IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 30 October
30-10-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Sony reports smaller-than-expected loss | Samsung enjoys record quarterly earnings
The Irish Times reports that BT CEO Chris Clark says that Eircom is damaging the competitiveness of the Irish telecoms market by mounting legal challenges to ComReg decisions. Clark said that BT is aggressively rolling out a next-generation network in Britain because of competition but ComReg is being hampered by Eircom in its efforts to foster a competitive environment in Ireland. Eircom has mounted a number of legal challenges to ComReg decisions in the last year, primarily related to a decision forcing it to cut the wholesale price of broadband lines. Frustrated by the slow pace of change, BT pulled out of the residential telecoms market this summer when it entered into a joint venture with Vodafone.
The paper also says that Facebook is testing a payment system to gain a commission each time an online game player buys a digital product on the social network. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on the site by players of games such as Farmville, Mafia Wars and Pet Society. The social games market will triple to USD2 billion by 2012, estimates analyst house ThinkEquity. "Virtual goods and microtransactions, especially inside games, can be a very big and thriving business," said Ethan Beard, who runs the developer network at Facebook. "Two years ago, we never considered it."
The paper also says that Satellite Broadband Ireland is to create 30 jobs after being awarded a contract by Three to provide satellite broadband services in rural areas. Read more on this story on ENN.
The same paper reports that telecoms provider Digiweb has released a survey which shows that 8,169 Irish businesses are located in broadband "black spot" areas, as noted by ENN on Thursday.
The paper also notes that Jivo, an Irish manufacturer of accessories for Apple's iPhone and iPod, has opened an office in Paris. Jivo already has branches in Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, Spain and China. Jivo is among the top 10 percent of consumer electronics exporters in Ireland.
The Financial Times reports that consumer electronics maker Sony has revealed a smaller-than-expected net loss for its fiscal second quarter. The Japanese company lost JPY26.3 billion (USD289 million) in the three months to 30 September, about half as much as analysts had expected and about 30 percent less than in the previous quarter. The company said its full-year outlook had improved thanks to aggressive cost-cutting and a turnaround at its Japanese financial services arm. Sony said it expected to lose JPY95 billion in the full year to next March, compared with a previous forecast for a JPY120 billion loss. At the operating level, before taxes and other deductions, Sony revised its loss projection from JPY110 billion to JPY60 billion.
The paper also says that Samsung Electronics has posted record quarterly earnings. Net profit tripled to SKW3,723 billion in the July-to-September period from SKW1,219 billion a year ago, thanks to higher chip prices and strong sales of flat-panel TVs and mobile phones. Sales revenue rose 29 percent to SKW24,862 billion. The South Korean company said that earnings may decline in the current quarter due to the stronger Won and rising marketing expenses, but it expects earnings to improve next year as the global economic recovery drives demand for its products.
In more results news, the paper says that sales revenue at France Telecom fell 6.4 percent to EUR12.69 billion in the third quarter, due to the recession, tighter price regulation and foreign exchange effects. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation declined 8 percent to EUR4.56 billion. The telecoms company said it would set aside up to EUR1 billion to help ease tension among its French workforce after the suicides of 25 of its employees since the beginning of last year. Gervais Pellissier, finance director, said there had been no impact on third quarter sales or costs on account of the turmoil among the workforce.
The Wall Street Journal says that telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent has reported a wider third-quarter net loss as sales continued to fall. The company posted a net loss of EUR182 million for the quarter ended 30 September, compared with a loss of EUR40 million in the same period last year. The Franco-American group also swung to an adjusted operating loss of EUR11 million, from a profit of EUR40 million last year. This figure was below the EUR8 million profit forecast by analysts. Revenue dropped 9.3 percent to EUR3.69 billion from EUR4.07 billion last year, missing analysts' expectations for revenue of EUR3.91 billion. The company said it still aims to reach its target to break even at an adjusted operating level in 2009.
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