A festival with a difference is to be held in a Co Cork town which aims to get more children interested in science and turn it into a hub for research and innovation.

Just weeks after this newspaper revealed Limerick’s unexpected support for the reintroduction of a seeded draw in the Munster Senior Football Championship, the county’s Football Board have done a U-turn.

We’ll declare the moratorium immediately.

Applications have flooded in and are long closed for The Entrepreneur Experience 2012, the second annual non-stop 24-hour business fast-tracking event widely dubbed Sleepless in Kinsale.

THE 24-hour Entrepreneur Experience event is looking for aspiring entrepreneurs eager to fast track ideas into real opportunities.

CASH-AND-CARRY wholesaler the Barry Group saw profits increase last year in what it described as a tough trading environment.

NTR boss Michael McNicholas, regarded in the industry as a ‘safe pair of hands’, is busy picking up the pieces after his predecessor’s costly gamble on solar power backfired badly, helping to notch up record losses of €381m at the group, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

OPTIMISM was the order of the day for the 24-hour Sleepless in Garryvoe Entrepreneur Experience workshop in Cork over the weekend.

There is a real urgency to take investment in renewable energy to a new plateau and Jim Barry, as he moves from NTR to BlackRock Alternative Investments, is getting an opportunity to make a new name for himself, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

RENEWABLE energy company NTR is to form a new investment vehicle with New York-based giant, BlackRock.

NTR has sold a second solar energy asset in California in almost as many weeks, as part of a continued bid to strengthen its cash reserves.

EXECUTIVES at multinational energy company Shell believe the Irish state could be in possession of massive gas resources off the west coast, “up to 20 times” the scale of the already discovered Corrib field.

IRISH renewable energy group, NTR, has committed itself to “a significant liquidity event” within two to three years which could see the former toll roads operator seeking a mainstream public listing.

RENEWABLE energy and waste management specialist NTR has reported a full-year pre-tax loss of €267.2 million for the 12 months to the end of March.

A €5.5 million investment in four new BuyLo stores in counties Killarney, Waterford, Shannon and Dublin and a massive expansion of its Mallow warehouse facilities by the Barry Group will result in the creation of 110 jobs.

A SUBSIDIARY of Irish renewable energy group NTR has achieved a major breakthrough in becoming the first company to gain national approval in the US for a full commercial-scale solar power project.

RENEWABLE energy group NTR has further diluted its infrastructure interests by selling a number of its Irish road assets – including Dublin’s East-Link toll bridge – to Dutch investment fund, DIF Infrastructure II, for a total €50 million.

LEADING Irish wholesale and distribution firm, the Barry Group officially opened a €1.5 million extension to its state-of-the-art central distribution base in north Cork yesterday.

The Barry Group is to open eight new Buy Lo stores by the end of the year and also increase the number of Carry Out off-licences by 52 to 104.

Wholesale distribution company Barry Group today announced pre-tax profits of €3m for 2009, a rise of over 12% on the €2.67m it earned the previous year.

CASH and carry wholesaler James A Barry & Co Ltd has posted after-tax profits of around €2.57 million for the year to the end of January, 2010, according to accounts filed with the Companies’ Registration Office.

NTR plc is to net €96 million from the sale of its waste management business Greenstar UK – the company plans to keep its Irish and US Greenstar branded waste businesses.

THE acquisition of the Carry Out off-licence business is expected to add €42 million to the Barry Group’s turnover.

The Barry Group has today announced its acquisition of the Carry Out off-licence business, which has 52 stores nationwide.

WIND Capital Group, the wind energy division of Irish renewable energy and waste management group NTR, has secured project debt financing totalling $240 million (€160m) for its 150 megawatt Lost Creek wind farm project in the US.

WASTE management specialist Greenstar has reached agreement to acquire the Irish-based commercial waste and recycling operations of French company Veolia Environmental Services, for an undisclosed sum. The deal is dependent on Competition Authority approval.

THE Barry Group has pushed sales in Ireland up by €11.68 million – a 6.2% increase – to €201.02m in the year to the end of January, according to accounts to be filed with the Companies Office this week.

NTR could consider the possibility of publicly floating some of its subsidiary businesses over the long-term, in a bid to raise further funds.

IRISH renewable energy and waste management group, NTR is hopeful of entering the southern European solar energy market within the next two years, on the back of developing its supply chain in that area in the North American market.

NTR has reported cash reserves of €232m in its annual report published today.

NTR’s transformation into a green energy company took a major step forward yesterday when its solar project development company, Tessera Solar North America, announced a 20-year power purchase agreement with CPS Energy to develop a 27 megawatt solar project in Texas.

NTR’s US bio-ethanol vehicle Green Plains Renewable Energy is to become the fourth largest ethanol producer in the United States after acquiring two Nebraska plants for $123.5 million (€91.8m).

IRISH renewable energy and waste management group NTR has expressed confidence in the prospects of its US-based bio-ethanol producer Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE), even after the Nebraska-based business reported a net loss of $1.8 million (€1.33m) for the fourth quarter of last year.

CORK-based wholesale food distribution firm Barry Group said pre-tax profit soared to €2.5m in the year to the end of January 2008 from €1.6m in the previous year.

INVESTORS in NTR, the renewable energy to waste management group, fully endorsed the €275m share buy-back of the group an extraordinary general meeting in Dublin yesterday.

RENEWABLE energy and waste management group, NTR is to merge its ethanol business in the US with Green Plains Renewable Energy.

NTR, the former West Link operator, has invested €63 million in a strategic solar energy project in the US.

WASTE recycling firm NTR is to expand its British operation in a £7 million (€10m) investment, creating one of the largest recycling facilities in Britain.

NTR, which recently sold its 50% stake in the West Link toll bridge to the State for €600 million, saw its net profits fall to €14m for the year to March 31, 2007.

RENEWABLE energy firm Airtricity saw its generating capacity increase from 177MW to 383MW in its last financial year.

THE quest for alternatives to fossil fuels goes on. This is driven by a number of factors. Clean biofuels are regarded as more environmentally friendly even though the more astute claim they are no more than environmentally neutral at best.

WHEN a leading Irish chief executive says the next election should be fought on the looming energy crisis facing the country, it is a fair bet that something quite serious is afoot.

INFRASTRUCTURE company NTR made close to €50 million from the tolls it operates on Irish roads in the 15 months to March 31, 2006.

IRELAND’S leading waste management company, NTR, has bought two British waste companies in a deal worth €10 million.