In The Papers 30 September

30-09-2008

by Sylvia Leatham

Nokia to sell security hardware unit | Vodafone appoints emerging heads

The Irish Times reports that Smart Telecom paid EUR1.3 million in "non-business" expenses for two directors during a period in which it lost more than EUR90 million, according to accounts published this week. Smart owns 10 percent of a new company, Smart Yuroe Broadband Ltd, which trades as Smart Telecom, but is a separate company. Accounts for 2006 state that Smart paid non-business expenses worth EUR859,237 for former chief Oisin Fanning in 2005 and 2006, which it is now seeking to recover. The accounts also say that in 2006, Smart "discharged non-business expenses amounting to EUR149,475" on behalf of executive director Pearl Roche. Fanning said the money was paid to him and Roche as part of a bonus agreed by Smart's remuneration committee and fully disclosed to shareholders.

The paper also reports that the public will be able to view details of amounts farmers received from the EU last year on the Department of Agriculture website, www.agriculture.gov.ie. Details of payments under the rural environment protection scheme, young farmers installation aid, disadvantaged area payments and the farm improvement scheme will be published from Tuesday. Details of amounts paid under other schemes will be released from April onwards.

The Irish Examiner says that a EUR15 million expansion plan at the Re3 waste treatment plant in Limerick will create 50 jobs, as reported by ENN on Monday.

The paper also notes that primary and secondary school students have been invited to design a St Patrick’s Day homepage for Google's internet search engine. Read more on this story on ENN.

The Wall Street Journal says that handset maker Nokia is nearing a deal to sell its computer security hardware business. Nokia said it is in advanced talks to sell its security appliances business to an un-named financial investor. The firm also said it will stop making or marketing software that businesses use to support wireless e-mail and other communications and instead turn to outside providers such as IBM, Microsoft and Cisco. Nokia said it will redirect the freed-up resources to a service that pushes e-mail to consumers' mobile phones.

The paper also notes that Vodafone has appointed heads for two new emerging-markets divisions. The mobile operator's former UK chief, Nick Read, will run the Asian-Pacific and Middle East business, while Morten Lundal, formerly head of the Middle East and Africa operations, will run Central Europe and Africa. The appointments seal the top management structure of new Chief Executive Vittorio Colao, after a shake-up of roles earlier this month.

The Financial Times says that shares in Apple fell almost 20 percent on Monday -- their steepest fall since January this year -- as concerns about the fallout from the financial crisis spread to the consumer electronics sector. The fall followed two separate downgrades by investment analysts. It came as the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index, of which Apple is a part, fell 9.1 percent on the day. That fall was part of the broader market retreat on Monday. Apple's decline reflected some analysts' concerns that the company could be hurt if consumers begin to cut back on spending.

The paper also reports that BT is on Tuesday starting extensive trials of a controversial technology that targets advertisements at consumers based on their web browsing habits. The company is looking for 10,000 broadband customers who are willing to use the technology, which has been dogged by allegations of breaches of data protection laws. BT stressed that trials of the technology developed by Phorm, an internet advertising company, would only be done with customers' consent. It admitted it held trials of the technology in 2006 and 2007 without consent, which prompted the European Commission to raise the matter with the government in July.

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