COVENEY UPBEAT ON GREENCORE AND IRELAND'S PROSPECTS - Greencore chief executive Patrick Coveney has been named President of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. Speaking later to the Chamber he will outline how the country's economic recovery will be driven by micro factors rather than macro ones.
Patrick Coveney says that he does not think it unusual that he has received this new appointment after the company he leads has swapped its Irish stock exchange listing for a London listing. He says that Greencore has a strong heritage in Ireland and is still committed to the country. Mr Coveney says that recent strong results from the likes of Greencore, Diageo, Smurfit Kappa and United Drug show that companies are starting to see an improvement in conditions. He also points to a recent Dublin Chamber of Commerce survey which shows that four out of five firms reported that their level of business had either increased or remained stable over the past three months. Businesses are also reporting an improved outlook.
Mr Coveney says that despite the continued austerity measures here, we are not Greece and the economy is growing. He points to the country's strong export growth and predicted modest GDP growth. He says the environment is making businesses more productive and more competitive.
Greencore, in a statement ahead of its AGM today, reported a strong start to its financial year with headline revenue growth of 52.6% and core underlying growth. It says it expects the general economic and trading environment to remain challenging for the foreseeable future, but remains confident in its ability to deliver good results for the year.
Mr Coveney says he is pleased with Greencore's performance so far this year and says the company has to find ways to keep the positive trends going. He says that US economic data is strong, while data from Europe is not as bad as had been feared and so things are looking up.
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Diageo, the international drinks firm that owns Guinness, Baileys and Bushmills, here has reported operating profit growth of 9% for the first half of its financial year. Global Guinness net sales grew 5% despite a 2% decline in Western Europe. It says Guinness is the best selling beer in Ireland with a share of 32% of the market. In Ireland, the total alcoholic drinks market declined by 2% in volume for the six months to December 2011.
David Smith, Diageo's country director for Ireland, says that Diageo has had a very solid first half across the globe. He says the company's good performance is good news for Ireland as 2.7 million pints of Guinness is brewed in Ireland with a substantial amount of that exported. He also noted 18% growth of Bushmills. He says the country's agri-industry is showing the way forward for the rest of the country's industry.
On responsible drinking, Mr Smith says that Diageo is committed to promoting safe intake of alcohol though proper education and a change in people's attitude.
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MORNING BRIEFS - National Irish Bank has reported increased losses for the year to the end of December, as it continues to set aside money to cope with potential loan losses. NIB, which is owned by Danske Bank, said its pre-tax losses for 2011 came to €805m as it set aside €850m for loan impairment charges. The bank had reported pre-tax losses of €618m in 2010, when it had set aside €667m for bad debts. The bank said that its income fell by 13% to 141m due to reduced customer demand and the impact of impaired loans. Costs at NIB also fell, down 15% to €96m on the back of the bank's restructuring programme.
*** On the currency markets the euro is trading at $1.3302 cents and 83.95 pence sterling.
