A third (33%) of the 336 business leaders questioned for the B2Best research in February said they are more optimistic about the economy than they were a year ago. A further quarter (27%) said they saw no change in their optimism levels year-on-year while four in 10 businesses (40%) are less optimistic about the Irish economy than they were this time last year, the research conducted for Business Plus by Amárach shows. The vast majority (87%) of executives who responded work for Irish-headquartered firms, but of the 13% attached to multinationals, 38% said they are more optimistic and 33% are ..read more

Meet Mark Barrocas, the American who wants to help you clean up your house, style your hair, create delicious meals in your kitchen - and in your garden too, writes Francesca Washtell. Dyson may be Britain's best known vacuum cleaner and posh hair-styler brand. But SharkNinja, the New York-listed company where Barrocas is chief executive, wants to win over UK and Irish consumers. The business, established in 1994, also supplies hair dryers and stylers in its "pursuit of extreme consumer delight and unwavering trust". Alleged similarities between the products of SharkNinja and Dyson have led t ..read more

British companies have been labelled "sitting ducks" as foreign predators hunt takeover bargains in London, writes Leah Montebello and John Abiona. The swoop on Anglo American - the second FTSE 100 firm to receive a takeover bid this year - has sparked speculation over which company will be next. City analysts think vulnerable blue-chip stocks include BP, Unilever, BP, Reckitt Benckiser, Standard Chartered, Entain and Burberry. Other targets include names such as Dr Martens and Aston Martin, according to AJ Bell, which said companies are under threat mainly because they are undervalued in the ..read more

Showtime Analytics Ltd has appointed Conor Noone of Azets as Process Adviser under the SCARP company rescue process. Noone was appointed on 22 April to commence a process aimed at sorting out the company’s finances and preserving the jobs of 23 employees. Showtime Analytics, based in Blackrock, Co Dublin, was established in 2014 to gather data for cinema industry clients and assist them with marketing movies. The company’s backers include Alibaba Pictures, a subsidiary of the Chinese tech giant. Company accounts for 2022, signed off in March 2024, disclose a net loss of €1.9m booked in 2022 ..read more

More than a third (35%) of Irish companies expect to increase their expenditure on marketing this year, with 44% stating it will remain the same, and just 10% expecting a decrease, according to B2Best research. Irish companies will spend an average of 4.62% of their turnover on marketing this year, rising to 5.63% among foreign-headquartered companies. In the survey conducted for Business Plus by Amárach Research, two-fifths (39%) of decision makers at Irish businesses said their company would spend from 5-10% of turnover on marketing. Some 20% of respondents said their company would spend 5 ..read more

Five complaints relating to remote or hybrid working have been received by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). The complaints have been lodged since the introduction of the 'right to request remote/flexible work (FW)' in early March. Figures released to RTÉ News by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment show that up to 23 April five people had made complaints to the WRC about remote or flexible working. “'The complaints will be addressed by the adjudication officer and, as with all cases, will be published on the WRC website,” a department spokesperson said. The legislation ..read more

It's been at the heart of Galway retail for more than 86 years, providing traditional Irish garments to celebrities for decades. As it announces its closing, Anne Ó'Máille's tells Lisa Brady that Aran knitting could die out. Among the shops, pubs, hotels and restaurants on Galway's bustling High Street, there's something of an institution that has become as much of a tourist destination as it is a retailer. In fact, to call Ó'Máille simply a store would do the place an injustice. This 'House of Style' is part of the tapestry of the community, with a history that spans almost nine decades. Sinc ..read more

The family-owned Dublin-based Milish Bakery has secured a multi-million-euro deal with retailer Marks & Spencer to supply muffins to 640 Marks & Spencer stores in Ireland and the UK. The deal is a significant boost for the bakery, which has increased its workforce by 20% within the company's operations at the Citywest site to meet the heightened demand. These positions will encompass a range of roles spanning production, logistics, and quality control, further bolstering the bakery's workforce and contributing to local employment growth. Milish muffins stocked in M&S will be produ ..read more

Vantage Data Centers, a leading global provider of hyperscale data centre campuses, plans to invest over €1 billion over multiple phases on a new data centre development at Grange Castle in west Dublin. The first two phases consist of 52MW of IT capacity, with the first phase expected to be operational in late 2024. Upon completion, DUB1 will mark Vantage’s 14th EMEA campus in a growing regional portfolio that spans seven countries. Sited on 22 acres, the Profile Park facility will extend to 405,000 square feet, consisting of one 32MW facility and one 20MW facility and has available land and ..read more

Thanks to their ongoing partnership, the Subaru Solterra is to all intents and purposes the same car as the Toyota bZ4X. Nowhere, perhaps, is this more explicit than in the name - Sol, Terra and Luna have been grade names for Toyota models over the years. So, nothing earth-shaking in the design, though it does have a sunny disposition and a large panoramic roof. It is, though, an attractive car, even in the rather lumpen grey of my test model. The sharply raked rear window and long nose give it a sort of jockey's cap urgency, and the black roof rails, kickline, and wheel arches that extend in ..read more