Holland & Barrett eyes Irish expansion

Holland & Barrett has invested €7m in its Irish expansion over the last two years as the UK-headquartered health and wellbeing goods retailer hopes to open more stores across the Republic, the Sunday Independent reports.

Adam Moore, director of stores in Ireland at Holland & Barrett, said the investment had helped the business hit double-digit growth in 2023. He said the retailer is currently in negotiations about potentially opening up more stores over the next 12 months. He said the number of store openings could be “more than 10″.

Winthrop founder eyes hospitality sector

Barry English is moving into the hotel and leisure sector, The Sunday Times reports, using some of the money reaped from his data centre construction business Winthrop Technologies.

The businessman, who sold a majority stake of his Winthrop Technologies business to Blackstone last month, has invested in a hotel, set up a yacht chartering business and bought a hotel consultancy firm, documents filed with the Companies Office show. He also bought the Trim Castle hotel last year.

Ireland may need a lot more homes than previously thought

Ireland could need as many as 80,000 new homes per year for the next 25 years, according to the Housing Commission, the Business Post reports. The commission submitted its study to Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien last week, the newspaper says.

This housing requirement would be needed if Ireland’s population spiked under the most extreme scenario outlined in the report. It also offered other scenarios in which the number of houses required is lower, ranging from below 40,000 to about 70,000.

Bord na Móna waste plan

Bord na Móna is preparing to sell its waste management business, the Business Post also reports. It understands that the semi-state “climate solutions” firm will seek a buyer for Bord na Móna Recycling, which generated over €100 million in revenue, its last published financial statements show.

PwC is understood to be preparing the business and a landfill in Kildare known as the Drehid Waste Management Facility to be brought to market soon, with teasers expected to be sent this month to prospective purchasers. Bord na Móna gave no comment to the newspaper.

Waterford Crystal future-proofing

The owner of Waterford Crystal has said it is needs to optimise the glassware brand to “future proof” its competitiveness, the Sunday Independent reports.

Nathalie Ahlstrom, chief executive of Waterford Crystal owner Fiskars, made the comments during a call with investment analysts covering its results for the first quarter of the year. The Finnish group recorded net sales of €283 million for the quarter.

During the call, Ms Ahlstrom said “we need to optimise to future-proof the competitiveness” of Iittala and Waterford, two of the group’s brands. She added Fiskars was actively managing that process of optimisation.