Having spent most of the past 20 years in China, furniture designer Frank Carroll saw his company Alfrank Designs face insolvency last year. Aged 71, he was asked: “Do you still want to do it?”
The furniture company’s founding shareholder Frank Carroll was also its main creditor when it entered examinership last autumn. This is how he kept control of the business.
The Waterford medtech company has brought on a new investor in US firm Five Arrows and is eyeing a major R&D and manufacturing expansion stateside.
The US chocolate bar maker invested $2.5 million in Hanrahan’s manufacturing marketplace. He tells The Currency about the deal, and shares his thoughts on Budget 2025 in his home country.
Frank Carroll had successfully navigated the shift to outsourced manufacturing, learning to speak Chinese in the process. When the pandemic and inflation upended its supply chain, it was too much for Alfrank Designs – but it can still rebound.
Confirming the examinership of the Dublin marble table maker, a court heard of positive engagement with creditors and a reasonable prospect of survival with new investment.
The greatest CEO of his generation, Michael Smurfit built a global empire that now employs 100,000. These days, he lives a quieter life on his yacht in the Mediterranean, where he spoke with Tom Lyons.
Founded by Frank Carroll and Alfred Cochrane 40 years ago, Alfrank Designs is facing mounting debts after several loss-making years.
Sean Quinn's former manufacturing business was last week sold to Turkish building materials group Çimsa. Within hours, he was retelling the same old tropes. Quinn needs to move on, not invoke Booker T Washington.
Liberty Insurance and Albert Reynolds-founded C&D Foods are locking horns with Zurich Insurance in new High Court proceedings.
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