FINANCIAL services group IFG has reported revenues up 4.6pc to £79.6m in the year ended December – adjusted operating profit was £9.6m, in line with previous year.

Operating profit was £4.6m, down from £6.2m, the company said today.

IFG also said its Irish business is improving.

Europe’s handling of the financial crisis made the recession worse and longer, Mario Draghi has admitted.

Prompt action by the US to sort out its banks meant the economy there recovered years before Europe, and European leaders actually hurt the economy by leaving banks and states to cope without financial support and by cutting investment in the downturn, the ECB president said in a speech in Paris.

In diplomatic but …

State will pocket €950m when Bord Gais sale is finalised. THE State will receive €950m from the privatisation of Bord Gais Energy, with the sale expected to close before the end of June. The sale will be made to a trio of investors made up of Centrica, Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners and Icon Infrastructure, who will break up the business once the deal is completed.

Bord Gais said that the …

LENDER Permanent TSB is turning a corner, chief executive Jeremy Masding said today, announcing the company’s 2013 results.

“Our key message is that permanent tsb bank is turning the corner. I’m delighted to be able to confirm that the permanent tsb Strategic Business Unit – effectively our customer-facing business – is now trading profitably,” he said.

The bank continues to make losses, however, on its so called non-core units.

Improving …

State-owned AIB is to launch a new option for homeowners in arrears that will see the interest rate they pay slashed.

A family with a €200,000 mortgage on a variable rate of 4.5pc could see their monthly repayments drop by as much as €400 under the plan.

The move will see those in financial trouble offered the option of having the interest rate they pay cut to as low as …