Thursday

Good morning. PTSB shareholders vote on BAWAG’s €1.6bn offer today, while Boston Scientific restructuring, investment-account safeguards and stronger Irish company results fill out the domestic picture. Property & Energy arrives early this week, with the LDA preparing to borrow at scale as water, power and fuel costs shape what can actually be built. Abroad, oil is back above $90 and markets are still deciding how much AI spending is too much. Let’s get into it.

A quick programming note: Your Morning Tá is stretching the Bank Holiday weekend a little further, so there won’t be a newsletter tomorrow. We won’t leave you completely stranded, though. A short business update will be posted on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/your-morning-ta

1. PTSB Shareholders Vote On BAWAG Deal Today. PTSB reported a 34% rise in first-half profit as shareholders prepare to vote today on BAWAG’s proposed €1.6bn takeover. The State’s 57.5% holding makes approval likely, but the 75% threshold must still be formally met. That vote is why the deal returns this morning. Even approval would leave court, regulatory and completion stages ahead.

2. Work Decisions Are Coming Under Closer Scrutiny. Boston Scientific has notified the Government that more than 30 Irish jobs are at risk as the company, which employs over 7,000 people here, undergoes restructuring. Kyndryl workers are also being balloted for industrial action over disputed redundancy terms, while separate research questions how employers measure remote-work productivity. A Limerick tips case, meanwhile, heard that witnesses could not explain a card machine linked to about €5,000. Jobs, performance and employee money increasingly require evidence over assumptions.

3. Harris’s Investment Accounts Meet Their Risk Test. The Society of Actuaries has warned that the Government’s proposed investment accounts should steer inexperienced savers towards diversified products rather than concentrated stock-picking. Its intervention follows wider concerns about consumer protection before the Department of Finance publishes the scheme’s roadmap. Encouraging households to invest is the easy political talk but deciding how much risk they should carry is more difficult, especially given Minister Harris admits to having never invested himself.

4. Stripe’s First Hire Buys A US Bank. Darragh Buckley, Stripe’s first employee, has completed his takeover of Twin City Bank and renamed it Increase Bank. Buckley also founded Increase, which supplies banking technology to fintech companies such as Stripe and Ramp. Common ownership will allow the technology business and regulated bank to work more closely together, reducing Increase’s reliance on outside banking partners.

5. Irish Growth Shows Up In Company Results. Ireland’s GDP rose an estimated 3.9% between the first and second quarters, driven mainly by multinational-dominated technology output, although the economy remained 1.6% smaller than a year earlier. Kerry Group separately reported higher first-half volumes, earnings and margins while maintaining its full-year guidance. The figures are positive, but the contrast matters: headline national growth remains volatile, while listed-company results provide a clearer view of how individual Irish businesses are actually performing.

US strikes on Iran pushed Brent crude back above $90 a barrel, renewing pressure on transport, freight and household energy costs after the brief easing earlier this week. The Federal Reserve held rates at 3.5% to 3.75% for a fifth meeting, although three policymakers voted for a quarter-point increase. Microsoft reported quarterly revenue of $90bn as Azure growth accelerated to 43%, while Meta’s revenue rose 28% to $60.8bn but its shares fell after weaker guidance and another increase in planned AI spending. European lawmakers want FIFA to explain plans to bring private investors into its World Cup commercial operations after UEFA made clear its distaste for the idea following consultation with members, while Ford raised its profit outlook for the second time this year. Oil, rates and AI spending are all charging more for certainty.

Property & Energy

Property & Energy enters the week with the State finally putting real money and structure behind its housing and infrastructure ambitions, even as household energy costs threaten to undercut some of that progress.

The Land Development Agency confirmed its development pipeline now tops 28,000 homes, with government equity funding to the agency growing to €6.25bn, up from €1.25bn just four years ago. Chief executive John Coleman said the LDA is now in talks with the European Investment Bank and Ireland's pillar banks to borrow up to €1bn to stretch that capital further, alongside €1.5bn in planned spending this year on land and construction.

That housing ambition needs water and power to back it up. Cabinet approved a €2bn equity injection for Uisce Éireann this week, tied strictly by memorandum to expanding water capacity for new housing settlements. Separately, Minister Darragh O'Brien sought Cabinet approval to begin a new white paper examining Ireland's power sector through to 2050, covering generation, transmission and regulation as the grid strains to accommodate demand.

In retail, Colliers' latest European report found brands consolidating into fewer, larger flagship stores as consumer spending softens, though Dublin is bucking the trend. Grafton Street vacancy has fallen to just four units, and luxury names are diverging sharply, with Richemont and Ralph Lauren growing while LVMH and Kering, hit by a 20% fall in Gucci sales, struggle.

Energy costs remain the sector's rawer edge. Fuels for Ireland warned that reinstated excise duty, a new fuel levy and carbon-tax changes could add up to 35 cent per litre to petrol and diesel by January.

Watch whether the LDA's EIB borrowing talks convert into a signed facility in the coming months.

In Tuesday’s Tá, the Sector Spotlight will be Legal & Regulatory.

Thursday - The Deal Desk…

Cobblestone Brands: The Dublin spirits company has agreed to acquire Bisquit & Dubouché Cognac and Cabo Wabo tequila from Campari for an undisclosed sum, with completion expected by 31 October.

Dawson Group: The Irish transport-services group has agreed to acquire Dan Ryan Truck Rental, expanding its commercial-vehicle rental and fleet operations.

Stripe and OpenRouter: Stripe is reportedly in talks to acquire OpenRouter, a marketplace giving developers access to different large language models. No agreement or valuation has been confirmed, but a deal would extend Stripe’s infrastructure strategy beyond payments and further into the tools used to build AI products.

AMD and Core Scientific: AMD has signed a data-centre agreement with Core Scientific as chipmakers secure more of the infrastructure needed to support AI demand.

UniCredit and Commerzbank: UniCredit chief Andrea Orcel says there remains scope for a deal involving the German lender, but regulatory and political resistance means this remains a potential transaction rather than an agreed takeover.

Certa is helping keep RNLI lifeboats fuelled in the renewable age, a useful reminder that DCC Energy’s (Certa Owner) business reaches well beyond the M&A news. Mayo’s victory has also lifted The Saw Doctors, with The Green and Red of Mayo back in demand and the band’s earnings receiving fresh attention. The musical note ends more quietly, with Ireland mourning Glen Hansard. Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Imelda May, Dermot Kennedy and Taoiseach Micheál Martin were among those paying tribute to the Oscar-winning musician, whose generosity included supporting emerging Irish acts and raising money for homelessness charities. A week of Irish songs carrying people, in every sense.

The Read – Business Post – Meet the Irish brothers cashing in on the stout boom in the UK, but not with Guinness

Peter and Nick O'Halloran left Tralee for London in 2022 with no grand plan, just a feel for the pub culture they grew up with. Their group, Nancy Spains, now runs four venues across London and Manchester built on that same warmth and buzz, part of a wider moment where young English drinkers have decided Irish pub culture is properly cool. They serve Murphy's rather than Guinness, with sales up 666 per cent year on year in December. Self-funded so far, the brothers are opening three more sites this year, investing up to £1.2 million each. Link: Meet the Irish brothers cashing in on the stout boom in the UK, but not with Guinness

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