ROUNDUPS
In the papers 26 April
26-04-2002
by Ralph Averbuch
Six top consulting firms are bidding to construct the heart of Ireland's e-government | Flextronics reported a 30 percent drop in pro forma earnings per share
The Irish Times reports that six of the world's top consulting firms are on a short-list to prepare bids to develop the systems at the heart of e-government in the Republic. The aim is to build a public services broker that would provide citizens with a unified system to access public services over the telephone, Internet or in person. Accenture, HP, KPMG Consulting, Logica, PA and Siemens are reported to be on the short-list.
The Irish Times reports that mobile services group iTouch, a subsidiary of Independent News & Media, settled a two-year court case against it by another digital media firm, HiTouch. It is believed the settlement involved payment of money to HiTouch, which had claimed iTouch was "passing off" under a similar name. HiTouch, founded in 1998 by Ronan O'Caollai, has subsequently changed its name to Gravit8.
The same paper reports that the Companies Registration Office is offering an on-line search facility of its database following an agreement with CFI Online, a Dublin firm that got an injunction to stop the service in 1999. The agreement, which has yet to be formally announced, will allow the Companies Registration Office to offer the public a range of financial information. Some of the information will be free. CFI Online, which provides a similar service to businesses and consumers, originally sought the injunction against the service saying that the Companies Registration Office was not supplying it with data on a daily basis.
According to the Financial Times, Flextronics International, the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider, reported a 30 percent drop in 2002 pro forma earnings per share from the prior year despite full-year revenues rising eight percent to USD13.1 billion. Flextronics makes products such as Microsoft's Xbox and Ericsson mobile phones, but has suffered from a drop in business as original equipment manufacturers who use its services, have been hit by weakness in industry spending.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Network Associates Inc. said it discovered "accounting irregularities" in its 1999 and 2000 financial statements that require a restatement of its results for those periods. The security and anti-virus software company, is already under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for its accounting practices. It is also reported that the company has withdrawn its offer to buy the publicly held shares of McAfee.com Corp.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Carly Fiorina, chief executive at HP, denied trying to influence Deutsche Bank to make a last-minute switch of some votes in favour of the Compaq acquisition prior to a 19 March shareholder vote.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 