WETHERSPOON TO SPEND €50 MILLION ON 30 NEW IRISH PUBS - British pub chain JD Wetherspoon is gearing up for a major assault on the Irish pub market with plans to open 30 new pubs over the next five years.
The company, which has been at the centre of a row over pricing in Irish pubs, says it plans to spend €50 million establishing its low-cost brand in Ireland, says the Irish Times. The move is likely to increase price competition in the sector which is dominated by two large drink suppliers - Heineken and Diageo - and a host of small, individual publicans with little buying power. Wetherspoon already operates two pubs in south Dublin, but has acquired five more sites in Dublin, Cork and Waterford. Earlier this month it bought the former Camden Hall hostel on Camden Street in Dublin, which it plans to turn into a 100-room hotel and pub on the back of a €4 million investment. The company’s aggressive Irish expansion plan is expected to create up to 1,350 new jobs. “We are looking forward to opening the new pubs, many of which will be in areas where Wetherspoon is not yet represented,” Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said. The company, which operates 931 pubs in the UK, controversially dropped Heineken products earlier this month following a row over the supply of beer to its new Forty Foot pub in Dún Laoghaire.
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SECOND TIME LUCKY FOR DUBLIN-LISTED DRAGON OIL - A second successful oil discovery has been made at an Iraqi land block 30% owned by Dublin-listed oil and gas explorer Dragon Oil. Dragon's partner in the venture, Kuwait Energy, announced the find and said it would shortly conduct more detailed testing on the well. A first successful find at the block was made in September, writes the Irish Independent. Shares in Dubai-headquartered Dragon closed up almost 2% in London yesterday afternoon. Dragon recently dropped a potential takeover of Irish oil and gas explorer Petroceltic, citing poor market conditions. The proposed deal had been announced in October and would have valued Petroceltic at £2.30 a share. But the company reserved the right under the Irish Takeover Rules to set aside its statement saying it was not interested, so another approach is possible. In its last interim management statement Dragon said it completed six new wells in the third quarter of the year and that its average daily gross production levels reached 80,510 barrels of oil a day in that period. That was a 9.6% increase on the level seen in the first half of this year.
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INEC OWNER PLUNGES INTO THE RED - The group that operates the INEC events centre in Killarney plunged into the red last year recording pre-tax losses of €606,228. According to accounts for Gleneagle Holdings (Killarney) Ltd, the business sustained the loss after recording a pre-tax profit of €47,348 in 2012, says the Irish Examiner. The group’s revenues dipped last year from €22.19m to €21.74m in the 12 months to the end of December. The accounts also show the group’s operating profits dropped by 58% from €703,524 to €297,245. Bank interest payments increasing by 37% to €903,473 resulted in the pre-tax loss, which also took account of combined non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs of €1.03m. The group’s cost of sales last year increased from €6m to €6.29m, with administrative expenses decreasing from €15.45m to €15.15m. Numbers employed by the group last year fell from 374 to 357, with staff costs increasing marginally from €8.98m to €9m. The principal activity of the group is the operation of a number of hotels, along with the operation of the INEC, which has recently staged performances by the likes of David Gray and Shane Filan, with Nathan Carter and Oliver Callan due to perform there this week.
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BRITAIN'S EU INFLUENCE WEAKENED, SAYS BARROSO - Britain’s influence in the EU has been weakened to a level that it has lost its historic status as the first point of contact between the US and Europe, according to former European Commission president José Manuel Barroso. Speaking in a BBC interview on Monday, Mr Barroso - who stepped down from his post two months ago - also warned a British exit from the EU would be a “real mistake from all points of view” and criticised the government for pursuing a “defensive agenda” in Brussels. The former EU president, who has been succeeded by Jean-Claude Juncker, expressed dismay at prime minister David Cameron’s increasingly fractious relations with European allies, though he admitted pressure from Conservative eurosceptics had put the PM in a difficult position, reports the Financial Times. “I see David Cameron as basically a very pragmatic leader, someone that certainly wants to defend the interests of his country, as previous prime ministers have done,” Mr Barroso told the BBC Radio 4’s World at One. “But while with Tony Blair Britain was really playing a very important role in the European Union, they were at the centre of decisions, today this is no longer the case,” he added. “I think it’s a matter for reflection: the American president, if he wants to get European countries on board, I think the first call he makes is to the chancellor of Germany, no longer to the British prime minister, and this is new.”
