MICHAEL NOONAN QUERIES PROPOSAL TO BOOST EURO ZONE - Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has questioned the scope of a significant new European Central Bank plan to revive the euro zone’s stagnant economy.
Only days before the ECB’s governors gather in Frankfurt to decide on a scheme to buy up sovereign bonds, Mr Noonan has said he fears the effort will be ineffective, says the Irish Times. Talks within the ECB centre on a plan for the national central banks of euro zone countries to remain on the hook for any losses incurred on the bonds acquired by the ECB. This is known formally as quantitative easing, a policy deployed with success in the US and Britain but heavily contested in Germany in light of concerns that it would amount to printing money. While the objective is to avert a deflationary spiral in the single currency area and spur economic growth, Mr Noonan told an International Monetary Fund conference in Dublin Castle that the initiative might not go far enough. “I believe that, if it becomes the function of national central banks rather than primarily of Frankfurt, then I think it will be ineffective,” Mr Noonan said. “If it’s the function of national central banks I don’t think there’d be a mutualisation of risk. As well as that, I think it would give a signal in terms of banking policy that there’s a reversal of approach," he said. Mr Noonan’s remarks received a cold response from ECB executive board member Benoît Cœuré, who was sitting beside him in the same panel.
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WATERFORD WEDGWOOD: OWNER COULD BAG €400m PROFIT ON SALE AFTER JUST SIX YEARS - Just six years after Waterford Wedgwood was bought out of receivership, its US private equity owners have put it up for sale with a price tag of more than €650m, says the Irish Independent. It will represent a massive return for New York-based KPS Capital Partners, which bought the 250-year-old business for €107m after it went into receivership in January 2009. The crystal and china firm owed about €800m when a receiver was appointed, including €346.5m to debenture holders and €195m to unsecured creditors. Former billionaire Anthony O'Reilly and his brother-in-law, Peter Goulandris, lost over €500m between them when the company collapsed, having used their fortunes to prop up the business over a number of years. KPS paid just €6m for the Waterford Wedgwood intellectual property - effectively the brand names. The launch of the sales process comes less than a month after the Government agreed to stump up €178m for nearly 1,800 former workers at the plant whose battle for pension payments was won after taking a case to Brussels. Rumours of a planned sale by KPS first emerged last May.
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HAWK-EYE SCORES AS PROFITS SOAR BY 14.5% TO €4.3m - Pre-tax profits at the technology firm that determined the fate of the 2014 Hurling All-Ireland final increased by 14.5% to £3.25m (€4.23m) last year. On All-Ireland final day last year, thousands of Tipperary supporters believed John ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer had won the Liam MacCarthy Cup with a last-gasp, long- range free against Kilkenny. However, the Hawk-Eye technology deployed in Croke Park made its most momentous call yet when it ruled the free wide, resulting in the final being a draw, and leading the match to become known as the Hawk-Eye final. The figures lodged by Hawk-Eye Innovations Ltd with Companies House in the UK show the firm enjoyed the jump in profits after revenues soared by 47.5% from £6.8m to £10m in the 12 months to the end of March last, says the Irish Examiner. Along with the business from the GAA, Hawk-Eye enjoyed increased revenues and profits after its goal-line technology was deployed at grounds around the Premier League in England from the start of the 2013-14 season. Reports have suggested it has cost the GAA €200,000 to have Hawk-Eye installed, though the cost has never been confirmed. Yesterday, the GAA confirmed the use of Hawk-Eye at Croke Park last year increased by 45%, going from 31 to 45 matches. However, the use of Hawk-Eye during football ties fell by 50%, from 10 to five matches. The use in hurling ties increased from 10 to 11.
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UK ECONOMY SHOWS SHIFT TO LOW-SKILLED JOBS, RESEARCH FINDS - Britain’s economy has shifted more towards low-skilled jobs and less towards high-skilled ones compared with other European countries, according to Oxford university research reports the Financial Times. The findings which cover 1996-2008 are likely to add to the debate over the long-term issues of pay, skills and productivity in the UK, where employment levels have been remarkably resilient but labour productivity languishes below most other rich countries. The prime minister called Britain the “jobs factory of Europe” on Monday, championing employment rates that are flirting with record highs. But at the same time, unions complain that too many people are stuck in badly paid work and employers say they cannot find the skilled workers they need. The long-term pattern of jobs growth in the UK, as in most other European countries, has resembled an hourglass: the share of mid-skilled jobs such as secretaries and machine operators has been squeezed by technology and globalisation, while the share of low-skilled jobs - for example, shop assistants - and high-skilled jobs, such as managers, has expanded. But the research paper argues that process has played out differently in the UK than in most of its neighbours. For every 10 middle-skilled jobs that disappeared in the UK between 1996 and 2008, about 4.5 of the replacement jobs were high-skilled and 5.5 were low-skilled. In Ireland, the balance was about eight high-skilled to two low-skilled, while in France and Germany it was about seven to three. Only the Netherlands saw a similar same pattern to the UK, while Portugal did worse with no growth in high-skilled jobs at all.
