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Dalata has reported pre-tax profits of €44.1m for the year ended 31 December 2016 – up 55pc for the same period the previous year.

Ireland’s largest hotel operator has also recorded revenue of €290.6m, up 28.8pc compared with the year ended in 2015.

Dalata operates Ireland’s two largest hotel brands, Clayton Hotels and Maldron Hotels across Ireland and the UK.

Over the last twelve months, Dalata invested €25.4m in hotel redevelopment and refurbishment of existing hotels, including the refurbishment of 748 bedrooms.

The group entered into 25 year lease for the Clayton Hotel Burlington Road from Deka Immobilien – and completed the rebranding of four hotels to Clayton in the last two months of the year

Net upward property revaluation posted is €66.6m, as extensions are planned at four hotels in Dublin and Galway – and four other hotels are under construction in Dublin Belfast and Newcastle.

A further fifth hotel is being planned at a site in Cork.

It is expected that the 500 jobs are being created in Ireland and UK as a result of Dalata’s expansion.

“2016 was a year that saw further significant growth in our portfolio adding seven hotels and c. 1,600 rooms to the business,” Pat McCann, Dalata Group CEO, said.

“We have also locked in a growth pipeline of 1,200 new hotel rooms which will come into operation during 2018.”

Mr McCann said that the Clayton and Maldron brands are now the two largest hotel brands in Ireland.

“The Dublin hotel market continued to perform very strongly in 2016. I was very pleased with our own RevPAR growth of 19.9pc versus the city as a whole at 16.1pc,” he said.

“There does finally appear to be some additional supply coming into the market from the second half of 2018 but I believe that demand in the city will comfortably absorb new capacity. The Regional Ireland hotels also continued to perform very strongly for us and, with a minimal amount of new supply in the pipeline, we believe that the outlook for Cork, Limerick and Galway remains very positive.”

Dalata is listed on the Main Market of the Irish Stock Exchange (DHG) and the London Stock Exchange (DAL).
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BANK of Ireland lent more than £1bn to businesses in the North last year – up by a third.

The bank said the growth took place across small, medium and large businesses.

Overall, small company lending saw a 22pc increase in 2016. And the bank said that, “despite the headwinds”, demand for agri-business was also up – including farmers and other food producers.

The boost to its loan book comes just days after First Trust announced it was closing 15 branches – slashing its network in half. The Brexit vote and the impact on sterling has affected Bank of Ireland, which has significant operations in the North and Britain, where it has a partnership with the British Post Office.

Business in the North and Britain accounts for 40pc of its assets.

Bank of Ireland last week reported €1.071bn (£910m) profits for the year to the end of December, down from €1.2bn (£1.02bn) the previous year.

It announced that it will not pay shareholders a dividend until 2018. The bank said it had taken the decision to award dividend payments to shareholders after the end of the 2017 financial year.

Richie Boucher, the bank’s ceo, said the overall impact of the Brexit vote had yet to have a wider negative effect.

Mr Boucher told the Sunday Independent that the bank had yet to see any material sign of credit distress “in the obvious places that you’d expect – retail and hospitality in the border counties and the food and agriculture”.

Ian Sheppard, regional director NI, Bank of Ireland, said growth has been based right across the sectors.

“We welcome the sustained increase in activity and are delighted with the continued growth in lending approvals,” said Mr Sheppard.

“We are particularly pleased to welcome new customers as it shows we have the people, the products, the services and the funds to provide local businesses with the broad range of support they need to grow.

“Growth has come from all segments in the past year, which underlines the resilience of local businesses to not only navigate their way through uncertain times, but to tenaciously find new ways of adding value and growing their operations.

“Lending approvals to small business were up 22pc year-on-year and, despite the headwinds, demand for agri-lending also increased.

“Farmers and food producers, like many businesses, rely on strong working partnerships. Our local branch network and local sector experts – such as agri and commercial finance – have played a vital role in building relationships that work for our customers.”
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Online financial services and lending companies are increasingly being targeted by fraudsters and costing consumers millions of pounds around the world last year alone, according to research.

Cyber attacks against online lending companies and alternative payment systems increased 122pc last year, according to ThreatMetrix, a security company that monitors more than £20bn(€23.5bn) online transactions a year.

The fraud is estimated to have cost consumers as much as £8bn in 2016, the company said.

