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Mobile operator Orange has made a profit for the first time in its history. The company announced on Thursday that its pre-tax profit for 2001 came to EUR386 million. Turnover grew 25 percent to EUR15.087 billion, while earnings improved 86 percent to EUR3.288 billion. The company has written down the value of its 28.5 percent stake in Germany's MobilCom to zero from EUR3.428 billion, but says it is committed to the unit.
Phoenix Technology Group, an Irish financial software provider, has announced the completion of its 'work flow' project for AXA Sun Life (ASL). The value of the deal was not revealed. The solution designed by Phoenix is aimed at providing a common operational interface and set of business processes across the company, following the merger of AXA Equity & Law and Sun Life.
Lendac Data Systems has announced a new partnership with the Dialog Corporation to enable Irish businesses access a massive store of information 5,000 times the size of the Internet. Lendac will now provide access to the Dialog, Datastar and Profound Information products on an all island basis.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) announced that last month it executed three unannounced court-ordered seizures on individuals whom BSA investigated for selling unlicensed software out of their homes in Kentucky, Missouri and Pennsylvania. Under the supervision of US Marshals, BSA carried away computers, equipment and CDs used in the mail-order operations. BSA identified these vendors by purchasing multiple copies of Adobe, Autodesk, Macromedia and Microsoft software programs. While the suggested retail price for the software acquired by BSA was more than USD190,000, BSA paid a combined total of only USD1,087 for the programs obtained on-line.
Mobile services will generate EUR97 billion in revenue across Western Europe in 2002, just four percent more than in 2001, according to a new report released by Analysys. Mobile services revenue rose 12 percent in the previous year, but the rate of growth has slowed substantially, the report said. In "Western European Mobile Forecasts and Analysis 2002-2007," Analysys points out that with 70 percent of Western Europe's population having a mobile phone, the market is nearing its saturation point and operators need to increase the usage of non-voice services now to stimulate a recovery.
Canon USA., Inc., a subsidiary of Canon Inc. has achieved the overall number one market share position for copiers in the US in 2001, for the fourth consecutive year, while expanding its lead on a year-over-year basis, according to the final results of market studies completed this month by Gartner Dataquest. Overall, 557,296 Canon black-and-white copiers were sold in the US in 2001, giving the Company a commanding 34 percent of the market, or share growth of 2.2 percent.
Barnes & Noble reported sales and earnings for the fourth quarter and for the full year ended 02 February 2002 on Thursday. Consolidated net earnings on a pro-forma basis for the year (prior to a USD4.5 million charge for settlement of a lawsuit) were USD91.3 million or USD1.28 per fully diluted share. Retail net earnings (which include retail bookstores and GameStop) grew 13.3 percent to USD123.6 million or USD1.70 per fully diluted share.
According to reports, Google was asked to remove links to a Scientology Web site from its database at the request of the Church of Scientology. The site, Xenu.net, also called Operation Clambake: The fight against the Church of Scientology on the Net, had pages that the church said contained copyrighted material. The church said that the controversial digital copyrights law in the US (DCMA) made allowances for such requests when copyrighted material was on-line. The decision could set an important new precedent on how organisations deal with content on the Net that may not be welcomed or wanted.
As the tally continues after the Hewlett Packard shareholder vote two days ago, it has been revealed that some of Walter Hewlett's supporters may have abandoned him on voting day. Although the vote was very close, and the count continues, it has been revealed that Deutsche Asset Management, Alliance Capital Management and Capital Research Management all voted in favour of the merger despite their commitments to Hewlett to vote no. No independently confirmed announcement of which side won has been made, but both Hewlett and HP's board are claiming victory.
The Geek Olympics, sponsored by IBM, have started in Hawaii. Officially known as the 2002 Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) World Finals, the Geek Olympics will see 64 college teams from 27 countries decipher programming problems with winners receiving scholarships.
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