Moody’s latest note on Russian banks, titled SME Lending in Russia: Growth Supports Profitability, but Cyclical Credit Risks Remain is available in Russian.

The note argues that since 2010-2011, Russian banks’ origination of credit to SMEs has grown on the back of banks’ strategic expansion within the SME sector that sees growth in lending to SMEs exceeding that for larger corporates. Read more…

Russia’s central bank (CBR) refinance rate was affirmed at 8.00% last week, with the overnight deposit rate at 4%, the minimum auction repo rate at 5.25% and the fixed repo rate at 6.25%. Per Danske Markets, “the CBR stated that it views rates as being acceptable for the coming months as inflation pressures arise in H2 12.”

Read more…

President Michael D. Higgins will arrive at the event at 2.40pm where he will be greeted by a number of YSI school students and St. Stanislaus Kennedy, Co Founder of YSI.  The President’s address will take place at 3.10pm in the main auditorium.

Throughout the month of March, Young Social Innovators (YSI) hosted regional ‘Speak Out’ events, where up to 5,000 young people presented creative solutions to the problems currently affecting communities throughout Ireland.  Sixty One projects were chosen to present at the Showcase next Wednesday, where some of the highlights included an app designed to assist Special Needs Assistants in the classroom, a safety device to help prevent children from getting caught in the cords of window blinds and a specially developed braille menu for use in restaurants.

The winners of this year’s YSI Showcase will be announced at 3.45pm. Ministers Phil Hogan, Frances Fitzgerald and Ciaran Cannon will be on hand to present the awards.

Speaking in advance of the event, Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy, co-founder of YSI, said: “Young people deserve our immense respect for their ability to creatively deal with the problems presented to them by modern Irish society.

“Families all around the country are feeling the effects of the economic downturn. However it is our young people who consistently lift our spirits by challenging the status quo and coming up with ideas to turn problems into solutions.”

Westport Festival of Music and Performing Arts

The line-up for the very first festival in the Mayo town includes Ray Davies and Jools Holland.

 

Musica Nova in Dundalk with Hilary Mullaney, Rhona Clarke and more. The latest edition of Dundalk I.T.’s Musica Nova takes place from 30 April to 3 May, and features appearances from Hilary Mullaney, Rhona Clarke, Elizabeth Hilliard and David Bremner.

Fiddle Fair To Celebrate Twenty Years The Baltimore Fiddle Fair is twenty years old this year, and is celebrating its popularity with musicians with an extended programme made up of some of their favourite acts from down the years.

Group From Sligo Grammar School Wins At Siansa Following live performances from eight groups from around the country last night in the National Concert Hall, judges Síle Denvir, Ciarán Ó Maonaigh and Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich declared Teaspach from Sligo Grammar School the winners.

Cork International Choral Festival 2012 Cork International Choral Festival 2012 will take place from 2 to 6 May featuring over 80 events of high quality choral music.

Arts Audiences Announces Audience Development Programme The joint Arts Council/Temple Bar Cultural Trust initiative will help arts organisations connect with their audiences

Monaghan’s Féile Oriel Opens With The Voice Squad Headlining acts at this year’s Féile Oriel are the Voice Squad, Liz and Yvonne Kane, the West Ocean String Quartet and a night of Donegal fiddle playing with Danny Meehan, Tommy Peoples, and Tara Connaghan and Derek McGinley.

Ghosts of Belfast Martin Dowling’s and Úna Monaghan’s performance of Owenvarragh, a Belfast Circus on The Star Factory, used Cage’s Roaratorio template and Ciaran Carson’s poetry to recreate the soundscape of Belfast.

John Kelly’s New Radio Play Starring Barry McGovern, Conor MacNeill, Steve Blount, Michael McElhatton, Kathy Rose O’Brien, Joe Taylor and Kerstin Aquaviva, The Pipes will air at 8pm on Sunday, 6 May on RTÉ Radio 1 in the ‘Drama on One’ slot.

Irish Music at Sounds New Violinist Darragh Morgan brings a programme of new Irish violin music to the contemporary music festival at Canterbury

We Have Two Ears The Music and Media Technology course at Trinity presents a concert and exhibition of MPhil. student music on 3 and 4 May.

Carna’s Joe Heaney Festival Visiting musicians include Cormac Begley, Micheál and MacDara Ó Raghallaigh, Danny O’Mahony, Kevin Rowsome and Lorraine Hickey, Mick O’Brien and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, Róisín White, Johnny ‘Ringo’ McDonagh, and Rosie Stewart.

The Art of Sound and New Music Literary Trail The CMC’s Art of Sound and New Music Trail introduce audiences to a wide range of contemporary Irish music.

Laura Moody at The Grand Social Dublin production company Ergodos to bring the London singer/cellist here for one concert in The Grand Social

Sing Out with Strings The next event in the Irish Chamber Orchestra’s Sing Out with Strings series takes place on 16 May.

