🏠 Housing stirs, Revolut builds funds & the Treasury steps in

20 August 2026

Good morning. Housing is showing movement from several angles, Revolut is laying the groundwork for its own investment products in Ireland, and the Government has a rather awkward savings-versus-pay balancing act coming into view. Abroad, yesterday’s bond-market warning escalated rather faster than expected, with the US Treasury stepping in as long-term yields surged. Let’s get into it.

1. Housing Activity Picks Up. Housing commencements jumped 169% year-on-year to 3,028 in July, while annual house-price growth eased to 5.6% in June and the median home still cost €396,000. Land transactions also rose 80% to €478m in H1, driven by a handful of major Dublin deals, with just three transactions accounting for more than half of all capital deployed. Glenveagh also secured €859,000 from Enterprise Ireland for off-site construction R&D. More homes are entering the pipeline, but none of those numbers should be mistaken for completed supply.

2. Revolut Starts Building Its Own Funds. Revolut has registered Revolut Strategies ICAV with the Central Bank, creating the structure through which it could issue its own ETFs rather than only selling other managers’ products. The filing allows for ETF share classes and index-tracking strategies, while Revolut has also been hiring for fund-management expertise. Ireland already hosts more than 70% of European ETF assets. This comes quickly after Revolut rebranded to Revolut Bank. It is another sign that Dublin is becoming increasingly central to what Revolut wants to build next.

3. Savings Meet A Public Pay Fight. Almost 80% of adults surveyed say they would be interested in the Government’s proposed Savings & Investment Account, with BPFI estimating €2bn to €7bn could flow into it in year one. At the same time, public-sector unions want the next pay deal linked automatically to inflation, while a 4% rise would cost more than €1bn next year. Encouraging households to invest is one Budget challenge but keeping unions at bay on the latter or funding the State payroll if they're successful will be another whole challenge.

4. Irish Businesses Build Beyond Big Tech. Dublin brothers Danny and Michael Hogan’s Hosons Brands now supplies around 600 direct accounts and reaches up to 2,000 outlets through wholesalers, distributing independent drinks brands including Something & Nothing and Lemonaid. A separate story argues Ireland’s startup economy is being obscured by the attention given to multinational tech. Hosons provides the harder evidence about how indigenous growth can look like distribution and national retail deals as much as software and venture capital.

5. Sisk And ICG Put Quality Before The Headline Number. Sisk parent Sicon lifted pre-tax profit 27.7% to €74.2m despite lower turnover, while remaining debt-free with a €7.2bn advance order book. It also sees opportunity in the UK, where a housing shortage similar to Ireland’s sits alongside government plans for a major expansion of council and affordable housebuilding. ICG, meanwhile, brought forward results before its 28 August takeover vote as revenue rose 16% to €359.9m, but operating profit slipped 2.4% as costs increased sharply. Two different tests of where the growth is coming from.

Yesterday we said to watch the US bond sales. We did not quite expect the Treasury to step in. After long-term yields surged, it unexpectedly doubled planned liquidity-support buybacks for 10-to-30-year debt, helping pull the 30-year yield back from a 19-year high. US stock futures rose around 0.5% and gold hit a two-month high before easing this morning, while the dollar weakened. Across the Atlantic, UK inflation rose from 2.6% to 2.9% in July as higher energy bills bit. OpenAI’s quarterly revenue reportedly rose 18% to $6.7bn, although operating losses widened to $12.3bn. The US and Canada say they are close to a comprehensive trade deal after Washington delayed new tariffs for three days, while SK Hynix announced a $28.6bn share buyback after a recent slide in its stock.

Health & Pharma

Health & Pharma’s week is torn between massive drug breakthroughs abroad and steadier, more domestic growth at home, with Ireland's pharmacy and healthcare businesses quietly compounding while the weight-loss drug story moves into its next chapter.

Eli Lilly's retatrutide, nicknamed "Triple G" for the three GLP-1 receptors it activates, delivered 28.3 per cent average weight loss in phase three trials, a result its own executives compared to bariatric surgery. A US filing is targeted for early 2027, with Lilly's Kinsale campus already central to its Irish manufacturing of the underlying weight-loss ingredient. Novo Nordisk, meanwhile, has begun testing lower Wegovy doses to widen the range of approved maintenance levels. Separately, Moderna shares surged after a personalised cancer vaccine developed with Merck hit its primary endpoint in a late-stage melanoma trial, a reminder that oncology, not just obesity, is where pharma's next growth story may sit.

Closer to home, Meaghers Pharmacy grew turnover 23 per cent to €35.79m, absorbing a modest operating loss as it invests in delivery and its online arm. Athlone-founded Dunbar Pharma is expanding its cannabis-based dronabinol product into the UK, its second export market after Germany. Occupational health provider Medmark secured a strategic investment of up to €70m from UK's Phoenix Equity Partners to expand clinical teams and digital platforms.

The forward watch is whether Lilly's retatrutide dossier, once filed with the FDA, triggers fresh manufacturing or investment signals for its Irish sites.

In Friday’s Tá, the Sector Spotlight will be Property & Energy.

Thursday - The Deal Desk…

Exponent Backs OFS. Private equity firm Exponent has agreed to invest more than €70m in Kildare-based engineering group OFS, with the deal due to complete by year-end subject to regulatory approval.

ICG Heads For The Vote. ICG shareholders will vote on 28 August on Eamonn Rothwell’s €1.2bn take-private offer, worth €8 per share. The financial terms are final, although the takeover itself remains subject to shareholder approval.

Shein Sets Its IPO Price. Shein is targeting a valuation of around $25bn to $28bn for its long-awaited Hong Kong IPO, which Reuters reports it is aiming to launch later this week.

General Atlantic Tries Again. Investment giant General Atlantic has refreshed its SEC paperwork for a potential IPO, nearly three years after first filing. A public debut could come this year, although plans still depend on market conditions.

The alcohol-free lifestyle continues to gather pace, with Carlsberg reporting an 11% rise in zero-alcohol beer volumes. That should leave a little more sober, brain-fog-free time to try golf’s new AI helper, ApexGolf, and follow former Adare caddie Barry Moroney’s journey to scratch just to see how badly you’re doing. Donnybrook Fair, meanwhile, wants to use the upstairs of its flagship for Musgrave offices rather than somewhere to sit with a delicacy after sober golf. And when you get home, perhaps the robot will have cleaned the house as Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree briefly soared from a €1.15bn IPO valuation to more than €51bn on debut.

The Read – The Irish Times – Almost 3,000 Irish Entities Struck Off In 2026 As Regulator Ramps Up Enforcement

Nearly 3,000 companies have been involuntarily struck off Ireland's register this year for failing to file annual returns, compared with just 506 last year. The gap traces back to a Covid-era suspension and a botched 2023 relaunch that wrongly struck off 1,500 firms. The Companies Registration Office is now targeting up to 1,000 non-compliant companies weekly, up from 100 a year ago. It is a useful reminder for company officers that a long-dormant enforcement backlog is being cleared fast, with real financial and legal consequences for directors who assume the old leniency still applies. Link: Almost 3,000 Irish Entities Struck Off In 2026 As Regulator Ramps Up Enforcement

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