The BWG group - the owners of Spar - are to invest €100m in store development over the next five years, including the opening of 50 new stores around the country.
Leo Crawford, chief executive of the BWG Group, said there were opportunities for growth in the grocery and convenience sector as consumer confidence began to return. "We will be opening these stores in both city centre locations and local rural communities. Another interesting trend is the growth of motorway sites. We see forecourt stores presenting new opportunities."
Mr Crawford agreed that the landscape has never been as competitive as it is right now, but that he said that presented good opportunities in itself. "We've seen a big change in consumer trends. People are making smaller shops and they are doing them more frequently. That's a positive and an opportunity for a retailer like Spar."
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If you are intent on spending a bit of time this morning looking for a new job, you are not alone. According to the jobs website, indeed.com, Monday mornings in September and October are the peak times for individuals to go job hunting.
Adian McLoughlin, Director at Indeed Ireland, said the research was based on the user habits of 600,000 Irish people which also revealed interesting trends about how people go about their job search. "There has been a 40% increase in job search activity. There's huge optimism and interest as people go about arming themselves with trend data about their industries. They're looking at reviews of companies and posting their own websites so companies can find them."
Not only has there been an upsurge in people scouting out opportunities, there has been a corresponding increase in the volume of jobs available. "We've seen a 12% increase in total jobs volumes. Sales and It roles are on the up, as are architecture and engineering roles. There are definitely green shots showing," he said.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Petroceltic has announced that it is in detailed discussions regarding a possible offer to be made by Dragon Oil for the issued and to be issued shares. Dragon has submitted to Petroceltic the proposed offer terms of 230 pence per share.
*** The average asking price for a house in Ireland increased by 14% in the past year, according to the latest report from Daft.ie. It now stands at €195,000. That compares to €170,000 last year - but is still significantly down on the €380,000 average at the peak of the housing market in 2007. Asking prices in the capital have risen by 25% in the year, according to the study. The report's author, Ronan Lyons, says the total number of properties on the market on the first of this month was just over 30,000 - the lowest figure since March 2007.
*** Smartinvest - a $0.5 billion transatlantic investment vehicle - is to set up a $70m investment fund aimed specifically at the tech sector. Smartinvest provides funding for Irish companies to expand into the US and US companies to establish bases in Ireland. The aim of this fund is to invest in and grow 30 technology-led companies leading to the creation of 450 tech jobs across Ireland over the lifetime of the fund.
*** Accounting and professional services firm, EY Ireland, has reported a 17% increase in revenues for the year to the end of June to €166m. Growth here outstripped that globally where revenue was up just under 7% to $27.4 billion. EY Ireland increased headcount by nearly 20% in the period.
*** The World Bank has downgraded its outlook on China. The fund has cut its 2014 growth forecast to 7.4% due to Beijing's attempts to tackle local government debt, shadow banking, and pollution. The World Bank also projects China will only grow by 7.2% in 2015.
