IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 10 June
10-06-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
MFG.com to create 50 Louth jobs | Dublin's Celtrino to double workforce
The Irish Times reports that MFG.com, an online marketplace for the manufacturing industry, is to create more than 50 jobs in the next two years in County Louth. MFG.com will establish a centre for its operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in Drogheda. The centre will provide operational support to the region and will centralise functions such as customer technical support, outbound sales, accounting and management, human resources and IT support. Recruitment for the new positions will begin immediately.
The paper also says that security software firm Norkom posted a sharp rise in profit last year as increased financial regulation boosted demand for its products. The Dublin-headquartered firm reported pre-tax profit of EUR7.5 million for the fiscal year to 31 March 2010, up from EUR4.9 million a year earlier. Revenues grew 3 percent to EUR49.3 million, while EBITDA was up 20 percent to EUR10.2 million. Gross profit margin improved from 61 percent to 63 percent. Chief Executive Paul Kerley said the company is now in a position to look for potential acquisitions.
The Irish Independent notes that Pizza Hut Delivery is using the World Cup as an opportunity to launch its first social media campaign. A Facebook page will offer fans free pizza for every goal scored against France. More than 12,000 people had become fans of the page less than a fortnight after the campaign's launch. When a goal is scored against France, they can visit the page for a special promo code, which offers the first 350 customers a free pizza. The campaign was created by ICAN and Hamilton Marketing Services.
The Irish Examiner says that Dublin-based software company Celtrino is to double its workforce as it expands internationally. Celtrino provides software for pricing, ordering, delivering, accounts payable and accounts receivable. It employs 25 people and will take on a further 25 staff. Celtrino said it is taking advantage of growing customer demand for "smarter electronic business processes" and wants to expand its business into new industries and international markets.
The Financial Times says that US antitrust regulators plan to investigate whether Apple is unfairly restricting rivals in the market for mobile ads, according to sources. Apple has introduced its own network to sell display, video and interactive ads in apps. On Monday, it said it had sold USD60 million worth of ads that will begin on 1 July and run for the rest of the year. The case has provoked a rare public dispute between Google and Apple, with Google claiming its mobile advertising network is about to be unfairly excluded from Apple devices. According to two sources, US regulators have taken an interest in Apple's actions, although it is not yet clear whether it will be the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice that will take the investigation forward.
In other news of Google, the paper says that London-based pressure group Privacy International is planning to file a criminal complaint with the UK police over Google's interception of private Wi-Fi data. The move comes after Google published an audit by third party computer forensics experts into how the data interception happened. Privacy International said the report indicates that the interception was deliberate and therefore in violation of UK wiretapping laws. The complaint is likely to be filed by early next week.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft is broadening its search push by putting a major partnership with Yahoo into action and discussing a search deal with AOL. More than two dozen senior employees each from Microsoft and Yahoo are now working on the complex task of moving from Yahoo's search engine to Microsoft's Bing and migrating tens of thousands of Yahoo advertisers to Microsoft's search-advertising system. Bing is expected to begin handling all searches conducted on Yahoo late this year. Microsoft also is in talks with AOL about making Bing the search engine on the internet portal. A spokeswoman for AOL confirmed the company is in talks with Microsoft and Google.
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