IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 20 November
20-11-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Dell profit plunges 54 percent | Twitter to launch corporate accounts
The Irish Times reports that online auction site eBay has completed its sale of Skype. A settlement reached earlier this month over a pending legal case involving Skype's founders, eBay and the buyers cleared the way for the sale. Some analysts had worried that the case could have derailed the deal.
The paper also reports that the Eircom employee group Esot, which owns 35 percent of the telco, could have to pay up to EUR10.3 million to buy additional shares in the business as a condition of the sale of the company to Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT). An acquisition document was sent this week to the Esot's 12,500 members. Under the terms of STT's proposed AUD225 million takeover of Eircom, the Singapore telco does not plan to own more than 50 percent of Eircom. The Esot will rollover its 35 percent stake. In the event that all existing Eircom shareholders take the cash offer, convertible loan notes for about 15 percent of the company will be issued. A third-party investor will be sought for the loan notes but if none is found by mid-2011, the Esot will be obliged to buy them.
The paper also says that troubled e-payments group Payzone has warned that shareholders could have the value of their holdings wiped out as part of a planned financial restructuring with its lenders. The loss-making company issued the stark warning to the market after a sharp fall in its share price on Wednesday pushed the stock to below one penny on the AIM in London. "The company can confirm that it remains in constructive discussions with its finance providers as part of its review of the options to establish a more appropriate long-term capital structure as announced on 18 June 2009," Payzone said. "Any new capital structure for the company or the business may result in little or no value for shareholders of the company."
The paper also reports that Colm Lyon, the founder of e-payments firm Realex Payments was named the 2009 'internet hero' at the Eircom Golden Spider Awards on Thursday. Also honoured at the ceremony was video website Muzu.tv, which scooped the Grand Prix award and picked up best entertainment and games-related website. Other winners included Organicsupermarket.ie, which won best retail and commercial shopping site; RTE.ie/MorningIreland, which was awarded best digital media website; and Culgreen.ie, named best community and charity website. The public-voted social networking and community website award went to Pix.ie.
The paper also notes that US telecoms equipment maker Avaya has received EU regulatory clearance for its planned purchase of assets owned by bankrupt Canadian firm Nortel Networks. Avaya is buying Nortel's enterprise business for about USD900 million.
The paper also says that the HSE could save EUR79 million a year by introducing electronic patient records, according to a report prepared by a coalition of 17 telecoms and technology firms. Read more on this story on ENN.
The paper also reports that plans to provide consumers with regularly updated online comparisons of supermarket prices have had to be abandoned after the National Consumer Agency failed to secure the co-operation of the main retailers. The NCA had planned to replace its regular survey of grocery prices with an online system relying on food price data provided by the main multiples. NCA chief executive Ann Fitzgerald said it was time to adopt a different approach after attempts to secure the co-operation of the supermarket chains failed. "We got plenty of talk but not much action," she said.
The paper also notes that Irish consumers have been warned about the presence of synthetic steroids in products marketed online as dietary supplements. The Irish Medicines Board (IMB) said a small number of Irish consumers may have bought the 66 products concerned from US-based website www.Bodybuilding.com. The IMB raised concerns about the effects of the products, which had not been approved for use in Ireland. Details of the products concerned can be found on the IMB's website.
According to the Wall Street Journal, PC maker Dell's quarterly profit fell 54 percent. The results also showed a 15 percent drop in revenue from the year-earlier quarter, contrasting sharply with strong performances in recent months from rival PC makers. Dell posted earnings of USD577 million, or USD0.17 a share, on revenue of USD12.9 billion. Not including costs for one-time items, earnings per share would have been USD0.22. Dell's market share and profitability both went down over the quarter, even as the overall computer market was showing some revival. Dell Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden said the results were partly due to the company's heavy reliance on the corporate PC market, which has been slower to recover from the recession than the consumer sector.
The Financial Times reports that Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has said the company is close to launching corporate accounts that would help the site begin to generate revenues. Stone said Twitter was planning to roll out a package of tools for business users of the site by the end of the year. "We want to present to them a layer of features that allows them to become better at Twitter, show them some of the analytics," he said. Industry analysts said it would be a relief once the site began to generate sales. "Clearly they need to make sales at some point. It is one of the points of being a business," said Nate Elliott, principal analyst at Forrester Research.
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