GLANBIA TO BE SPORTS NUTRITION PLAYER - One of the big food companies has been on a weekend spending spree. Glanbia is spending €213m buying Illinois-based Optimum Nutrition, which makes dietary supplements for sports people.
Glanbia chief executive John Moloney said the market for such products was worth about $25 billion, while the area in which Optimum was involved was worth $2.5 billion and was growing at 6-7% a year. Mr Moloney said that as the largest producer of cheddar cheese in the US, the company also produced whey which was refined to produce proteins and minerals.
Glanbia is one of more than a dozen ISEQ-listed issuing first first half results during this week. It is one of the busiest weeks of the year - but this year there have been incredibly high oil prices, a global cash flow crisis and the economy is looking bleak. We will learn how much profit or otherwise the likes of Irish Life & Permanent, Kerry Group, Grafton, Kingspan, CRH and Aer Lingus have made so far this year.
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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MARKET 'STAGNANT' - Not much money is being made in commercial property these days. The latest report on the sector - on which hundreds of thousands of people rely for employment - paints a very sluggish picture on commercial property sales.
Director of research at property consultant CB Richard Ellis, Marie Hunt, says the commercial property market is stagnant. Buyers are having problems securing debt financing, while sellers are unwilling to accept lower prices, leading to a stalemate.
€392m worth of deals were done in the first six months, compared with €1.9 billion in the same period a year earlier. Ms Hunt says there are virtually no deals being done at the moment, and activity will not return until more bank funding is available or prices fall further.
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CURRENCIES - The euro is worth $1.4725 and 79.90p sterling.
