IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 30 April
30-04-2008
by Sylvia Leatham
Oisin Fanning takes legal action against Smart MBO | ARM beats Q1 expectations
The Irish Times reports that PC maker Dell is to make 250 Irish staff redundant. Read the full story on ENN.
The paper also reports that former Smart Telecom chief Oisin Fanning has started legal proceedings to cancel the management buyout of the company. He is also alleging unlawful and oppressive conduct of the affairs of the company by businessman Brendan Murtagh and others. Fanning claims Brendan Murtagh "effectively controlled" Smart from 2005 and that when Murtagh realised that, in order to take the company private, he would be required to pay market price for it as advised by Davy stockbrokers, he embarked on a course designed to jeopardise the cash flow of the company.
Separately, the paper says that Murtagh has rejected all the claims made by Fanning against him. He also said that Fanning's legal action is an abuse of the court process and is designed to disrupt negotiations that could provide very significant benefits to Smart YuRoE Broadband. Smart YuRoE is the company formerly known as Calally Ltd, to which the assets and liabilities of Smart Telecom have been transferred.
The Irish Independent reports that the full rollout of an integrated ticket for Dublin commuters will not happen until the end of 2010, almost eight years after it was first announced. The rollout of the smartcard allowing commuters to use one ticket for bus, Luas and rail services is expected to cost EUR49.6 million, the Department of Transport has revealed. The integrated system will be launched in September 2009 but only for Dublin Bus, Luas and Morton's Coaches, a private transport operator. It will be extended to Irish Rail, DART and commuter services over the following year, while Bus Eireann will undertake a "trial project".
The Irish Examiner notes that mobile operator O2 has launched a crackdown on debtors. Last week it took 70 people to court to recover EUR100,000 in unpaid phone bills, an average of EUR1,430 each.
The Financial Times reports that chip designer ARM Holdings beat expectations in the first quarter, calming fears it would be hit by a slowdown in spending. Overall revenues rose 2 percent to STG67.89 million in the first quarter, while pre-tax profits fell 3.5 percent to STG12.3 million. Warren East, ARM chief executive, said he had not seen any slowdown in the market yet and reiterated that revenues would grow at the same rate as last year, 6 percent.
According to the Wall Street Journal, IBM has raised its quarterly dividend 25 percent, marking the 13th consecutive year of increases since a near-collapse of the company in the early 1990s forced it to slash its payout. The quarterly dividend increase to USD0.50 a share will raise IBM's annual payout to about USD2.5 billion. But the company said it still favours stock buybacks over dividends as a way to return value to shareholders. It plans to spend USD12 billion on stock buybacks this year.
The paper also reports that Microsoft has cut the price of its Xbox 360 games console in four Asian markets between 5 percent and 20 percent, ratcheting up rivalry with Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft has officially launched Xbox 360 in five markets in Asia: Hong Kong, India, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The estimated retail price for the model with a 20-gigabyte hard drive was cut by 19.5 percent in Singapore, while in Taiwan it was cut by 17 percent
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 