IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 26 November
26-11-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Brain drain looms as students apply to UK | Irish banks consider blogging
The Irish Times reports that the entire contents of the Waterford Crystal factories, stores and sites in Waterford and Dungarvan will go under the internet hammer on Thursday. The sale, titled "ancillary and support equipment from a glass manufacturing facility", includes eight generators, glass machinery, lathes and milling machines, wood saws, 16 pallet trucks and several pallet wrappers, as well as specialised laboratory equipment. The auction is being organised by Dublin-based McKay and Associates.
The paper also says that Eircom's revenue and operating profit fell in the three months to the end of September, as reported by ENN on Wednesday.
The same paper says that Ireland has achieved 18 places on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, as noted by ENN. Look out for more coverage of these two stories in Thursday's Weekly Digest.
The paper also reports that Trintech posted revenues of USD10 million for the third quarter. Read more on this story on ENN.
The Irish Independent says that a surge in applications from Irish school leavers for university courses in the UK next year has prompted fears of a brain drain. New figures show a 43 percent rise in applications from Ireland for courses in medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry and science in UK universities, and to other courses in Oxford and Cambridge. More than 1,300 students -- an increase of 400 on last year -- have already applied for top UK courses beginning next autumn. A further 4,500 are expected to apply for other courses by the deadline of 15 January.
The paper also notes that Irish banks are considering using blogs. The well-known Wells Fargo employee blog took centre stage at the Marketing Institute's recent summit. "The banking sector in Ireland needs to see how this dialogue would work with customers, and how it compares to more traditional channels such as face-to-face meetings or telephone communications, and then see how they can act on the feedback gathered," said David Slattery, senior manager with National Irish Bank. "We in National Irish Bank and the wider Danske Group are exploring this area at the moment." An AIB spokesman said "We're investigating how it could work in an AIB context but we haven't made any decisions on it yet."
The Irish Examiner says that concerns are emerging that many redundant Dell and Banta staff will not benefit directly from a European Globalisation Fund. The European Parliament on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for EUR14.8 million to retrain and upskill up to 2,500 former workers in Limerick. However, there are fears in Limerick that much of the money will go to colleges to help put together courses geared to upskilling workers. A number of third-level colleges, including the University of Limerick, have already drawn up proposals to administer money from the fund to create courses.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Swedish network equipment maker Ericsson is to buy Nortel Networks' GSM business in the US and Canada for USD70 million on a cash and debt-free basis. Earlier this year, Ericsson bought the bulk of Nortel's second-generation mobile networks as well as newer network technology. The transaction is expected to have a positive effect on Ericsson's earnings within a year after closing, although analysts said the impact will be relatively small.
The Financial Times reports that UK mobile giant Vodafone is planning to close its STG755 million final salary pension scheme to roughly 4,000 of its staff, in an attempt to control the costs and risks of retirement benefits. The company sent a letter to staff this week informing them of a consultation exercise, as required by law, ahead of a planned closure of the defined benefit scheme in April.
The paper also notes that Spanish telco Telefonica has agreed to buy a 21 percent stake in Digital Plus, the satellite television business of media group Prisa. Telefonica said it would pay EUR240 million in cash for the Digital Plus stake, and cancel a EUR230 million loan to Prisa. The stake acquisition, worth EUR470 million, comes less than a year after Prisa rejected a joint bid by Telefonica and Vivendi of France for the entire pay-TV platform.
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