British supermarket giant Tesco will have to wait until October before its new boss — Cork-born businessman Ken Murphy — can start after his former employer Walgreens Boots Alliance insisted he see out a non-compete agreement.

Your columnist’s phone was pretty busy last week after this paper published the story of Cork GAA’s fluctuating deficit.

Norwegian Air has agreed to sell its stake in banking company Norwegian Finans Holding for €222m, boosting the loss-making airline’s finances and sending its shares sharply higher.

European companies, for the most part, have little exposure to Argentina, thanks to decades of economic boom-and-bust and wild currency swings.

Reckitt Benckiser cut its full-year revenue target, after lower-than-expected sales in its last quarter under long-time chief executive, Rakesh Kapoor, hurt by a surprise slowdown in demand for infant formula in China.

Norwegian Air’s Bjoern Kjos stepped down as chief executive of the airline he co-founded and turned into Europe’s third-biggest budget carrier by passenger numbers.

Shares in carrier Norwegian Air climbed after the Aer Lingus and British Airways owner IAG denied a Spanish media report it was preparing another offer for the airline.

Shares in clothing retailer Ted Baker surged following the resignation of controversial founder and chief executive Ray Kelvin.

Netflix shares pared their worst drop in two years, regaining a key support level for the stock.

In any good whodunnit, the search for the smoking gun becomes the focal point.

Tesco shares rose by over 7% as it won provisional approval for its £3.7bn (€4.1bn) takeover of wholesaler Booker from the UK competition regulator, moving the UK’s biggest retailer closer to securing a new avenue of growth, writes James Davey. 

Consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser has decided to split its business into two units after warning there would be no growth in sales this year.

Since 1991, and now including Donald Trump, US groups lobbying against carbon dioxide controls have relied on the research of two economists, says Benjamin Franta

Pfizer posted basically flat first-quarter earnings, prompting suggestions the largest US drugmaker needs to do deals in order to improve its growth prospects.

Asahi will buy a group of eastern European beer brands from Anheuser-Busch InBev for €7.3bn, boosting its presence in the region in the largest overseas beer deal by a Japanese brewer.

Former Football Association chairman David Bernstein hopes Sam Allardyce does not receive a compensation payment after "hubris" brought about the end of his reign as England manager.

Budget fashion firm Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) generated a slightly bigger rise than expected in sales last month, offering some support to company guidance that results in the second half of the year were likely to be stronger than in the first.

With the State examinations  just three weeks away, students all over the country are feverishly revising. But good preparation is about far more than passive study. Áilín Quinlan talks to two experts about  the psychological, emotional and academic preparation required to be truly exam-ready

The UK’s top banks are set for one of their worst first-quarter earnings seasons since the financial crisis, adding to their struggle to win over investors against a backdrop of misconduct charges, a weak economic outlook and uncertainty over Brexit.

Directors David Bernstein and Mervyn King have quit Aston Villa with immediate effect to plunge the relegated club deeper into a crisis.

Kevin McPartlan’s (Irish Examiner, April 9) complaint about a tax on sugary drinks is, at most, at a sideshow to a far bigger picture.

Remi Garde could have taken charge of his last game as Aston Villa manager, with an exit around the corner.

Volkswagen is looking at ways to cut costs and boost cashflow and could sell more shares if the price of clearing up a scandal over its rigging of diesel emissions tests puts its credit rating at risk.

Volkswagen has ordered an external investigation, after US regulators found that its software for diesel cars gave false emissions data, its CEO said yesterday. He said he was “deeply sorry” for the violation of US rules.

British publishing group, Pearson is in talks to sell its 50% stake in The Economist to the other shareholders of the weekly newspaper, with one, Italy’s Agnelli family, confirming it wants to increase its stake.

The second-largest shareholder in Swiss cement maker, Holcim, has said it supports the company’s planned merger with France’s Lafarge.

Royal Bank of Scotland will hand restructuring chief Rory Cullinan the task of overseeing another major scaling back of its investment bank, sources told Reuters, allowing it to focus on lending to British households and businesses.

British grocer Tesco has cut profit expectations for the fourth time this year, blaming the cost of trying to recover from an accounting scandal and a slide in market share.

FA chairman Greg Dyke has written to every Fifa executive committee member calling for "urgent action" to ensure ethics investigator Michael Garcia’s report into World Cup bidding is published in full.

Where the Dead Men Go

McDonald’s chief executive has admitted the fast food chain has not been keeping up with the times and changes are in store for its US restaurants.

Europe’s anemic car market rebound could be over before it has really begun. That is the fear of executives as they gather for the Paris car show on Thursday, the biggest industry event in the regional calendar.

Roche Holding has agreed to buy US biotech company InterMune Inc for $8.3bn (€6.3bn) in cash, helping the world’s leading maker of cancer drugs expand into the treatment of rare or incurable diseases. 

Bantry’s chamber music festival has all combinations: string and brass soloists, pianists, and even a quintet,says Declan Townsend.

I was never particularly ambitious. I have been incredibly lucky.

Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker present The Last Leg tonight at 10pm on Channel 4. The trio are joined by comedian Frank Skinner.

Masters of the Word

BSkyB saw over £1.5bn (€1.8bn) wiped off its stock market value yesterday after Rupert Murdoch’s pay-TV group was beaten at its own game with the loss of Champions League soccer rights in the UK.

Heineken, the world’s third- biggest brewer, said poor spring weather in Europe led to weak second-quarter revenue and predicted that earnings this year won’t grow as consumers in the region curb spending.

NORMAL service resumes next week.

From sending solar-powered balloons into the stratosphere to offering free wifi in parks, Google is quietly spending hundreds of millions of dollars on nascent internet services that may one day challenge the telecom and cable companies.

Gareth Southgate is the overwhelming bookmakers’ favourite to replace Stuart Pearce as England Under-21s manager.

England boss Roy Hodgson wants David Beckham to stay close to football after the country’s most-capped outfielder announced his retirement.