RTE Business

Finance Ireland has reduced its long-term fixed mortgage interest rates.

Customers "falling back in love with their homes and gardens" during the pandemic contributed to pre-tax profits at the Irish arm of Homebase last year almost doubling to €8.09m.

The chief executive of departing KBC Bank Ireland has said he would probably not advise anyone to set up a full scale retail bank in Ireland similar to that of KBC.

Iberdrola Ireland said it will increase its gas and electriciy prices from January 1, becoming the latest energy supplier to announce price hikes.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe is confident the euro zone's recovery can be sustained into next year even if the Omicron coronavirus variant requires new public health measures, he told the Reuters Next conference today.

High performance insulation company Kingspan has joined the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team in a global sustainability partnership.

Iarnród Éireann has launched a national rail freight plan in Ballina in Co Mayo, which aims to increase operations in line with growth in demand across the EU.

The number of new car registrations rose again in November, according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry.

The European Commission has announced a plan to mobilise €300 billion in public and private infrastructure investment around the world, a move seen as a response to China's Belt and Road strategy.

A London-based electric vehicle charging start-up has won this year's UCD Start-Up of the Year Award.

Irish recruitment consultancy firm Morgan McKinley is to acquire outsourcing business Abtran for an undisclosed sum.

The unemployment rate, including people receiving temporary Covid-19 jobless benefits, fell to 6.9% in November from 7.9% in October, the latest Central Statistics Office figures show today.

A new survey shows that while 82% of Irish SMEs have been negatively impacted by the Covid pandemic, the disruption it has caused has amplified opportunities for an acceleration in online and digital initiatives.

The main risk to an otherwise upbeat global economic outlook is that the current inflation spike proves longer and rises further than currently expected, the OECD said today.

Manufacturing growth in the euro zone accelerated slightly last month but supply chain bottlenecks worsened, putting a cap on output and driving the cost of raw materials up at the fastest rate in over two decades.

Retailer Primark has opened its 400th global store in Sicily in Italy today.

Husqvarna, the world's biggest maker of power gardening tools, has raised its overall financial targets and growth ambitions for robotic lawn mowers and other battery-powered products.

Pandemic-induced lockdowns caused Australia's economy to shrink 1.9% in the third quarter, a downturn that bucked the trend of a steady recovery in other wealthy nations.

The growth of renewable electricity capacity across the world is set to break records again this year and to accelerate in coming years, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency.

Oil prices rose more than 2% today, recouping some of the steep losses from the previous session, as major producers prepared to discuss how to respond to the threat of a hit to fuel demand from the Omicron variant.