Interpath’s Irish plan, ‘baffling’ company registrations in NI, and tax relief for renters

Business Today: the best news, analysis and comment from The Irish Times business desk

Ken Fennell of Deloitte who has agreed to join UK advisory firm Interpath, which is planning to became a major player in the Irish market.  Photograph Nick Bradshaw for The Irish Times
Ken Fennell of Deloitte who has agreed to join UK advisory firm Interpath, which is planning to became a major player in the Irish market. Photograph Nick Bradshaw for The Irish Times

Interpath Advisory, the UK-based corporate restructuring and insolvency firm, is planning to build up a practice in the Republic with 120 staff within the next three to four years, after poaching six partners from KPMG and Deloitte in Ireland. Joe Brennan spoke to its chief executive Blair Nimmo about its ambitious plans for Ireland.

In Northern Ireland, a "baffling" trend has emerged of businesses being registered with Companies House at addresses that seem to have no connection with the entities concerned and which are mostly controlled by UK resident Chinese nationals. Colm Keena examines the background to this emerging trend.

A plan by Smurfit Kappa to extend the board term of chairman Irial Finan by up to four years beyond what is considered good practice, has secured the backing of two influential advisors to major shareholders. Joe Brennan reports.

US president Joe Biden will continue to fight to make sure the richest Americans and largest corporations do not pay a lower tax rate than middle-class families, the White House has said. Our Washington correspondent Martin Wall has the story.

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Irish businessman Dermot Desmond is a major shareholder in Rietumu Bank in Latvia. The bank's latest annual report says its balance sheet is strong enough to withstand the worst impacts of its exposure to the conflict between near neighbours Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. Joe Brennan has the details.

The cost of supplying electricity to Irish homes is "wildly out of line" with the rest of Europe, and the temporary VAT reduction fails to address the underlying causes of high costs, the Irish Solar Energy Association has said. Colin Gleeson reports.

In our personal finance feature, Fiona Reddan wonders if it is time for the return of tax relief for renters.

In Q&A, a reader details how their family only recently discovered that their mother's neighbour built a shed on their land. With the mother deceased, and the neighbour refusing to budge on the shed, the reader wonders if this might impact on the planned sale of the house. Dominic Coyle offers some guidance.

In Me & My Money, jockey Patrick Mullins recalls investing in sterling in 2016 in advance of the Brexit referendum, having been convinced by his parents that it would never be carried.

Our columnist this week is Rana Foroohar of the FT, who says it's time to craft a new Bretton Woods agreement and a revamp of the IMF and World Bank institutions.

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Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock is Business Editor of The Irish Times