Music 3.0 Call for Ideas A week-long pilot programme of talks and discussions revolving around innovation in the music industry is looking for participants

Féile Chois Cuin Starts Today Sunday afternoon’s Four Winds concert in the Parochial Hall, Louisburgh features performers from Japan, Australia, Sweden, Germany, Zimbabwe, England and the USA.?

]]> http://irba.ie/2012/05/05/upcoming-cultural-events-in-may/feed/ 1 sirtar1967 http://irba.ie/2012/05/01/dialogue-bags-renaults-russian-account/ http://irba.ie/2012/05/01/dialogue-bags-renaults-russian-account/#comments Tue, 01 May 2012 16:14:39 +0000 sirtar1967 http://irba.ie/?p=677 ]]> The Dublin-based marketing communications agency Dialogue Marketing has won a major international account in Russia.

The agency, which is headed up by Michael Killeen, has picked up the account to handle Renault Russia. The account covers all integrated solutions.

According to Michael Killeen, Dialogue won the business on the back its four step CRM “IDIC” process (Identification, Differentiation, Involvement and Customisation) which it has developed successfully over the last decade. The final strategy is being finalised and creative will be in place for January 2012 across all channels.

“‘The work we take for granted here is viewed as best in class in other regions, particularly as you move east across Europe. The obvious challenge for us was to give them a simple yet effective process that they can understand and one that allows for local inputs on each tactical model by model execution,” says Killeen.

‘’We absolutely delighted as it follows other recent International wins in Israel and the USA and is a result of clocking up a fair amount of air miles in the process. It’s extremely exciting and gratifying to work in markets that do not suffer the same issues as we do at home. The population in Russia is close to 140m which means our work will receive amazing coverage. On the other hand, Russia has a smaller base of consumers with access to the internet which means the classic media which we have become accustomed to remain very relevant in these markets. It also helps that they are based in Moscow , a town we know well from our work with the Bolshoi Ballet company. They are great people to work with, friendly yet direct, the perfect client in fact”

According to Killeen, Renault Russia wanted to explore a Western European creative approach to stand out from local work. “They also needed help laying down a CRM process to guide a three year programme of work across eight different Renault models,” he adds.

This is the second piece of international business Dialogue has won over the past six months. Earlier this year it won the global advertising account for Amdocs following a head-to-head pitch with eight other international agencies.

Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Amdocs is a leading global provider of software and services for the communications, media and entertainment industry service providers. It develops, implements and manages software and services associated with business support systems (BSS) and operational support systems (OSS). Its product offerings consist of a software portfolio developed to provide customer experience systems functionality for service providers. The company also works with most of the main international telecommunications providers. Annual sales at the company this year are expected to be in excess of $3 billion and its market capitalization on the NYSE is in the order of €6 billion. The company’s global headquarters is in Israel.

Source

Recruitment of additional staff is also under way, as Air Atlanta Aero Engineering (AAAE) was bought by Moscow-based company, Transaero.

Although both companies have remained tight-lipped about the takeover, an announcement is believed to be imminent, while rebranding of the Shannon hangar has already started.

The takeover of Air Atlanta means that the existing jobs at the facility will be kept safe. And before the deal was finalised, the company had already started a recruitment drive to secure more aircraft engineers.

AAAE will now operate as Transaero Engineering Ireland.

The Shannon operation specialises in maintenance of Boeing 737, 757 and 767-series aircraft for a range of customers including commercial, cargo and corporate airlines and the aircraft leasing community.

Transaero has taken over the former Air Atlanta’s 10,000sqm hangar which sits on the north-east side of Shannon Airport adjacent to the main runway.

However, it is expected that the company will hope to build at least one extra hangar at Shannon to accommodate the larger jets.

Shannon-based Senator Tony Mulcahy said: ‘This is what Shannon is good at. The airport has a world-renowned reputation for high-quality maintenance, repair and overhaul, and Aer Atlanta had always been at the top in this area… This is great news not just for the workers and a real win-win for Shannon.’ There has also been speculation that Transaero may operate commercial flights through Shannon and could reopen the long-since-lost Shannon to Moscow route.

Mayor of Shannon, Mary Brennan said: ‘With Transaero now coming maybe we could hope it may also bring some flights and that the future of Shannon would start to look brighter. After a lot of job losses and negativity in the Shannon area it is great have some hope.’ In recent weeks, Air Atlanta has been working on aircraft previously operated by the former Hungarian airline Malev, which ceased operations in February.

One of those Malev 737 jets, which had been leased from International Lease Finance Corporation, has since been repainted in the Transaero livery and currently sits outside the hangar.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, is expected to announce in the next few days his plans on how to safeguard the future of Shannon Airport.

