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Roundup-Quinn Jnr wants no disclosure

Wednesday, February 06 08:20:18

The son of bankrupt businessman Sean Quinn has said he does not believe he is obliged to say what he has done with almost E400,000 paid to him over a year by companies in his family's international property group (IPG).

His wife was advised by lawyers that she was not required to say how she spent E320,297 paid to her, Sean Quinn jnr also told the Commercial Court.

Mr Quinn agreed he was general director finance of a Russian company, Logistika, and had sought and received details of multi-million cash balances of several IPG Russian companies in March 2012.

He had no clue about the whereabouts of rents or other monies paid to those as he dealt with tenant issues and other matters such as snow removal, not accounts, he said.

"I do not have a clue where the money has gone and let me be struck dead as I leave this court if that's wrong," he said. The Irish Times

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Ryanair's latest package of remedies submitted over the weekend to the European Commission in relation to its E694 million offer for Aer Lingus is unprecedented in terms of aviation takeovers.

It also clearly illustrates the strategic long-term value that Michael O'Leary places on acquiring Aer Lingus.

Ryanair has offered to provide a E100 million, no-strings-attached, cash payment to UK regional carrier Flybe to capitalise a new business in Ireland that would take over 43 of Aer Lingus's 90 short-haul routes.

Ryanair has also guaranteed Flybe that the piece of Aer Lingus that it takes over would come with a cost base that would result in a profit of E20 million a year. Ryanair has agreed to hand over the Gatwick-Ireland routes to British Airways rather than the Heathrow slots. The Irish Times

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Irish-based global online recruitment company Saongroup has bought the Chinese operation of recruiter Monster Worldwide.

The New York-based Monster group will retain a 10pc shareholding in the combined Chinese business of Saongroup.

Businessman Denis O' Brien holds a 75pc shareholding in Saongroup and its chairman Leslie Buckley holds the remaining 25pc.

It already has a comprehensive national network of offices and websites in several Chinese cities.

The addition of ChinaHR. com boosts the network to almost 200 cities across the Asian country.

The terms of the deal have not be disclosed.

Ciaran McCooey, Saongroup group chief executive, told the Irish Independent that the acquisition would help the company secure a presence in the country's major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

"We're very excited about it. It positions Saongroup for significant growth in the Chinese market. It brings with it a strong client list in blue chip companies. The Irish Independent

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Consumers are incurring huge costs by continuing to be enthusiastic users of cheques.

Small firms and consumers have emerged as the groups most likely to use cheques, despite the fact that this method of payment is expensive.

The average consumer writes 19 cheques a year. Stamp duty of 50c, bank charges and the cost of postage mean that this method of payment costs almost E26 a year for the 19 cheques.

A new survey from the Central Bank found that across the economy, we issue around 84 million cheques a year - second only to France in terms of intensive cheque usage.

Over one-third of all cheques are written by consumers, according to the study by Central Bank economist Ronnie O'Toole. This amounts to 37 million cheques written by ordinary people every year. The Irish Independent