Young gun Craddock on the up with apartment plan
IT’S onwards and upwards — literally — for one property developer who in 2015 made the Sunday Independent 30 under 30 list of young business people to watch.
At the time, Keith Craddock was an asset manager at Green Reit but he has since set out on his own, founding Red Rock Developments, which has been involved in a number of interesting projects on the south side of Dublin. But Craddock’s focus has turned north and he is now seeking permission to build a seven-storey apartment block with 42 units close to Smithfield, in the markets area of the city.
The development is planned for a prominent site currently occupied by a vacant two-storey former food supply hub. Building upwards in a location next to a Luas line seems like a very sensible approach to planning, in contrast to the old idea of building an estate on a greenfield an hour’s drive away. Let’s see if the planners agree.
PROFIT warnings at Aryzta continue to exasperate weary analysts of the stock. While there was a belief that new CEO Kevin Toland and chairman Gary McGann were ‘kitchen sinking’ — giving the worst possible scenario — with early dismal trading updates, that was clearly not the case.
Warren Ackerman of Societe General, one of the first to highlight investor concerns with previous chief executive Owen Killian, sounded like his patience was running out on a conference call with management last week. “I’m still a bit surprised that you’re still saying that you’re underestimating the challenges in the group,” he said. “You knew in your due intelligence the big issues and all the factors that you’re flagging today are the same factors as we’ve heard before. So, I’m still struggling a little bit to see another reason for the double-digit downgrade.”
Fintan Ryan of Berenberg is among those who are concerned about the company’s banking covenants. The title of his note couldn’t resist a baking pun — A falling (bread) knife.