Irish retail continues to drop – But Department Stores & Electrical Goods Rise

Posted on March 29, 2012 by admin

Figures released by the Central Statistics Office have shown that retail within Ireland has continued to fall. February saw sales drop by 0.3%, it was preceded by a drop of 1.1% in January.

If Motor Trades are excluded, the volume of retail sales decreased by 1.0% in February 2012 when compared with January 2012, while there was an annual decrease of 2.1%.

The biggest falls were in Bars (-3.3%), Books and Newspapers (-3.2%) and Motor Trades (-2.9%).

However there was a big rise for department stores (+8.5), followed by electrical goods (+6.3%).

The value of retail sales decreased by 0.1% in February 2012 when compared with January 2012 and there was an annual change of -1.8%.

The figures have emphasised a two speed economy is alive and well in Ireland. With people saving more and more because they don’t know what more they will have taken from them in charges and taxes over the next number of years, these figures will only get worse. Austerity is causing more uncertainty within the consumer. Why will they spend when they know next year it will only get worse for them?

Small Businesses Give Government Report Card – ISME

Posted on March 27, 2012 by admin

ISME, the Irish Small & Medium Enterprises Association has today released its ‘Report card on Government’ after its first year in office. The results of a survey of over 600 member companies confirmed that overall the performance of the Government in relation to issues affecting small and medium businesses leave a lot to be desired.

The survey was carried out in the week ending 23^rd March and scored the Government on four issues, jobs, banking, business costs and the Troika. The respondents were asked to rate the Government’s performance on a five point scale from very satisfactory to very unsatisfactory.

Very Satisfied

Satisfied

Neutral

Unsatisfied

Very Unsatisfied

NET

JOBS

11%

24%

31%

35%

-54%

BANKING

17%

33%

45%

-74%

TROIKA

23%

30%

24%

21%

-21%

COSTS TO BUSINESS

18%

41%

38%

-76%

Commenting on the results ISME CEO, Mark Fielding said, “the twin issues of access to finance and escalating business costs continue to plague the SME sector and are not receiving the attention from Government that they deserve, as is evidenced from this survey. The Jobs Initiative, long on aspiration and short on immediate actions still has a long way to go to address the problem of unemployment. This Government must quickly come to the realisation that the solution to the jobs crisis is predicated on tackling business costs and access to finance, then and only then will jobs be created.”

“While still not a glowing endorsement, almost a quarter of the respondents are satisfied with how the Government is dealing with the overall fiscal situation, under the tutelage of the Troika. However, in this area also an improvement is required when it comes to dealing with the overgenerous ‘Croke Park agreement’.

In Focus: Sugar Free Chocolate Is A Sweet Deal – Phoenix Delite Sugar Free Chocolate

Posted on March 26, 2012 by admin

In Focus: Sugar Free Chocolate Is A Sweet Deal - Phoenix Delite Sugar Free Chocolate [ 6:24 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Pascale Van Riet is the founder of Phoenix Delite and is originally from Belgium. Pascale moved to Ireland in January 2000.

After finding herself redundant in 2010, she decided to start her own company. “My mum is a diabetic and I was looking to send her some diabetic chocolate for her birthday, I was very surprised to find that I could not source high quality diabetic chocolate in Ireland. This got me thinking and from there Phoenix Delite was born”.

In this podcast Pascale talks to focuSMEireland about starting a chocolate company with a difference and how to tap into a niche market.

To find out more visit phoenixdelite.ie

Late Payments Sending Businesses ‘To The Wall’ – ISME

Posted on March 26, 2012 by admin

ISME, the Irish Small & Medium Enterprises Association has warned that more businesses are in danger of ‘going to the wall’ because of protracted and late payments from big business and State agencies. The Spring SME Credit Watch Survey, released today clearly shows the disastrous predicament that vulnerable SME businesses are finding themselves due to lack of normal payments for goods and services.

The main findings from 610 respondents in the week ending 23rd March are:

- Actual average payment period in Ireland for SMEs is 71 days, similar to the previous quarter.

- 40% are experiencing delays of 3 months or more, similar to Q4, 2011.

- 12% waiting over 120 days, a small improvement on the December figures at 14%.

- A net 35% of businesses are waiting longer, an increase from the 31% in Q4 2011.

- Both big business and state agencies continue to increase the credit taken.

- Ulster businesses wait longest to be paid at 79 days, while Dublin remains the best at 68 days.

- Construction businesses wait on average 77 days while Services have improved to 67 days.

Commenting on the situation, ISME Chief Executive, Mark Fielding stated, “The challenges for small and medium businesses in accessing finance are being exacerbated by late payments from big business and state agencies. While this fact has been acknowledged by Government in its Action Plan for Jobs, scant action has been proposed and once more the SME sector is ‘thrown to the wolves’. While the ISME proposal to introduce a Fair Payments Charter is helpful, it must be championed and driven by the Government, otherwise accountancy led big business will simply ignore it”.

In Focus: Inside The Mobile Games Industry – Pop Cap Games Dublin

Posted on March 23, 2012 by admin

In Focus: Inside The Mobile Games Industry - Pop Cap Games Dublin [ 8:14 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The 2012 GAME British Academy Video Games Awards has recognised PopCap Games’ Dublin studio, naming its game Peggle HD as the best game in its Mobile and Handheld category.

Paul O’Donnell, Lead Software Engineer, and JP Vaughan, Producer, from Pop Cap Games talk to focuSMEireland about how they won this award and what it takes to make the best mobile games on the market.

In Focus: On The Crest Of A Wave – Wavebreak Media Hits 1 Million Downloads

Posted on March 22, 2012 by admin

In Focus: One The Crest Of A Wave - Wavebreak Media Hits 1 Million Downloads [ 5:11 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

One of the world’s leading creators of compelling visual content, Irish owned and Cork based company Wavebreak Media, continues to ride the crest of a wave of success. The company, which specialises in the production of stock media content recently hit a major milestone, celebrating its 1,000,000th worldwide image sale.

Founded in the 2006, by Sean Prior, the company has since grown from strength to strength and now employs over 20 people across its two offices based in the Rubicon Centre in Cork City, Ireland. Specialising in the production of still imagery, footage, 3D animations and after effects files, it has built up a database of 100,000 media files.

CEO of Wavebreak Media, Sean Prior, talks to focuSMEireland about how they achieved this milestone and what they have planned for the future.

Irish Economy Grows For First Time In Four Years – CSO

Posted on March 22, 2012 by admin

The economy grew by .7% last year according to statistics released by the Central Statistics office.

For first time in four years the economy has shown growth, but GNP, which excludes multin-national companies, fell by 2.5% in 2011.

The report shows that industries that exclude the Building and Construction sector grew by 4.5% while Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing increased by 2% between 2010 and 2011.

Exports performed strongly in 2011, while imports declined slightly so that there was an overall increase of €7.2bn in net exports.

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