IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 22 April
22-04-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
BCM rejects Topfer offer | One Vision to make DTT decision
The Irish Times reports that RTE has launched an online catch-up service for viewers, as reported by ENN on Tuesday.
The paper also says that Andor Technology has defied the global downturn and posted a record jump in interim pretax profits, as noted by ENN.
The same paper reports on a STG9.27 million investment by Dublin telecoms firm Intune Networks. Read more on this story on ENN.
The paper also reports that Eircom owner Babcock & Brown Capital (BCM) has rejected an unsolicited takeover approach from its former management as "unacceptable in its current form". In a letter to shareholders, BCM chairman Kerry Roxburgh said the approach was but one of "several" proposals before the board at present. In an implicit attempt to partially block the proposal from former BCM director Rob Topfer, the fund pledged to return most of its remaining cash to shareholders if no buyer emerges in the next two months.
In more news of Eircom, the Irish Independent notes that a New York-based hedge fund has become the biggest shareholder in Babcock & Brown Capital (BCM). The fund is run by former Goldman Sachs executives and family members of the Ziff Davis publishing dynasty, Och-Ziff Capital Management now holds just over 12 percent of BCM.
The paper also says that the One Vision consortium has been given two weeks to decide whether it wants to proceed with a bid to roll out digital terrestrial television (DTT) services in Ireland. It was announced on Monday that the winner of the contract, the Boxer consortium, had pulled out of the project. Broadcasting Commission of Ireland head Michael O'Keeffe said he would hope to have a deal hammered out with One Vision "in a couple of months" if the consortium is still eager to go ahead with its bid.
The paper also says that Chinese firm CIRS is to create 26 jobs in Dundalk, Co Louth, as reported by ENN on Tuesday.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo has recorded a 78 percent drop in quarterly profit and said it would cut around 675 more jobs, or 5 percent of its workforce. The internet giant suffered across the board as companies scaled back their marketing budgets. In particular, search-ad revenue, which had been a bright spot for Yahoo, declined 3 percent after several quarters of double-digit growth. Overall, revenue declined 13 percent in the first quarter to USD1.58 billion, down from USD1.81 billion a year earlier. Net income fell to USD118 million, or USD0.08 a share, from USD537 million, or USD0.37 a share, in the year-earlier quarter.
The Financial Times says that Carphone Warehouse has confirmed it plans to split its retail and telecoms operations into two separately listed companies. The mobile phone retailer refused to set a timetable for the demerger, however. "The timing will depend on the cost and reallocation of the group's credit facilities," said Charles Dunstone, chief executive. "Meanwhile the operational separation of the two businesses has already effectively been achieved." The group is talking to its banks about the allocation of debt between the two units.
The paper also says that Deutsche Telekom has surprised investors by becoming the first big European telco this year to issue a profit warning because of the recession. The firm's shares fell as much as 10 percent after Rene Obermann, chief executive, said adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation would be between EUR18.7 billion and EUR19.1 billion for 2009. Less than eight weeks ago Deutsche Telekom said group EBITDA would be EUR19.5 billion. Obermann said deteriorating economic conditions, tough competition and currency losses had led to disappointing revenue in the US, the UK and Poland, driving first-quarter group EBITDA down 5 percent to EUR4.5 billion.
Free! "In the papers" email newsletter -- get the full text to your in-box every business day. Email itp@enn.ie with 'subscribe' in the subject line.
Creating successful email surveys: Denise Cox of email specialist Newsweaver argues that you can tap into your readers' likes or dislikes by surveying them.
