Nine social entrepreneurs were honoured for their contribution to society and the economy last night. One of the recipients of the Impact award from Social Entrepreneurs Ireland was Iseult Ward of Foodcloud.
Iseult Ward says that Foodcloud connects businesses with too much food with charities that have too little. "We have an app and a website. If you've got food that you want to donate you can use the app to upload the details and a text goes out to the charities in the locality," she explains.
Iseult says the group is working with Tesco solely at the moment but two other retailers had come on board on a trial basis. "In the process of a trial, we demonstrated to Tesco that there was a cost saving in diverting food from going to waste. We charge a service fee comparable to their projected savings in waste disposal costs."
Foodcloud received an award of €140,000 from DCC, sponsors of the Social Entrepreneurs Awards, which is invested in the company.
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The Irish media and entertainment market is forecast to grow at an annual rate of just above 2% between now and 2018 reaching a spend of about €4.25 billion by then, according to PwC in its Global Entertainment and Media Outlook.
Amy Ball, PwC Director of Advisory Services, said the big driver at the moment was internet access and advertising but there were some lagging indicators in Ireland around newspaper publishing, which is forecast to decline by 7%. "That's an industry that has been challenged by increasing mobile access where consumers are expecting free content. It's difficult for newspapers to monetise web visits. She said that while circulation is decreasing, advertising revenue is declining at a faster rate. "In the US, for the first time, they're seeing circulation revenue surpassing advertising revenue," she added. Ms Ball cited the Financial Times as an example of a publication that got over the problem of monetising content online. "They're seen as creators of good content that wouldn't be available elsewhere. In eastern Europe, a number of media houses have collaborated to provide a paywall and the consumer can go on, pay a fee and choose their services, but the revenue is distributed among the media houses."
She said the film industry would see a decline in filmed entertainment, but a number of tax changes in the industry would work in its favour. The report coincided with a call this morning from the CEO of Ardmore Studios for the development of more studio space here which she said was now acting as a constraint on the industry.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Virgin America, Richard Branson's operation stateside, is expected to go public today. The airline, which began operating in 2007, is expected to raise as much as $320m on the Nasdaq at a $1 billion valuation.
The IPO price per share is expected to be set at between $21-24. The airline industry is doing well at the moment with most US airlines putting in solid third quarter results. Falling fuel prices are helping and indeed they look like falling further.
*** Brent crude - the global benchmark which is used to price more than half of the world's oil - fell below $80 dollars a barrel for the first time in four years yesterday. OPEC countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are resisting calls to cut their collective output. Oil prices have been plunging in the last month as a result of the surge in shale drilling or fracking which has lifted US production to a three year high.
*** Ireland's ability to grow its film and tv production industry is being hindered by a lack of studio space, according to the CEO of Ardmore Studios. Siun Ni Raghallaigh says the country is poised to gain from the changes to the film tax credit scheme but the lack of facilities will hold the industry back.
*** Google's YouTube is to start a subscription service that will allow users to stream ad-free music videos and to download them for offline use. A monthly fee of £9.99 is expected to apply in the UK. The new service is expected to pose a challenge to services like Spotify, Beats Music and other music services. It is understood the launch has been delayed by a dispute with independent labels over rates for the number of plays.
*** Toymaker Hasbro is reported to be in talks to buy the animated movie studio, Dreamworks, according to a report in the New York Times. Dreamworks has been up for sale for a while and recently held takeover talks with Japanese mobile phone service supplier, Softbank.
*** UTV Media has reported group revenue up 9% for the first nine months of the year compared to the same period last year. It helped the group knock over £3m off its debt, bringing it below £46m. Revenue from its radio operations in Ireland was up 6% in the nine month period.