The spike in fraud comes as online financial services are growing in popularity. A combination of greater trust and ease of use means customers are increasingly opting to use digital businesses. In the UK, financial services transactions online grew by 10pc last year.

But this uptick has made the industry a prime target for cyber attacks, ThreatMetrix said after detecting 80m attacks on the financial sector using fake or stolen credentials in 2016.

“Due to its surge in popularity, and fast transaction cycles, online lending has become a prime target for cyber criminals,” said Vanita Pandey, vice president of strategy at ThreatMetrix. “Online lenders are under increasing pressure to adopt smarter authentication methods to accelerate genuine loans and prevent fraud.”

The most common crime in the UK spotted by the researchers was identity theft using data stolen in high-profile breaches, such as those against Yahoo and LinkedIn. ThreatMetrix said the majority of fraudulent attacks appear to have originated in developing countries including Brazil, Egypt, Ghana, Jordan, Nigeria and Macedonia.

As cyber crime becomes a regular challenge for businesses, separate research from Timico has revealed the scale of damage ransomware attacks can inflict on British companies.

A survey of 1,000 companies who have been victims of a ransomware attack, when cyber criminals lock all the files in a system and demand payment, revealed such breaches on average knock systems down for a full week, costing up to £2,000 a day in lost revenue.

Of the affected businesses, more than 250 paid over £5,000 for the safe return of their data. One third couldn’t access their information for a month after the attack, while 15pc said it was never recoverable.

“These research findings clearly show that the speed of a ransomware attack is almost instant, while the effects on the organisation can be far reaching,” said Nabeil Samara, chief digital officer at Timico.

“It’s critical that all organisations, no matter what size, acknowledge the increasing and evolving threat of ransomware as attacks become ever more frequent and instil a policy, that is regularly updated, to educate staff on what to do if the business comes under attack.”
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Cork-based financial services firm Global Shares aims to be in a position in 2020 where it could stage an initial public offering (IPO) on either the London Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq. The firm is expected to be valued at about €100m by then and making pre-tax profits of $16m (€15.1m)

A recent fundraising by the company secured €4.5m in backing, with a number of well-heeled businesspeople stumping up cash. Technology entrepreneur Pearse Mee invested €900,000. The fundraising valued Global Shares at €28.2m.

Global Shares was founded in 2005. The founder and former chief executive of IFG, Richard Hayes, later led an investment group that took a significant interest in the Cork firm. He is now chairman of Global Shares.

The company has developed software used by companies to manage their employee equity plans. It works with about 200 firms, and its clients include well-known public and private companies such as UniCredit, Sage, Experian, Skanska, GSK Ireland, Ambev, Irish Life and PM Group.

Global Shares has recently signed a number of significant strategic partnerships.

It inked an agreement with US financial services giant Fidelity that will see Global Shares software made available to the US firm’s individual clients, who can use it to sell shares or share options, when managing their retirement plans, for example. Fidelity would benefit by executing transactions on behalf of customers.

Global Shares has also signed an agreement with Hong Kong-based Yunfeng Financial Group, a brokerage in which Alibaba founder Jack Ma and others have invested $346m. Global Shares hopes to use Yunfeng as a growth platform similar to the way in which it will use Fidelity in the United States.

The Clonakilty company, which employs 100 people, has also signed a partnership with Singapore-based Boardroom, the leading share registrar in southeast Asia.

Last year, Global Shares secured $4.8m of new business, with 83pc of that expected to be recurring on an annual basis.

This year, the company hopes to generate $6.9m of new business, with its total revenue hitting between $10m and $11m.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, Mr Hayes confirmed that the company aims to be in a position where it could make a stockmarket debut by 2020 if it chooses to do so. The company’s annual revenue that year is targeted to be $35m.
“What we’re talking about is very ambitious,” he said, in terms of Global Shares’ growth projections.

He also said that he does not expect to have to tap shareholders again for funding, as Global Shares should begin to generate cash “very quickly”.

Other backers in Global Shares include Will Wyatt, the chief executive of London-based Caledonia Investments, Fexco founder Brian McCarthy and Blarney Castle owner Sir Charles Colthurst.
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Consumers are less confident about the economy this month than they were in January, as Brexit and US President Donald Trump’s protectionist rhetoric played on their minds.

But the latest Bank of Ireland Economic Pulse shows that businesses were slightly more upbeat, with continuing evidence that the economy is improving, and employment rising.