Mr Varadkar has previously said he would inform the Cabinet by Easter on what options he favoured for Shannon Airport.

He has been presented with a number of options in a report by consultants Booz, who recommended that Shannon should be taken out of the control of the Dublin Airport Authority.

While public-private and full privatisation options were put forward, the consultants favoured a ‘concession model’ which would see the airport under the auspices of a number of local public bodies, including the Clare and Limerick County Councils.

The Booz report highlights how Shannon’s passenger traffic has halved to 1.8million in the four years to 2010.

The consultants recommended that Shannon should explore new sources of revenue including the exploitation of its 2,000-acre landbank and a greater focus on cargo.

Source

Transaero Engineering

Speaker and panellist line-up include:

• An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD
• Sean O’Sullivan, Avego, and new dragon on Dragons Den
• Neil Leyden, IDSC
• Sharon Walsh, Heineken
• Deborah Lynch, Paypal
• Constantin Gurdgiev, Ireland Russia Business Association
• Fergal O’Byrne, SONRU

IEA and IRBA members can avail for a special offer of €190 when registering, e-mail to info@irba.ie for the special offer code if booking on-line.

More information on http://www.iia.ie/events/iia-conference/

STRATFOR: Russia’s Strategy

For Russia, the recreation of a union is a strategic necessity.

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/russias-strategy

Professor Eskindarov, Rektor of the Finance University under the government of the Russian Federation, Moscow will visit the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) College of Business on 18^th April 2012 and sign an agreement with DIT. The agreement will endorse programme development, staff exchange, student exchange and collaborative research and is a very important step in Irish academic community making essential links with Russia. DIT has established a strong link with the Finance University , Moscow over the past few years. Academic papers were delivered in Moscow by Dr. James Hanly, Valentina Tarkovska and Dr Lucia Morales to various round tables and conferences. Joint webinars have been held which have included some 12 academics from both Institutions. Dr Joseph Coughlan and and Marie O’ Flynn have delivered lectures to the third year students of the B Sc in Finance.

An exciting initiative is being planned for September 2012 whereby Russian students will embark on an M Sc in International Banking and Finance which is currently being developed by both Institutions. Students will be entitled to a Dual award of M Sc and an opportunity will be given for Irish and Russian students to spend at least one Semester in the counter cities, Dublin and Moscow.

Professor Irina Yarigina, Finance University, Moscow, Marie O’ Flynn, Dublin Institute of Technology and Professor Irina Platonova, MGIMO at the Finance University, Moscow.

Dr. James Hanly, DIT presenting to the Round table in Finance Universtiy, Moscow

Valentina Tarkovska, Lecturer, DIT presenting to the Round Table, Finance University Moscow.

In its annual credit report on Russia, issued on February 29, Moody’s Investors Service confirmed Baa1 rating and stable outlook for Russian Government bonds, pointing that investment grade ratings for the country are supported by “high financial strength, but constrained …by the country’s moderate economic strength, its low institutional strength and its rising, albeit still low, susceptibility to event risk”.

Russia’s high score for financial strength is based on the large size of government assets “which could act as a buffer in the event of a fall in oil prices, exchange-rate depreciation and capital flight. Russia’s government also has solid fiscal reserves of USD61 billion, enabling it to potentially bridge unfavourable market conditions. Moreover, Russia’s general government debt remains very low, having recorded the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in 2011 (around 10%) among all investment-grade sovereigns.”

Russia’s moderate economic strength performance is based on its GDP per capita in purchasing power parity terms (US$12,700) being “close to the median for A3-Baa2 rated countries in 2010”, and “the difficulties of diversifying the economy away from commodity exports, which represent over 80% of Russian exports”. “Looking ahead, the country’s dependence on oil and gas means that its economic growth is set to remain rather volatile… Russia also faces economic issues that are related to …an ageing and declining population.”

Per Moody’s, Russia faces increased political [elections], economic [vulnerability to oil prices fluctuations] and financial event risk [continued global financial crisis]. That said, per Moody’s “whereas the downside risks have increased, Russia’s exceptional fiscal shock absorption capacity mitigates the country’s susceptibility to risks that may come from political, economic or financial events.”

The main factor that constrains Russia’s rating is institutional strength, which Moody’s assesses to be relatively low, “reflecting the country’s weak governance, rule of law and transparency. The business uncertainties that relate to the impaired rule of law and the high level of corruption deter foreign investment into Russia, particularly from small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).”

Looking ahead, Moody’s believes that “Russia’s medium- to long-term challenges will be (i) to develop economic bases with greater intrinsic stability, such as the manufacturing and services sectors; (ii) to attract enough investment capital to replace its aging infrastructure; and (iii) to provide incentives and carry out important structural reforms so as to address issues such as demographic developments or the efficiency in quasi-state corporations.”

Full Moody’s report can be found here.