IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 3 December
03-12-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Eircom's Esot vote in favour of takeover | Siemens posts fourth quarter loss
The Irish Times says that a report by an Oireachtas committee on the country's long-term energy needs recommends major financial support for research into ocean energy. The Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security's report focuses on the situation post-2020 and concludes wind resources should be deployed to the fullest extent. It also emphasises the need to focus research efforts on ocean energy to avoid an unsustainable dependence on natural gas. Committee chairman Sean Barrett of Fine Gael said the group will draft concrete proposals for the development of ocean energy through direct funding, incentives, R&D supports, and feed-in tariffs.
The Irish Independent notes that Galway mother of two Geraldine White has set up a website called Offersofhelp.com to allow tradespeople and others offer help for families affected by the recent floods.
The paper also reports that more than 100,000 Eircom customers will be told this week that they will be charged more for less in future. Customers who signed up to deals that gave them unlimited calls to Meteor mobile numbers, as well as to local and national numbers, are being sent letters telling them that the offer is being cut back. Customers will now be entitled to 30 free minutes worth of calls a month to Meteor numbers and 500 minutes of free national and local calls. They will also be asked to pay an extra EUR2 a month for the bundle. The changes take effect from 1 January.
In other news of Eircom, the paper says that staff have overwhelmingly approved the takeover by Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT). The results of a ballot showed that 97 percent of 8,672 valid votes were in favour of the deal, which is expected to be sealed by 4 January. The favourable ballot of members of the Esot had been anticipated, with directors having previously indicated that they would back the EUR138 million bid. Eircom Holdings, the Australian fund that controls 57.1 percent of the telco, plans to hold a shareholder vote on the STT takeover on 15 December, prior to its own annual general meeting in Sydney.
The paper also notes that mobile operator O2's newly launched business blog, the 'ideas room', will now feature in the newspaper's online business section.
According to the Financial Times, Europe's largest engineering group, Siemens, has posted a big loss in the fourth quarter, on the back of writedowns on its network joint venture with Nokia. Group operating profit climbed 25 percent to EUR1.9 billion, beating analysts' expectations, but a EUR1.63 billion writedown on its 50 percent stake in Nokia Siemens Networks led to a loss of EUR1.06 billion after tax. Siemens said profits would decline next year. The German group expects operating profit in its three core sectors – industry, energy and healthcare – to fall to a range of EUR6 billion to EUR6.5 billion in the fiscal year that started in October, compared to EUR7.5 billion this year.
The paper also reports that a Microsoft executive has all but dismissed the likelihood that the software giant would pay newspapers and other publishers for removing their content from Google searches. The comments came a week after it emerged that Microsoft had been in talks over a News Corp-led initiative that would have paid publishers to leave Google as a way to boost Microsoft's own search engine, Bing. Satya Nadella, Microsoft's senior vice-president for online services, refused to comment directly on talks with News Corp, but said that Bing was not looking to get ahead of Google by securing preferential access to information.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Indian software firm Infosys Technologies plans to almost double its workforce in the US and remains on the lookout for acquisition targets in Germany, France and Japan. Chief Executive S. Gopalakrishnan said the firm is planning to hire 1,000 employees in the US. "Ordinarily we look at a company of 10 percent of our size" for acquisition, the CEO said, adding that a prospective target would have USD300 million to USD500 million in annual revenue.
The paper also notes that US e-commerce sales grew 5 percent on 'Cyber Monday', the first Monday after Thanksgiving, compared with sales on the same day last year. US shoppers spent USD887 million on 30 November, according to online user tracking company comScore. That's about the same amount they spent on 9 December 2008, a day that set an all-time record for online sales.
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