The Bank of Ireland Economic Pulse stood at 92.6 this month.

The index, which combines the results of the Consumer and Business Pulses, was down 0.6 points on January and 4.4 points lower than this time a year ago.

The Consumer Pulse index lost ground this month, touching 89.8, which is 4.6 points lower than in January.

A third of consumers surveyed this month thought it was a good time to buy big-ticket items such as furniture and electrical goods. In January, 44pc thought it was a good time to do so.

At 93.2, the Business Pulse index was broadly unchanged on January’s reading but mixed across the sectors.

Loretta O’Sullivan, Bank of Ireland group chief economist, said while the weak pound should cut import prices, recent rising oil prices were resulting in higher input costs for many firms.
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Eir has launched a process to cut the cost of its debts, by asking lenders to accept lower interest payments.

Last summer Eir, formerly Eircom, reaped savings of €17m a year when it refinanced bonds that carried a 9.25pc interest rate and were set to mature in 2020, with new bonds issued at a rate of 4.5pc.

The company said last night that it has now launched a process to refinance €1.6bn of loans that carry an interest rate of 4pc over euribor. A meeting of banks is scheduled to take place today in London.

Goldman Sachs has been appointed “lead left bookrunner,” in effect the lead adviser among a syndicate of banks made up of Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan who will manage the deal.

The current debt has been in place since 2012, when the company emerged from Examinership, though it has been amended and reduced from an original €2.377bn in the period since then.

Eir’s net debt was €2,206bn at the end of December, including the senior loans and bonds.

The senior loans that are being refinanced weren’t due to mature until 2022. When the original loans were put in place in 2012 they were held by banks and investment funds that also owned the former Eircom, following its Examinership.

For two years after the insolvency process the loans and shares were stapled – so that any investor selling one had to sell an equal share of the other.

Since that ended, the mix of investors holding loans or shares in Eir has diverged enormously. Eir, led by ceo Richard Moate, is now 40pc-owned by New York-based private equity group Anchorage.

Last summer Eir tapped the bond market for €700m – more than the €350m it originally sought – as investor demand boosted the amount it could borrow. It used the new debt to repay €350m of expensive high-yield bonds and to repay a share of its senior loans.

Its latest refinancing is likely to include offering current lenders a choice of being repaid or rolling into a new facility.
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Bank of Ireland(BOI) has announced that it will not pay shareholders a dividend until 2018.

The bank said it had taken the decision to award dividend payments to shareholders at the end of the 2017 financial year.

BOI announced underlying profit of €1,071m for 2016 and said it has increased the size of its core loan book by €1.7bn.

New lending rose to €13bn, while the bank said it had reduced its non-performing loans by 40pc compared to 2015.

“Our business is performing in line with the strategic objectives we have set ourselves. All trading divisions are profitable and have contributed to our strong financial performance during the period,” said Bank of Ireland ceo Richie Boucher.

Mr Boucher said political uncertainty- namely Brexit- could have an impact on the business in the coming years.

“Political events, in particular the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, may impact on our customers and our business growth in the coming years,” Mr Boucher continued.

“Nevertheless, we remain confident that the substantial progress the Group has made in recent years,” he added.
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Ulster Bank’s operating profit in Ireland fell by €338m last year as a result of costs paid to thousands of its customers affected by the tracker mortgage scandal.

The bank posted a profit of just €24m for last year due to an increase in lititgation costs of €229m. The bank also suffred a €56m loss as a result of impairment costs.

Ulster bank said the costs “reflect a provision for remediation and programme costs associated with an industry wide examination of tracker mortgages.”

The bank’s adjusted operating profit fell by 23pc compared to 2015 as a result of the costs.

” We have reported good progress on our work on the Tracker Mortgage Examination as 1,885 customer accounts have been restored to a tracker rate. As previously indicated, we do expect to identify more impacted customers and we are working through this process with the Central Bank as a matter of urgency,” Ulster Bank ceo Gerry Mallon said.

“We recognise that these are complex matters and that speed of resolution should not be at the expense of fairness or accuracy,” he added.

Non-interest income decreased by €52 million, down 20pc, due to a one-off €33m gain realised on the closure of a foreign exchange exposure in 2015 and a €13m interim adjustment to the pricing of foreign exchange transactions.

