IRISH ECONOMY TO BE EURO ZONE'S FASTEST GROWING UP TO 2024 - Ireland is to be the fastest-growing economy in the eurozone out to 2024, PwC has forecast.
The Irish economy is projected to show GDP growth of 3.5% in 2018 and average growth of 2.8% for the period 2020 to 2024, compared to eurozone average growth of 2.2% and 1.6% respectively for these periods, says the Irish Independent. "This strong economic growth in Ireland is based on continued investment and household consumption growth as well as continuing FDI flows," said Feargal O'Rourke, PwC Ireland managing partner. "This is boosted by a favourable business environment, decreasing unemployment as well as positive economic news in the eurozone expected to boost Irish exports." The figures were contained in the PwC global CEO report, published to coincide with the start of the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine town Davos. Politicians, business chiefs, bankers and celebrities will meet under the banner 'Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World' for the four-day gathering against an unsettling global backdrop. A decade after the bankruptcy of US investment bank Lehman Brothers helped trigger a global financial crisis, economic growth has returned and stock markets are hitting record highs.
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€300m BREXIT FUND TO AID BUSINESSES - Some €300 million in funding is to be made available to Irish businesses under the Government's Brexit loan scheme following the signing of a counter guarantee.
In October's budget, €14 million was allocated to the Department of Enterprise for the scheme, together with €9 million for the Department of Agriculture, which will ensure at least 40 per cent of the fund will be available to food businesses. The scheme is supported by the European Investment Bank Group (EIB), the European Commission and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), writes the Irish Times. Minister for Enterprise Heather Humphreys, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed and Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe met with the EIB and the SBCI for the formal agreement of a counter guarantee through the European Investment Fund. The signing of the counter guarantee means the total of €23 million can be leveraged to provide €300 million to Irish businesses affected by Brexit. The scheme will be open to eligible businesses with up to 499 employees from March 2018. Mr Creed said the loan scheme would provide "affordable, flexible working capital financing to Irish SMEs and mid-caps that are either currently impacted by Brexit or who will be in the coming period".
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LARGE HIDDEN FUND CHARGES REVEALED BY MIFID II RULES - The total cost of investing in popular funds, including those run by Janus Henderson, BlackRock and Vanguard, is up to four times higher than first thought, the Financial Times has revealed.
The Mifid II trading rules, which came into force this month, have forced asset managers to disclose hidden charges. They can no longer provide just an ongoing costs figure (OCF), the industry’s standard measure of running costs. Instead, asset managers and fund distributors must give the total cost, including transaction or trading costs and other charges. Analysis by FTfm and Lang Cat, the asset management consultancy, shows many investors pay almost double the OCF in the UK’s most popular funds once transaction costs are included. This can go up to four times OCF if platform charges and performance fees are included. Mike Barrett, Lang Cat director, said the size of hidden costs that investors were being saddled with was a "real eye opener". "It is undoubtedly good that this clarity is here now. But it is grimy that it has taken some EU regulation for asset managers to tell investors what the true cost of investing is. It is a long time coming for all of us," he said. "You have always been paying these fees, but now the fund groups have the good grace to tell you these costs upfront," he added.
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TESCO TO SHED UP TO 1,700 UK JOBS IN NEW MANAGEMENT SHAKE-UP - Tesco is stripping out a layer of management from its UK stores in a move that puts up to 1,700 jobs at risk, in the latest effort by the supermarket chain to cut costs by £1.5 billion.
The company said it would remove people managers, who handle recruitment and other personnel matters, compliance managers, responsible for health and safety, and customer experience managers, who oversee service in 226 of Tesco's largest stores, writes today's Guardian. Their responsibilities will be shifted to 900 new roles, which will handle matters such as human resources across multiple stores and in Tesco’s distribution network. The latest wave of job cuts are part of a plan to slash £1.5 billion from Tesco’s cost base. It comes after up to 1,200 head office jobs were cut last summer. The supermarket’s Cardiff call centre closes this month, with a loss of 1,100 jobs.
