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Roundup-Irish investor sentiment rises

Monday, January 28 08:16:15

A measure of Irish investor sentiment has recorded its first positive outcome since it was launched in April 2010.

The RaboDirect Investor Barometer results for January showed that 55 per cent of respondents felt confident about the Irish economy over the next three months.

It also found that 64 per cent felt confident about the global outlook over the next three months.

The overall index now stands at 100.8, up from 86.9, with a figure between zero and 100 signalling negative territory and between 100 and 200 signalling positive sentiment. The 55 per cent finding in relation to confidence in the Irish economy compares with 37 per cent in September 2012.

Confidence in the global economy, at 64 per cent, has seen an even more marked rebound, up from 34 per cent in September 2012.

Despite this increased confidence, however, optimism among investors about their financial situation over the coming three months was down slightly, at 74 per cent, compared with 76 per cent who were optimistic in September. The Irish Times

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Davos delegates departed the World Economic Forum (WEF) yesterday and re-entered reality.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny made a robust case for Ireland's recovery and expectation of a debt deal. German chancellor Angela Merkel said the euro patient, though stable, would have to make greater strides in 2013 for competitiveness. If that happened, British prime minister David Cameron said he was happy to stay in and not get out.

It is 43 years since the WEF set up shop in the Swiss resort of Davos, ironically dubbed the "Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann. Ask Davos veterans what makes the mountain magic and they point to WEF founder Klaus Schwab.

Each year he lures the movers and shakers from business and politics to this snowy mountaintop with a simple, clever premise: tapping high-achievers' deep-seated need for recognition.

Once inside, and before the evening parties begin, Schwab asks participants to attend events and to think and talk about old things in new ways, with people they might not otherwise meet.

Of course, no good idea goes uncorrupted and what started as a discreet think-in has become a global brand, with offshoot meetings on every continent.

But to dismiss Davos is to miss the point: like it or loathe it, this is where the world's leaders meet to take the world's collective temperature and grade each other's report cards.

After years gaining momentum, several issues finally made a breakthrough. The idea of sustainable and inclusive economic growth received the imprimatur of a top Davos delegate: IMF managing director Christine Lagarde.

She sounded a warning, too, on climate change. Without agreement of business and governments on new targets by 2015, she said, "future generations will be roasted, toasted, fried and grilled".

Some delegates were pessimistic about the future, worrying that political leaders had missed the chance to take charge of the globalisation train. The Irish Times

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Irish supply chain firm PCH International is the only non-Taiwanese company - aside from Apple itself - to feature among Apple's seven main final assembly facilities, according to a list released by the Cupertino-based firm.

The six Taiwanese companies on the list include Hon Hai - the flagship of Terry Gou's Foxconn Technology Group which assembles Apple devices at six locations in China, as well as iPads and iPhones in Brazil.

PCH declined to comment on the report but industry sources familiar with the situation said PCH's inclusion was a major boon for the Cork-based company.

"In the supply chain business, this is the only list you want to be on," the source said. "The way they have categorised PCH among the top seven final assemblers is a big deal for the company." PCH's China base is in Shenzhen.

Apple broke its silence on its suppliers last year after it came under pressure amid bad public relations following a series of accidents and suicides at Foxconn in Shenzhen and other parts of China.

This year the list confirms what products are put together by which assemblers and at what factories. The suppliers include Foxlink, which is owned by Terry Gou's brother, TC Gou.The others are Pegatron Corp, Quanta, Primax and Inventec Appliances Corp. The Irish Times

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Bonds with a $200m (E149m) face value issued by Anglo Irish Bank were destroyed in New York after the vault where they were stored was flooded during Superstorm Sandy last October, a US court has been told.

The revelation comes as two Cayman Island hedge funds are poised this week to appeal the ruling in a 2011 case they took against the Irish state-owned bank, now known as Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC).

The legal dust-up erupted in 2011 when the two hedge funds - Fir Tree Capital Opportunity Master Fund and Fir Tree Value Master Fund - sought to prevent Anglo from moving assets out of the United States.

The hedge funds had acquired $200m of subordinated bonds, which had been issued by the bank in 2005, in November 2010.

The Fir Tree funds claimed that the bank had breached terms of the bonds by moving deposits and NAMA bonds to AIB.

It described the moves in its original lawsuit as a "brazen violation" of the bond provisions.

But Anglo claimed the case presented by Fir Tree was "utterly meritless".

In 2010, Fir Tree sought a preliminary injunction against Anglo.

That forced the US courts to examine the country's Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act due to the fact that Anglo is a state-owned institution. The Irish Independent

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A subsidiary of fruit and vegetable distributor Total Produce is deepening its roots in the challenging garden centre business with plans to open another outlet, writes John Mulligan.

Its Uniplumo division has sought planning permission to open a garden centre at the Spawell Golf and Leisure Centre in Templeogue, Dublin.

In 2009, it opened a garden centre under the 'Easy Garden' brand in Blackrock, Co Dublin.

Uniplumo currently operates a six-acre growing site in Swords, employing 43 full-time staff and 28 seasonal staff.

The garden centre business is extremely difficult. Norwegian firm Plantasjen planned to open up to 30 garden centres here but has not opened any, racking up huge losses in the process. The Irish Independent