GREENCORE HITS US SHORES - On the day Taoiseach Bertie Ahern makes his mark on America, food group Greencore has decided to announce its first move on the continent too. Greencore is spending $44m on buying Home Made Brand Foods, or HBF, a chilled convenience food firm. The company is calling the deal a 'platform acquisition', meaning that it will use this purchase to build a bigger North American business. Food firms are the biggest Irish employer in the US with both Kerry Group and Glanbia having a very big presence there. Greencore is already moving key personnel over to make sure their business grows.
Greencore's chief executive Patrick Coveney says that over the course of the next ten years, the US market is going to become really important for the company. In that time-frame, he said that Greencore would like to build a business in North America that is comparable to the company's 'very successful' business in the UK. Due to the current weakness of the dollar, Mr Coveney describes the deal as a 'fortunate co-incidence'. He says the deal marks a long-term strategy for the company.
Mr Coveney says the world is moving into an era where food is more expensive. He says that consumers have had the benefit of declining real food prices for over 60 years, but over the past 12-18 months that has changed. He predicts that consumers in Ireland and the UK will see double digit price inflation in the price of food this year. He says that Greencore does not regret getting into the area of biofuels, saying that it remains a food company and not an energy one.
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NATIONAL CONSUMER AGENCY GETS TOUGH WITH ESTATE AGENTS - Estate agents have been given 48 hours to undertake to only publish absolutely accurate sale price details of properties they handle. The National Consumer Agency now says it will use its powers to investigate individual auctioneers and estate agents' past reporting practices.
Ann Fitzgerald, from the National Consumer Agency, says that estate agents bodies have until tomorrow to ensure her office that all their members publish the prices of private house sales in the newspapers absolutely accurately. This means that if they put in the price of a house which sold for €600,000 it can't be put in at €650,000 or 'around about €600,000' or even €900,000 as may have happened in some cases.
Ms Fitzgerald says her meeting with agents' representatives the IAVI and the IPAV was 'very constructive'. 'They are concerned that the professionalism of agents' continue. It is not in anyone's interests, buyers or sellers, to overestimate prices. It is critical for everybody that there is a clear transparent market, which seemingly is not the case at the moment,' she stated/
If agents don't comply the NCA will use its powers under the Consumer Protection Act 2007, and it is quite prepared to take them to court. The NCA will monitor the market and take action if it needs to.
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MORNING BRIEFS - A report from estate agents CB Richard Ellis says price reductions have improved demand for new houses, especially in Dublin. It also says the impact of the credit squeeze has been more pronounced in recent weeks, as lenders withdraw mortgages from the market, and tighten up lending practices for new customers.
*** Cork people are the current worst offenders when it comes to not paying their mobile phone bills, according to Stubbs Gazette. Mobile operator O2 is suing 12 of them, out of a total of 126 customers, who together owe about €100,000 in unpaid bills. The biggest unpaid bill for an individual is for €3,874 and the biggest commercial debt is €4,309
*** Qatar's energy minister has said he would not rule out a jump in oil prices to $200 a barrel before end of the year, echoing remarks by OPEC's president earlier this week.
*** On the currency markets the euro is trading at $1.5578 cents and 79.19 pence sterling.
