IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 29 May
29-05-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Gov readies Dell EU aid appeal | Blizzard storms Cork with jobs
The Irish Times reports that Tanaiste Mary Coughlan has said Ireland's application for EU aid to support former Dell workers is ready and will be sent off once the number of employees losing their jobs reaches 500. "It's very important to say what this money is for," said the minister, after a meeting of EU enterprise ministers in Brussels. "This money is for the training and retraining of people and it's not, as people might think, cash in hand. It just augments the spend we have for these people." PC maker Dell announced in January that it would be shedding 1,900 jobs in phased redundancies at its manufacturing plant in Raheen, Limerick.
The paper also reports that IDA Ireland has confirmed that US computer games firm Blizzard Entertainment has created 500 additional jobs at its European customer support centre in Cork. Blizzard said it would create 100 jobs by 2010 when it opened the centre in 2007, but employment has now passed 600. The growth in employment was announced as Blizzard signed a new agreement with IDA Ireland to develop best practices in customer services at the Cork support centre. Blizzard is a division of Nasdaq-quoted Activision Blizzard, best known for online games including World of Warcraft.
The paper also says that Hewlett-Packard has announced plans to cut 5,700 jobs across Europe over the next two years, in response to worsening market conditions. The redundancies come on top of the 9,330 cuts the company had already planned for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region as part of integrating the operations of EDS, which it acquired last year. A spokesman for HP Ireland said there was no indication yet of what the likely impact on jobs would be in the Republic.
The paper also notes that Irish consumers are seeking better value and cheaper products in the electronics market. According to co-founder of TNS Distribution Ivan Eustace, the Irish electronics sector has been hit worse than overseas. "The Irish market has bottomed out, whereas the UK and around Europe are still tipping away okay. They've gone down a bit, but they haven't gone down as much as Ireland. A lot of our Irish accounts are a lot slower than our UK or Europe accounts," he said.
The same paper says that Galway medical device developer Crospon has agreed a worldwide distribution deal with Dutch firm Medical Measurement Systems (MMS) for its flagship product, EndoFLIP. Crospon develops minimally invasive medical devices for monitoring, diagnosis and therapy in the gastroenterology area.
The paper also notes that from autumn, owners of Microsoft's Xbox 360 games console will be able to access Sky TV's online service, Sky Player, and use interactive elements that both companies claim will be a world first. "For Sky Sports specifically, we are looking to develop elements of interactivity that will allow communities of people to go online and interact in real time while watching a football match," said Neil Thompson, head of Xbox UK and Ireland. They will also be able to check news and access fixtures, league tables and other on-demand information. Neither Sky nor Microsoft would comment on details of the Xbox Sky packages or costs.
The same paper says that e-mail security firm MXSweep has signed agreements with software distributors in Scandinavia and the Benelux countries. The Navan-based company has just finalised a deal with Cloudmore.com, which distributes software to managed IT service providers throughout Scandinavia. MXSweep also signed a similar distribution deal with Organic IT, a specialist managed services distributor in the Benelux region.
The paper also reports that mobile operator Three Ireland has launched a free video-on-demand service that subscribers can access directly from their mobile phone. Accessed via the Planet 3 portal, use of the service does not incur any network charges as it is funded by advertising -- short 10-second ads are run before and after the video clips. The service is being managed for Three by UK firm Gorillabox.
The Irish Examiner says that the proportion of Leaving Certificate students set to attempt the higher level maths paper next week has fallen below one-in-five. The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has registered 55,383 people to sit the Leaving Certificate, up nearly 4 percent from a year ago. Among almost 53,000 Leaving Certificate students predicted to take maths, just 10,533 (19.9 percent) have indicated they will be taking the higher level paper. This compares to 21 percent of candidates whose schools told the commission before Easter last year and in 2007 that they would be sitting the higher level paper.
The paper also says that mobile top-up firm Paypoint posted a 13 percent rise in full-year profit, driven by strong growth in transaction values. The British-based cash and internet payment firm said net income was STG23.8 million, or STG0.353 per share, in the year ended 29 March, compared with STG21 million, or STG0.308 per share, in the year ended 30 March 2008. Revenue grew 5.8 percent to STG224.4 million in the year.
The Financial Times says that Nortel Networks, the Canadian telecoms equipment firm operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has confirmed it is seeking a buyer for its controlling stake in LG-Nortel, its South Korean joint venture with LG Electronics. Nortel owns a 50 percent stake plus one share in the profitable venture, which was formed in late 2005. Nortel has appointed Goldman Sachs to find possible purchasers for its stake, which could be worth as much as USD1 billion.
According to the Wall Street Journal, PC maker Dell has warned that the painful slump in demand for its computers has yet to reach a bottom, as it reported a 63 percent drop in quarterly profit and a 23 percent revenue slide. The company said its results were driven down by weak business spending during the last quarter and by restructuring charges. Brian Gladden, Dell's chief financial officer, said the company has yet to see "a bottom" to the prolonged slump in technology spending. "Demand is still not improving," he said. Dell posted earnings of USD290 million, or USD0.15 a share, down from USD784 million, or USD0.38 a share, a year ago. Revenue was USD12.34 billion, down from USD16.08 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.
