Cigarette sales, Leo to meet the banks, and Arclight’s €20m payout

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

Pent-up demand by consumers should help the economy’s recovery, argues UCC economist Seamus Coffey. Photograph: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
Pent-up demand by consumers should help the economy’s recovery, argues UCC economist Seamus Coffey. Photograph: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Sales data circulated within the €1.8 billion Irish tobacco industry shows that the four replacement brands introduced by Japan Tobacco International following May's prohibition on menthol cigarettes had scooped up more than 5 per cent of the market by the middle of June. Mark Paul has the details.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe will meet with bank chief executives this week amid a row over interest charges accruing on mortgages that are subject to payment breaks due to the impact of the pandemic on borrowers. Mark Paul has the background.

Investors in Irish renewable energy fund Arclight are in line for a ¤20 million-plus payout after the business borrowed €43 million through a bond issue. Barry O'Halloran goes through the numbers.

An Irish-based unit of Norwegian airline is being sued in the courts here by its inflight caterer over thealleged non-payment of debt. Mark Paul has the details.

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Belfast-based medtech company BrainwaveBank, which has developed what it describes as a "Fitbit for the brain," has raised £1.1 million (€1.2 million) as it looks to further commercialise its ground-breaking technology. Charlie Taylor reports

The vast majority of people working from home during the pandemic do not want to return to the same working patterns as before, according to a survey by AIB. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.

The new Government should frontload spending increases needed to deal with the Covid-19 crisis, argues Séamus Coffey, a UCC lecturer in economics and a former chairman of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council.

Homeworking might have many benefits but is deprives us all of the juicy gossip from our workplaces, says FT columnist Emma Jacobs.

In his weekly column, Chris Johns wonders why tourists are not being tested for coronavirus on arrival into the country given the fear that they might be bringing the virus with them.

Many Irish companies plan to invest less in their IT infrastructure over coming years when they should be doing the opposite to cope with more staff working from home, PwC has warned.

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Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock is Business Editor of The Irish Times