In the papers this week 3 – 9 April 2010
Price of petrol set to reach an all-time high; Marks & Spencer staff to share £80m bonus pot; Gardaí hunt two gangs after botched ATM raids
Print8 April 2010
The cost of petrol is predicted to reach an all-time high of €1.35 a litre within weeks, reports The Irish Independent – higher than the peak price during the 2008 oil-price spike. According to Consumers Association chief executive Dermott Jewell, Ireland lost its competitive edge during the boom years when many petrol stations closed. He said while forecourt retailers were not fixing prices, they were reluctant to “move against their neighbour.”
The Sunday Independent examines why, considering the huge decreases in the price of crude oil – down from $147 a barrel in July 2008 to $80 now – pump prices are set to rise. Tax is the main culprit, alongside currency fluctuation. The paper states a massive wedge, more than 75¢, of the price of petrol is tax, and it’s 65¢ of diesel’s price. Meanwhile, the carbon tax brought in in the last budget added around another 4¢ to the price.
Forecourt retailers have also said their petrol margin is being squeezed. "The real money is made from selling things with better mark up, like Mars bars and milk, not on petrol," one retailer said.
Staff at Marks & Spencer will share an £80m bonus pot after the company beat its targets for 2009 despite the recession. The Guardian (UK) reports the bumper payout is the second highest ever paid by M&S. Head office staff and top management at the high street retailer will receive performance-related bonuses, while all store staff will receive a discretionary payment of "up to £500". It follows the news that the company beat City forecasts with a 5.1% jump in UK like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to 27 March, and expects to post profits of £620m to £630m for the last financial year.
Ireland’s real consumer spending has fallen by 7.2%, compared to an average fall in the EU area of 1.1%, the Irish Examiner reports. According to Bank of Ireland chief economist Dr Dan McLaughlin, this is partly explained by an over 8% drop in employment and falling wages. Irish households are also saving more; McLaughlin estimates the savings ratio may now have reached 11%-12%, up from under 3% in 2007.
Gardaí have said they do not believe there is any link between two botched ATM thefts which happened at almost the same time in separate towns. The Irish Independent reports that while two attempted ‘digger raids’ took place within 90 minutes in the early hours of Saturday morning – at a Maxol petrol station in Carrigaline, Co Cork, and a Bank of Ireland in Bagnelstown, Co Carlow – that the two locations were too far apart to have been linked, and were therefore being treated as separate incidents.
Tesco was on the receiving end of some good PR this week. Praising the value-for-money fashions available at supermarket’s flagship store in Maynooth, The Sunday Independent’s fashion editor Constance Harris claimed the supermarket got a harder rap than deserved for its Irish credentials. She duly flagged facts including that, Tesco employs more than 12,000 Irish people, is worth €2.5bn to our economy, and claims to be responsible for more than €655m worth of Irish food and drink exports per annum.
Councillors in Dún Laoghaire, south Dublin, are to attempt to overturn a retail zoning decision, taken last month at the direction of the Minister for the Environment. The Irish Times reports Fine Gael councillors have proposed a motion to increase the retail zoning of The Park in Carrickmines, off the M50 motorway, to 20,000 sq m. FG councillor Jim O’Leary said he was satisfied the rezoning was good planning and there were already tenants, including Tesco, ready to move in to the enlarged development.
Despite declining readership, The Sunday World remains the red tops’ market leader “by a long stretch,” according to The Irish Times. The tabloid has now hired two young crime reporters, Niall Donald and Alan Sherry, to fill popular crime reporter Paul Williams’s shoes – after he was poached by competitor The News of The World. The latter is no doubt hoping its star hack will help boost its average weekly sales, which currently stand at 130,000, down from its peak of 186,000 back in 2003.
Despite attaching a price promise on its shopping, Dublin airport has said its having a hard time competing with supermarkets on alcohol prices. The Irish Times reports that a spokeswoman for Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), said it is particularly difficult to compete with the supermarkets when they’re in the middle of a price war, but that each month a company checks prices for DAA, which then tries to match or better them. However, cigarettes and alcohol are no longer its big sellers – and haven’t been since intra-EU duty-free was killed in 1999, taking to its grave 70% of DAA’s airport revenue.
The opening of a €22 million Dart station due to open on 19 April in Clongriffin, Dublin 13, is expected to draw thousands of commuters through the new town centre. That’s good news for the 31,215 sq ft Superquinn outlet, which The Irish Times reports is located in the town’s open air square, designed by Conroy Crowe Kelly Architects, and other retailers at street level including Centra and Carry Out off-licence.
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