UK-BASED aviation analyst Andrew Lobbenberg has an interesting take on Ryanair’s reasons to pull routes from Dublin airport this summer.
Michael O’Leary blamed the decision on the government €10 air travel tax. In a recent note to clients, Lobbenberg of RBS had a somewhat different take.
“Whilst Ryanair will not want to explicitly admit it, we think Ryanair’s best chances for getting a decent price for its Aer Lingus stake (absent a competitive bidding war for it, which we struggle to foresee) would come from an easing in Aer Lingus’s competitive environment. “There is only one airline that can make a material difference on Aer Lingus’s competitive environment: Ryanair.”
A case of putting two and two together and coming up with five?
** THE DEMISE of freesheet regional newspapers is confirmed in the sale memorandum being circulated by Johnston Press for its Irish titles. It notes that JP closed its 12 free weekender titles – which had only been launched in recent times – during 2008. Between them, they generated advertising revenue of just €1 million.
JP said this would lead to “significant cost savings” in 2009. It might also help explain the recent demise of the Niall Mellon-based Voice group of freesheet titles and why River Media was last year seeking to raise €10 million.
** UPC IRELAND boss Robert Dunn this week had a dig at satellite rival Sky. The Scot, who runs the NTL and Chorus cable TV groups here, claims that about €75 million in VAT revenue is being lost to Ireland as UK-based Sky pays a lesser rate to Gordon Brown, under cover of an EU directive.
“There’s got to be a better home for that money than the UK exchequer,” Dunn said, adding that UPC is investing €1 billion in “real hard cash” in Ireland.
In response, Sky Ireland said: “Sky is registered for VAT in Ireland and pays millions of euros each year to the Irish exchequer for activities physically carried out in Ireland, such as advertising sales, and sales and installation of Sky equipment.
“Where the service is provided from the UK, for example Sky’s TV subscription services, UK VAT rates are applicable as required under European legislation.”
