy," Ms Norris told the Irish Examiner in an interview. "They then take it out in the end after 10 years or whatever, and spend it on a house deposit but during the 10-year period when it is in the bank, it is lent out for social housing. So it funds both." Low-income buyers are now struggling as prices for homes spiral out of reach. Recent figures show the average house price in Dublin is just over €354,000, rising to €559,000 in the south of the county. Home prices in Cork City are averaging €260,000 and €272,000 in Galway city.
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HONG KONG TOWER SETS RECORD PRICE WITH $5.2 BILLION SALE TO CHINESE-LED CONSORTIUM - Li Ka-shing’s CK Asset has agreed to sell its majority stake in a Hong Kong skyscraper for HK$40.2 billion ($5.2 billion) in what will be a record transaction for a single office building.
The sale of The Center to a consortium of bidders, reportedly led by a Chinese energy group, underlines the relentless demand from mainland groups for real estate in Hong Kong’s financial districts, writes the Financial Times. Chinese companies have become major buyers of property worldwide, including London despite the UK's decision to leave the EU. The price tag for Hong Kong’s fifth-largest tower will set a world record for a deal for a single building, according to an analysis of data compiled by Dealogic. "The Center transaction has now etched its name into global commercial property folklore, smashing purchase records and rewriting office market benchmarks," said Henry Chin, head of research at CBRE Asia Pacific. "Pricing is clearly not an issue for investors when iconic Grade-A office space comes to market in Hong Kong," Mr Chin said. "This transaction makes a bold statement about the appetite of Chinese investors to become major landlords in a Hong Kong office market short on supply and with strong prospects for long-term value creation." The second-largest transaction for a single building was Mr Li’s sale of the Century Link complex in Shanghai last year to Singapore-based ARA Asset Management for $2.95 billion.
