Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has taken a stake worth more than €400 million in Dublin-listed insulation and building materials specialist, Kingspan Group, the Sunday Times reports. Norges Bank, which manages the Government Pension Fund Global, took a 3.06 per cent position in the company at a share price of €75.50 on Friday. The total central bank managed fund is worth around $1.8 trillion.
In a trading update for the quarter ended March 31st, Kingspan said it overcame a slow start to the year to record a good financial performance. Group sales rose 9 per cent year on year to €2.1 billion, and were “modestly ahead” on an underlying basis. Sales of its insulated panels rose 4 per cent, while underlying sales were broadly in line, while insulation sales saw a similar performance, and roofing and waterproofing sales were up 55 per cent on the acquisition of Nordic Waterproofing.
Amazon Web Services discussing €3.5 billion Arklow data centre takeover
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is in early takeover talks with Echelon Data Centres regarding its €3.5 billion data centre Arklow, the Business Post reports. Neither party in the discussions commented.
Echelon, which launched the Arklow site project last month, are also planning a second data centre on a near-by site. The site was the first Irish data centre to receive a grid connection and is situated close to the SSE Renewables Arklow Bank Wind Park 2, from which it is said to be planning to purchase energy to offset the power demand from the data centre.
Four Star Pizza feels the heat during franchise tech tensions
Tensions have risen between Four Star Pizza and some franchisees following the introduction of a new digital trading system to handle sales within stores, The Sunday Times reports. Franchised pizza delivery business, Four Star Pizza Ireland, which owned by the Fitzwilliam hotelier Michael Holland is currently going through an expansion. Franchisees are said to be unhappy with the operation of the new system, and have resisted its implementation.
The Sunday Times said it understands that franchisees have consulted legal advisers and are seeking a meeting with management on the matter. A statement from Four Star Pizza management said that it had a forum for franchisees to “air opinions” and outside of which its communication “has never been better”.
Ryanair flights grounded by GPS issues
Up to 50 Ryanair aircraft were temporarily grounded last week due to global positioning system (GPS) issues across a number of airlines, the Sunday Independent reports.
Newer aircraft such as the Boeing 737 Max and Airbus 320s were particularly impacted by the problems which left thousands of passengers facing significant delays over a number of days, peaking on Thursday, May 21st. While it is reported no passengers were ever put in danger by the issues, numerous flights from Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Kerry and Knock airports faced issues.