Net loans and advances to customers decreased €0.6bn, while restructuring costs rose by €27m to €48m.
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The impact of Brexit on the Irish economy is likely to be “negative and material,” the Central Bank deputy governor has said, as she revealed it is monitoring the effects on Irish banks with UK arms.

New data yesterday showed that the UK economy sped up at the end of 2016.

But over the whole year it was weaker than previously thought and there were signs that the Brexit vote will increasingly act as a brake on growth in 2017.

Business investment in the UK fell and slowing household spending growth raised questions about the outlook for 2017.

The Central Bank here thinks there is some potential for a positive impact on Irish growth as a result of Brexit, from higher cross-border investment by companies opting out of the UK.

Central Bank deputy governor Sharon Donnery said yesterday that this investment may go beyond the financial sector to include new investment in the technology and fintech sectors.

However, the fallout on other parts of the economy, including Irish exports to the UK, means the overall effect here will be lower growth, she said in a speech at the Irish Centre for European Law, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.

She also warned of volatility in the period between Brexit being triggered and new arrangements being put in place.

“In the context of these key channels, our forecasts incorporate a negative adjustment to projected GDP growth because of Brexit-related factors amounting to about 0.6pc in 2017 and 0.2pc in 2018,” she said.

The Central Bank is also closely monitoring Irish banks that have a large exposure to the UK, she said, identifying it as a potential channel for contagion into the Irish market.

Both Bank of Ireland and AIB operate in Northern Ireland. Bank of Ireland in particular also has a substantial business in Britain, its UK operations add up to around 40pc of all lending.

Meanwhile, the pound fell after yesterday’s figures from the UK’s own Office for National Statistics (ONS), which no longer showed Britain was the fastest-growing major advanced economy last year.

Gross domestic product rose by 0.7pc in the fourth quarter, faster than the preliminary reading of 0.6pc thanks to manufacturing and the strongest growth since the fourth quarter of 2015.

The figures are likely to reinforce UK finance minister Philip Hammond’s view that there is no case right now to borrow more to help the British economy when he announces his annual budget on March 8.

But he will keep a close eye on warning signs in Wednesday’s data. The ONS also trimmed its estimate for 2016 growth to 1.8pc from 2pc, due to businesses stockpiling fewer goods and materials in early 2016.

That pushed Britain’s economic growth rate slightly below Germany’s 1.9pc.

Separate ONS data showed Britain’s dominant services sector expanded in December at the slowest pace in seven months.

Angus Armstrong, director of macroeconomics at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, said the familiar pattern of consumers driving the economy was likely to fade.

“The UK economy needs another driver if it is not to have a significant slowdown in 2017,” he said. “The pattern of strong consumer spending and weaker business investment can only be a limited one.” (Additional reporting Reuters)
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AIB is closing half of its bank branches in Northern Ireland Ireland as part of a dramatic shake-up.

A total of 15 of its 30 branches are to shut down in the next six months. No further closures are planned in the Republic.

It is likely the closures will generate criticism in the North, where the shutdowns could become a political hot potato as the bank is 99.9pc owned by the Irish State.

And the closures may be viewed as a cost-cutting exercise ahead of a planned sale of 25pc of the bank due to happen as early as May or June.

By contrast, AIB has opened three outlets within the State since 2015, in Dublin and Cork.

First Trust Bank announced last night it has completed a strategic review and will introduce “a reshaping and investment programme designed to ensure a sustainable future for the bank and its customers, addressing the considerable shift in customer behaviour and their changing needs.”

The programme will involve “a significant £10m investment strategy for personal and business customers,” including five new business centres across Northern Ireland.

The bank has agreed a partnership with the Post Office in Northern Ireland that will enable customers to conduct their everyday banking transactions in any of the 500 Post Offices across Northern Ireland.

A spokesperson said “To support and minimise any inconvenience through the transition, the Bank will write to impacted customers in advance to tell them how to use alternative branches, services and transact at the Post Office.

“Branch staff will be available to help and advise, and customers can also telephone our dedicated helpline 0345 600 3749 9am – 5pm with any specific queries,”

Head of First Trust Bank, Des Moore said: “Due to changing customer behaviours and trends and in particular the sizable shift from branch usage towards digital banking, First Trust Bank has undertaken an 18-month strategic review… the bank’s existing voluntary severance programme will be extended to impacted staff.”
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