Employment

Bitesize Business: deals, jobs and start-up investment

By Business & Finance
06 December 2016
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Business & Finance brings you the day’s Irish business news in brief.


Bord Gáis Energy signs multi-million-euro contract with Bausch + Lomb

energy

Bausch + Lomb has signed a two-year electricity and gas deal with Bord Gáis Energy, worth several million euros over this period.

Bord Gáis Energy has also supported the development of a state of the art 3.3MW Combined heat and power unit (CHP) at the pharmaceutical manufacturer’s Waterford facility.

Bausch + Lomb employs approximately 1,250 people in Ireland and is currently undergoing a significant expansion, with plans to hire an additional 150 staff. To support this business growth, and improve energy efficiency, the team at Bord Gáis Energy assisted with the installation of a new CHP which allows Bausch + Lomb to generate up to 70% of its electricity and 90% of its thermal needs for the site.

Aldi announces 400 new jobs in €100m store expansion

aldi

Aldi Ireland is to create 400 new jobs in Ireland over the next three years as part of a €100m expansion programme of its Irish store network.

The investment will see Aldi open 20 new Irish stores along with extending a number of its current stores over the same three-year period.

The new stores will be located throughout the country, with stores in Trim, Co. Meath, Leixlip, Co. Kildare and Ennistymon, Co. Clare opening in early 2017.

Aldi is currently in the planning process for an additional five new stores in 2017 plus nine extensions to its existing portfolio.

Irish start-up secures €1.2m investment from Alibaba

cinema

Dublin cinema start-up Showtime has secured €1.2m in funding from Alibaba Pictures.

The joint venture will see Showtime and Alibaba Pictures’ owned Yueke/Finixx collaborate to develop products specific to the Chinese cinema industry.

Showtime, based in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, was founded in 2014 by Richie Power, Joe Spurling and Paul Lynch and now employs 30 people. The company provides data analytics products to cinema owners and film distributors.

InvizBox announced as JumpStart 2016 Winners

jumpstart

The Learning and Innovation Centre (LINC) at the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (ITB) have announced InvizBox as the winner of JumpStart 2016, their annual start-up competition.

Winning company Invizbox was co-founded by husband and wife, Paul Canavan, and Elizabeth Canavan, and Chris Monks. InvizBox is a leader in easy to use ‘plug and play’ devices which secure communications and provide privacy.

Dalata Hotel Group completes takeover of The DoubleTree

clayton

Dalata have announced it will now manage operations of the iconic Dublin landmark hotel on Burlington Road, Ballsbridge.

The hotel will operate under their Clayton Hotel Brand and will be known as Clayton Hotel Burlington Road.

This landmark hotel, which is still remembered by many as ‘The Burlington’, has more recently been operated by Hilton under their DoubleTree brand.

Having completed a full refurbishment under the previous ownership, the hotel will retain all employees at the property and Dalata are delighted that David Monks, general manager, will remain at the helm supported by his existing management team.

Numbers considering inheritance tax policies set to increase

life-insurance

Royal London has said that anecdotal evidence from financial brokers nationwide has indicated that the number of people enquiring about life insurance has risen as a result.

A protection specialist report that feedbacks from some financial brokers on the back of October’s Budget announcement suggests many families, particularly those in Dublin, have analysed the numbers and are planning to put life insurance policies in place to help cover potential future inheritance tax liabilities for their children.

Royal London has pointed to Minister Noonan’s Budget speech where he said that he would revisit the thresholds in future budgets “with a view to increasing them further” but, saying that, it’s difficult to predict when, if ever, this might happen.