The Best Place to Buy Shares in Irish (ISE Listed) Public Companies

  • By: Walter Dunphy ACCA
  • Date: April 10, 2022
  • Time to read: 3 min.

Investing is becoming very popular among Irish people, but are Irish people regularly investing publicly listed Irish companies such as Ryanair, Flutter, AIB, and Kerry Group?

In a recent poll we conducted on our Instagram account Just 14% of 42 respondents admitted any Irish stocks. So it is clear that they are not a popular choice among Irish investors.

Part of the reason for this may be down to not knowing where to go if you want to buy shares in Irish companies. In this blog post, we will show you where to go and also where is the cheapest place to buy Irish stocks.

How have Irish Stocks Performed Against the S&P500?

Firstly, how well have Irish stocks actually performed against a benchmarks like the S&P 500? The S&P 500 normally forms a staple part of most peoples investment portfolio.

Here is an analysis of how the ISEQ Index have performed over the last 10 years vs the S&P 500:

YEAR ISEQ All Share (^ISEQ)SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)
2012 17% 13%
2013 33% 30%
2014 15% 11%
2015 30% -1%
2016 -4% 10%
2017 8% 19%
2018 -22% -7%
2019 31% 29%
2020 3% 16%
2021 14% 27%
2012-2021 291% 378%

As we can see from the above table over the last decade the S&P 500 has outperformed the ISEQ Index with a return of 378% versus 291% respectively.

This is a more than respectable performance compared to other indexes around the world.

What are the Top Irish Publicly Listed Stocks?

Here is a list of some of the top companies listed in Ireland that you should check out:

  • DIAGEO PLC
  • CRH PLC
  • Flutter Entertainment
  • Kerry Group PLC
  • Kingspan Group PLC
  • Ryanair
  • Smurfit Kappa
  • Bank of Ireland
  • AIB
  • Glanbia
  • UNIPHAR
  • Hibernia REIT
  • Greencoat Renewables
  • CAIRN Homes
  • Dalata Hotel Group
  • Glenveagh Properties
  • Tullow Oil
  • Permanent TSB
  • FBD Holdings
  • Origin Ent
  • Kenmare Resources

Where You Can Buy Irish Stocks

There are only a few brokerages that will allow you to buy stocks that are trading on the Irish Stock Exchange (Euronext Dublin). These include Degiro, Davy Stockbrokers, Goodbody and Cantor Fitzgerald.

Some Irish companies are listed on multiple exchanges, many choose to also list on the London Stock exchange also. You can find many of these Irish companies listed on the LSE on Trading 212.

One of the most important considerations when choosing a broker is the fees, below we have done up a comparison table for some of the popular brokers to buy Irish stocks.

DegiroTrading 212DavyGoodbodyCantor Fitz
Irish stock €1,000 €2.50 €0 €14.99 €25 €55

There is a quite a big difference in the level of fees when either choosing to go with a big Europe-wide brokerage or going with a domestic brokerage.

You should also pay attention to the hidden fees that may affect you , particularly the bid-ask spread. The big-ask spread is where most brokerages make their money, this is the difference between the price they will sell shares to you and buy back from you. These spreads can vary a lot from broker to broker and even asset to asset.

Final Thoughts

Irish stocks are definitely not as glamorous as their US counterparts but there can be bigger opportunities to find stocks that are mispriced in markets that have lower liquidity and don’t get the same attention.

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Disclaimer: This blog post is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice.

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