Greencore is confident it can overcome concern at the UK competition authority at one element of its €1.38 billion acquisition of rival convenience food group Bakkavor, lack of competition in the supply of own-label chilled sauces, which, writes Hugh Dooley, accounts for less than 1 per cent of the expected €4.6 billion turnover of the merged group.

Plans to allow energy storage businesses to trade electricity in the Irish wholesale market could help in cutting electricity costs, writes Barry O’Halloran. Developers have installed batteries in Ireland capable of storing up to 400 megawatts (MW) of electricity, equivalent to an average power station, but they are used only as a backstop to help ward off potential shortages. But that is changing next month.

Dublin pub group Grand Slam Bars saw pretax profits nearly double to €983,000 last year following the midyear acquisition of McSorley’s in Ranelagh by the group headed by Noel Anderson and in which four former Irish rugby internationals are investors. Hugh Dooley has the details.