Plans by Ireland's banks to issue up to €10 billion in unsecured debt could be dealt a blow by a hard Brexit, the Sunday Times reports, citing concern from regulators. In the event of a no-deal Brexit, access by Irish banks to London's debt markets could be cut off. AIB and Bank of Ireland must each raise between €3 billion and €5 billion by 2020 from bondholders while Permanent TSB must raise €900 million, the newspaper says.
"Key managers" in Goodbody, the stockbroker, shared remuneration of almost €4.8 million last year while average pay at the group climbed to €138,000, according to the Sunday Business Post. Just fewer than 300 staff split a pay pot of almost €41.1 million last year, which includes salary, benefits and retirement funds, accounts filed last week show.
The Design and Craft Council of Ireland is working on plans to secure special EU protection for a number of Irish crafts, the Sunday Independent says. The organisation identified three uniquely Irish crafts which it believes should qualify for protected geographical indication status - like that afforded to Champagne, produced in the French region that bears the same name.
The Sunday Independent also reports that female representation in Irish boardrooms increased marginally last year. Of the 408 members of Iseq boards in 2018, 69 were women. However, around 7 per cent of all Iseq companies had no female representation at board level at all, the paper says, citing a study from recruitment company Accreate.
Both the Sunday Times and the Sunday Independent report that one of the country's biggest building groups, John Sisk and Son, is taking a 50 per cent stake in a unit of Designer Group, a Dublin-based engineering company, in a "multi-million euro deal".
Multinational corporations could be spooked by a €1.6 billion ruling against pharmaceutical giant Perrigo, the Sunday Business Post reports. The ruling by the Revenue Commissioners led to "Government sources" telling the paper that reverberations could be sent through the sector, with companies likely to examine the implications of the ruling.
