IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 21 April
21-04-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
Dell workers in line for EU fund | IBM results eclipsed by Oracle/Sun pact
The Irish Times reports that a DVD for young people on going to court has been produced by the Courts Service. The DVD describes how the courts work, how a video link operates, how to take an oath, who is present in court and what is required from a witness. It will be uploaded on to YouTube, Bebo and Facebook and also distributed by Barnardos, which assisted in its preparation. Fergus Finlay, chief executive of Barnardos, said the DVD would be distributed through the organisation’s 40 projects around the State, all of whom had some children with experience of having to go to court, for reasons ranging from custody and abuse hearings to child abduction cases.
The Irish Independent writes Clearstream Technologies posted a pre-tax profit for the six months to 31 January of EUR106,688 compared to a loss of EUR1.4 million in the same period the previous year. The Enniscorthy-based medical devices firm also saw sales jump 69 percent to EUR6.03 million in the same period.
The Examiner reports that plans for the introduction of commercial digital TV in Ireland have suffered a major setback after it was confirmed that Boxer, the consortium which last year won three licences to provide digital terrestrial television, will not proceed with its plans to launch a service this year. Read more on the story on ENN.
The paper also says that Dell workers who are to lose their jobs in Limerick could be in line for a payment of about EUR6,000 each from the European Globalisation Fund. Following changes to the rules under which the fund is managed, Dell workers will soon be able to apply for money from the fund to help with job searching and retraining.
According to the Wall Street Journal, IBM on Monday posted net income of USD2.30 billion for the first quarter, down from USD2.32 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose to USD1.70 from USD1.64 on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue fell to USD21.71 billion from USD24.50 billion. IBM's quarterly results, usually a much-watched bellwether of the technology industry, were overshadowed by the Oracle-Sun pact, which analysts say represents one of the worst potential outcomes for IBM, boosting Oracle's prospects in the lucrative market for selling corporate software.
The paper also reports on Texas Instruments' quarterly figures. The chip maker saw net income fall 97 percent in its first quarter, but better-than-expected revenue and second-quarter guidance offered hope that demand for chips is beginning to stabilise. Though revenue fell 36 percent to USD2.1 billion from USD3.3 billion, it surpassed analysts' expectations of USD1.9 billion. For the current quarter, TI said it expects revenue in the range of USD1.95 billion to USD2.4 billion, and earnings per share of USD0.01 a share to USD0.15 cents a share.
In more news of financial results, the Financial Times reports that LG Electronics posted a SKW455.6 billion (USD337.1 million) operating profit for the quarter to 31 March, down 25 percent on the SKW605.2 billion for the same quarter a year earlier, but ahead of a SKW307.4 billion average profit forecast by Reuters analysts. LG sold 22.6 million mobile handsets in the first quarter, down from 25.7 million units sold in October-December. The world's No. 3 mobile phone maker said it expected to increase mobile phone sales by more than 10 percent in the second quarter from the first.
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