Threats and opportunities of 2017: Panel with David McRedmond, Marian Finnegan & Stephen Teeling

Increasing the price of a stamp to between 90c and €1 still represents “fantastic value” for the customer, according to An Post CEO, David McRedmond.On the Inside Business podcast today, he joined Sherry Fitzgerald Chief Economist, Marian Finnegan, and Teeling Whiskey co-founder, Stephen Teeling, to look ahead to 2017 and discuss the potential impacts of Brexit, Trump and political uncertainty across Europe, on their own sectors and the wider economy.An Post is undergoing a strategic review and has “quite a way to go” in figuring out its ten year plan, said McRedmond, but it will raise the price of a standard stamp from 72c next year to help ensure security of cash-flow.A re-configuration of the rural post office network is also on the cards, but McRedmond said An Post remains committed to maintaining it and diversifying services.The panel spoke about the export environment post-Brexit, how the Apple ruling might affect government tax policies and the future of the property market.Sherry Fitzgerald’s Marian Finnegan said while there is “no silver bullet” for the problems facing her sector, the government’s Action Plan for Housing is at least the first vision there has been for it in a long time. A lack of housing stock and a strong letting crisis will continue to cause problems for the marketplace in 2017, she added.Stephen Teeling said the weak dollar has worked to his company’s favour in the past few months and he talked about their plans to expand into the US in 2017.The North American market is Teeling’s biggest by “a factor of four or five”, he said and they will have 11 graduates stationed across the region next year in a bid to have “boots on the ground… for grassroots marketing”.

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