IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 14 July
14-07-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
B3 Cable closes with 104 job losses | Cloud boosts Intel profit to record high
The Irish Times reports that B3 Cable Solutions is to shut down as no new owner can be found for the Longford firm. Receiver Alan Flanagan of Deloitte said an exhaustive search had failed to find a buyer for the facility. The closure will result in the loss of 104 jobs. B3 Cable Solutions manufactured copper-based cable for Eircom and other customers. The plant will now be closed and the assets disposed of on a piecemeal basis.
The paper also reports that hundreds of Irish people have had their travel plans disrupted following the collapse of 1800Hotels.ie. The online travel company, which handles bookings for 70,000 hotels, said it had been forced into bankruptcy proceedings in the US as it attempted to restructure its debt. In a statement, the company said some customers might experience room cancellations. The 12 staff at its Dublin call centre were informed on Tuesday that the agency was to be liquidated following several months of mounting losses, according to a senior source at the company.
The Irish Examiner notes that students at Cork Institute of Technology are to have access to a leading entrepreneur for advice on starting their own businesses. The college has appointed management consultant Kieran Moynihan, until recently one of IBM's key global telecoms strategists, as its first entrepreneur in residence. His experience will now be available to CIT degree and postgraduate students as they seek inspiration to develop their own business ideas. Moynihan said indigenous start-up companies will be a fundamental factor in driving Irish economic recovery.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Nokia Siemens Networks is in talks to buy the telecoms equipment arm of Motorola, according to sources. The two firms are discussing terms, and a deal could be worth between USD1.1 billion and USD1.3 billion, one source said. A deal could be reached in the next few weeks, though talks could still fall apart. Motorola is in the process of splitting into two companies in hopes of boosting its market value. A Motorola spokeswoman declined to comment.
The Financial Times says that chipmaker Intel has reported its best ever quarter, as corporate customers increased IT spending. Intel's shares rose more than 8 percent in New York trading after it posted revenues of USD10.8 billion, gross margins of 67 percent and earnings per share of USD0.51. All these figures were records for the chip giant, well ahead of analyst expectations of USD10.25 billion in sales and USD0.43 per share in profit. Intel chief Paul Otellini said the company was running ahead of a global economic recovery because of a fundamental shift towards working on the internet. This includes companies hosting applications and services in the cloud, i.e. at remote data centres, where server chip sales were up 170 percent on a year earlier.
The paper also says that Apple is facing a growing backlash over poor iPhone 4 reception after the company blocked links on its user-support pages to a negative review by influential US consumer watchdog Consumer Reports. Apple deleted references in several online discussions to the consumer group's online review, leading VentureBeat and investment blogs to pounce on what they described as censorship in the Apple-hosted forums. Apple declined to comment on the forum issue; it has previously intervened to eliminate records of criticism on other topics. Apple shares declined 3 percent in midday trading, but most Wall Street analysts said they did not think the antenna issue would seriously hurt sales of the new handset.
The same paper reports that a group representing British songwriters and composers is calling for the introduction of a levy on broadband providers based on the amount of pirated music they allow to pass through their networks. Will Page, chief economist at PRS for Music, will argue at a Westminster conference on Wednesday that a piracy fee would better align the financial interests of internet service providers with rights holders at a time when the two industries are at odds over who should bear the costs of online music sharing.
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