TESCO IRELAND SEES MIGRATION ACROSS THE BORDER - Tesco, the world's number three retailer, showed its resilience to the economic downturn, posting a 10% rise in underlying annual profit to £3.128 billion sterling - a record for a British retailer. Sales rose 15.1% to reach £59.4 billion in the 53 weeks to the end of February. The company does not disclose its profits here but it is expected that any revenue growth here will be down to new store openings rather than profits. Tesco said its Irish operations delivered a 'solid performance' despite the extremely difficult economic climate while trading conditions have worsened in recent months. It said that a combination of very tight cost control and more international buying have helped it invest in lowering prices for customers.
It said these investments have become even more necessary given the steep rise in cross-border shopping into Northern Ireland encouraged by the decline in sterling in relation to the euro - which has seen an estimated 4% of the total market move over the border.
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PENSION INDUSTRY FACING CRISIS - €30 billion was wiped off the value of pension funds in 18 months. One expert says that these figures means 250,000 private sector members of defined benefit schemes will have to either retire on a lot less or work a lot longer.
Kathy Murphy, from pension consultants Hewitt Associates, says that the world is facing the most challenging and difficult pension environment seen in a long time. She points out the 'scary' facts that 90% of pension schemes are failing the minimum funding standards and deficits amount to €30 billion. She says that while deficits are not new, their scale is a new problem. She said that even if pension fund assets achieve investment returns of 7% a year over the next five years, they will still only get back to where they were in 2007. Ms Murphy states that actions taken to address pension deficits in the past will just not work in today's situation.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Tánaiste Mary Coughlan is due home from her trade mission to the US today. In today's Irish Times she described comments about Ireland in Sunday's New York Times, from Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman as neither helpful or appropriate. Professor Krugman had said that the worst case scenario for the world economy is that it could 'turn Irish'. He says that Ireland, once the third freest economy in the world, is in a policy straitjacket. On top of recession bordering on depression, Ireland is being forced to raise taxes and slash government spending in the face of an economic slump, he added.
*** The small and medium sized firms association, ISME, says state organisations and big business are sending its members to the edge by failing to pay their bills on time. It says 42% of its members are waiting more than three months to get paid for goods and services while the average wait time is 69 days, up from 62 days this time last year.
*** On the currency markets, the euro this morning is worth $1.2945 and 88.96 pence sterling.
