Dear Reader,

Welcome to our Autumn Newsletter. It’s been a busy quarter at Quintas as is evident from our recent news section. Domestically the same issues still dominate our economy, a deal on the bank bailout debt from Europe, depressed demand for goods and services, the public finances and the Croke Park deal, lack of credit and bank finance, and the lack of political will and knowhow to deal with these issues.  Yet there are tentative signs of confidence being restored in certain parts of the economy indeed some of our own clients recently availed of an opportunity to purchase a bank branch in Drogheda as a demonstration of this confidence.

We’ve had a number of enquiries about the Insolvency Bill, so my colleague Yvonne Barry has contributed an article as a guide to same. This will be enacted into law very soon and many by choice or otherwise will seek “the sanctuary” of the new law. Both Yvonne and Tim McCarthy have been appointed to the Irish Society of Insolvency Practitioners in preparation for this.

As you will be aware from your business dealings and media reports, at present it is very difficult for businesses to raise finance from the traditional channels. To try and assist with the flow of investment funds, in last year’s budget the Government replaced the old Business Expansion Scheme (BES) with the Employment and Investment Incentive (EII). The main changes between BES and EII are:

• The investment term is reduced from 5 years to 3 years.
• The scheme is now open to the majority of companies (some exceptions apply) as opposed to BES which was restricted to qualifying trades such as manufacturing and internationally traded service companies.
• The amount that a company can raise under the scheme has been increased from €2m to €10m, subject to a maximum of €2.5m in any 12 month period.
• Eligible investors may avail of tax relief up to 41%, with 30% in the year of subscription and a further 11% at the end of the holding period, subject to conditions been achieved in relation to an increase in employment levels in the company or funds been spent on research and development.

Qualifying companies can raise EII money directly from Investors or seek money from an EII Fund. The Quintas Wealth Management (QWM) BES/EII fund was established in 2008 and over the last few years we have invested c. €7m in 12 companies. These companies are located around the country and in different sectors i.e. medical services, medical devices, broadband/connectivity, renewable energy etc.

The Draft Personal Insolvency Bill amends outdated bankruptcy laws in Ireland as well as introducing a scheme for out of court settlement arrangements between debtors and banks or creditors.

There are three strands to the out of court settlement procedures –

1. DEBT RELIEF NOTICE (DRN) – This strand will permit the write-off of qualifying debts up to a maximum of €20,000.  You will be eligible for this if you have virtually no income, no assets, and have no realistic prospect of being able to pay your debts within the next three years.  A DRN can last for up to three years, and if there is no change in circumstances the debts will then be written off. 

2. DEBT SETTLEMENT ARRANGEMENT (DSA) – This strand relates to persons with unsecured debts in excess of €20,000. This is an agreement prepared by a Personal Insolvency Practitioner (PIP) between debtors and creditors to repay an amount of unsecured debt over a period of five years.    Where a debtor performs all of his/her obligations specified in the DSA for the five years, s/he shall stand discharged from the remainder of the debts covered by the DSA.

3. PERSONAL INSOLVENCY ARRANGEMENT (PIA) – This final strand applies to all debt secured or unsecured over €20,000 and less than €3,000,000 (or more in certain instances). A PIP will be appointed to assess the payment capacity of the debtor. This practitioner will then propose a PIA to repay an amount over a period of six years to the creditors.  If the PIA is successfully completed, all the unsecured debt is discharged and the secured debt is discharged only to the extent specified in the arrangement.

Quantitative Easing

The ideal market environment to buy equities is when economic growth is strong and inflation is weak. Growth feeds profits and low interest rates encourage businesses and consumers to spend, all signifying good earnings.

“Love and work are the only two real things in our lives. They belong together, otherwise it is off. Work is in itself a form of love.” – Marilyn Monroe

A hundred years ago women’s paid work was narrowly defined even if you were an educated woman. In the late 40s and 50s women were very much the typical housewives. Then came the 60s and the Women’s Liberation that changed all of that. Nearly a century later women in most nations have won the right to vote and progress is being made for workforce equality.

Women in every socioeconomic class, at every stage of their careers, work hard to meet their responsibilities at work and at home. Juggling work and family has never been easy. In today’s economy, it seems harder and harder to maintain a balanced lifestyle while simultaneously achieving career nirvana. Women play such an important part in the life of the family and are truly strong in their ability to handle it all.

Women today are committed to working for a living in an equality based environment. In the mid-1980s one third of women of working age were part of the labour force, today three fifths are in paid work. Women are altering the stereotypical role of woman as provider in the home to incorporate woman as a provider in the workplace. The cost to women for achieving this includes reaching a level of impressive multi-tasking and  finding the energy to do it every day; and now there will be a financial cost further to the latest ruling by the European Union on insurance premiums and pension pay-outs.

From the 21^st December 2012, insurers will no longer be able to use gender as a factor in the calculations of premiums and benefits, following a ruling by the European Court of Justice. The decision means insurers will have to change the way they price life and critical illness policies, annuities, private medical insurance, travel insurance, motor insurance and other types of cover where data shows that the sex of the insured can have an effect on the risk.

It may be 10 years since we joined the euro, but the Central Bank of Ireland estimates that over €300m worth of Irish notes and €160m in Irish coin are still in circulation throughout Ireland. The majority of Irish households are likely to possess a long-forgotten jar of old coins and a handful of banknotes. In addition to old Irish money, we believe that in every house in the country lie some foreign currency that has returned home from trips abroad and never been exchanged.

During the month of October, Special Olympics Ireland will be working with their partners Rotary Ireland to help collect a portion of these old Irish and foreign monies. Rotary Clubs throughout the country will be raising awareness of the Special Olympics ‘Currency Campaign’ by encouraging people to gather up this old and foreign money and drop it into their local Ulster Bank, in unique Special Olympics bags.

We here in Quintas will be playing our part in support of the campaign by acting as a drop off point. So if you have any old or foreign currency lying around why not drop it into us and place it in the collection box located at our reception. 

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Mark Ryan at mark.ryan@quintas.ie or call Mark on 021 4641400.