Merger-mania spreads to oil sector - following Heinz/Kraft and Fedex/TNT announcements reports suggest that the giant Anglo-Dutch oil and energy group, Royal Dutch Shell is in advanced talks to acquire BG Group for up to $68bn.

BG is the UK’s third largest oil and energy group. It has significant global reserves of oil and gas and produces nearly 700,000 barrels of oil equivalent every day - it is also one of the world’s largest producers and traders of liquefied natural gas, particularly into the American market

BG, like many oil companies, has been hard hit by the fall in oil prices. It was loss-making in 2014 and its share price had fallen by close to 30 percent since last summer.

The merger would boost Shell’s own oil reserves and spare it some of its short-term exploration costs. The company has spent about $6bn to date in its search for oil north of Alaska but has not yet finished a single well.

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Ryanair passenger numbers were 28 percent higher in March – the airline carried 1.5m more passengers than in the same period last year.

It carried a total of 6.7m passengers in March - this means the airline is on track to achieve its target of flying 100m passengers in current financial year.

Ryanair enjoyed a very high load factor 90 percent during the month.

Its chief marketing officer, Kenny Jacob said the rise in passenger numbers and higher load factor had been helped by its “Always Getting Better” customer charter. Since launching the charter last Spring, Ryanair’s passenger numbers have grown by 9m.

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Greek PM, Alexis Tsipras visits Moscow amid speculation of a possible bailout from Putin - the visit comes one day before the Greek government is due to make its next repayment to the IMF.

Officials from Athens have described the meeting as "politically friendly and economically promising."

President Putin will hold formal talks with the Syriza leader today - the pair are expected to agree to a three-year plan to strengthen economic and commercial ties between the two countries. 

Since coming to power the new Greek government has publicly criticised EU sanctions against Russia.

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that potential economic growth in the developed world will average at about 1.6 percent per year between 2015 and 2020.

Significantly lower than the average growth rates in richer countries of 2.25 percent in the years coming up to the economic slump in 2008.

In its twice-yearly global review, the Washington-based IMF suggests that potential growth was already slowing in richer economies before the financial crisis hit due principally to a combination of ageing populations and a drop in investment levels and rates of technological innovation.

The forecast if correct could mean an extended period of low global interest rates.

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The founder and Chief Executive of Kerry-based financial software company, Monex has called for lower rates of income tax for the country’s highest-paid business leaders and managers.

He suggests that at salary levels of between €500,000 and €1m, income tax rates should be lower than the marginal tax rates levied on those who do not earn as much.

He argues the benefits would include the encouragement of greater spending here by the well paid; the attraction of well-paid talent from overseas and a reduction in the number of people taking multi-year tax breaks outside Ireland.

Frank Murphy fully acknowledges that such a change to our tax regime would have personal benefits.