ireland.com - The Irish Times

One51 valued at €1bn ahead of grey market
One51 chief Philip Lynch has put a valuation of at least €1 billion on the investment firm ahead of grey market trading in its stock in September and the introduction of a new private-equity fund next year. Arthur Beesley , Senior Business Correspondent reports p

Iseq slumps 2% over concerns about US subprime market
A late rally could not prevent the Irish Stock Exchange slumping by more than 2 per cent yesterday as shares in Dublin plunged in line with other European markets. Investors were spooked by subprime credit problems in the US. Ciarán Brennan reports. p

Growth in mortgage lending sees NIB's profits jump 181%
National Irish Bank's (NIB) underlying profits jumped 181 per cent to €34 million in the first six months of the year, as mortgage lending at the bank soared well ahead of the market average and the bank attracted a number of corporate banking clients, writes Laura Slattery. p

Other Stories

Increases in mortgage costs make up more than half of inflation rate
Rising inflation is rapidly eroding the purchasing power of increases in wages won this year, writes Paul Tansey. p
Wave of debt traps property 'flippers'
The global credit crunch has its roots in areas like Florida where homebuyers gambled on rising prices with money they did not have, writes Eoin Callan p
NTL/Chorus lose 7,900 subscribers but increase revenues
UPC Ireland, which owns the NTL and Chorus cable companies, lost 7,900 subscribers in the three months to the end of June yet still managed to marginally increase its revenues. p
Ladbrokes double Irish profits
Profits at the Irish operations of UK bookmakers Ladbrokes nearly doubled in the first six months of this year, compared with the same period in 2006. p
BAE Systems posts increases in sales, earnings
BAE Systems yesterday shrugged off the impact of corruption allegations, posting sharp increases in first-half sales and earnings, boosted by its US business. p
Trinity Biotech's pretax profits rise to $4.1m after French acquisition
Trinity Biotech has reported second-quarter pretax profits of $4.1 million (€2.99 million), compared with $2.3 million in the same period a year ago. Revenues at the Nasdaq and Irish-listed company grew 37.1 per cent year-on-year to $74.l4 million. p
Hibernian half-year profits up 22%
Operating profits at Hibernian Life reached nearly €55 million in the first six months of 2007, up from about €12 million for the same period last year. p
IBM chief urges training to secure high-skill jobs
A senior IBM executive has said that rather than trying to prevent lower-skilled jobs moving offshore, governments should focus on education and training to ensure their citizens were qualified for higher value roles. p
Celesio reports strong Irish sales growth
German pharmaceutical group Celesio has reported strong sales growth at its wholesale and retail Irish sectors for the first half of the year. p
Fund raises its ICG stake to 5.36%
Buchanan Holdings, a Jersey-registered investment fund, spent €3 million earlier this week to increase its shareholding in Irish Continental Group (ICG) to 5.36 per cent. p
Axa's Irish revenues fall by 6% to €239m
Revenues at the Irish operations of insurance giant Axa dropped by 6 per cent to €239 million in the first six months of 2007 from €254 million in the first half of 2006. p
Financials bear brunt of Iseq tumble
Market Report: Shares in Dublin tumbled yesterday as the market slumped in line with other markets around the world. p
In short
A round-up of today's other stories in brief. p

Agenda

Setting a major plan in stone
In the third of a three-part series on the construction sector, Barry O'Halloran asks whether the National Development Plan's infrastructure projects can fill the gap left by the slowdown in housebuilding p
Life lessons
The Friday Interview: Hibernian insurance chief executive Stuart Purdy seems to be alone in appreciating the weather in Ireland, but there's a reason. p
Fed's actions will prove if it believes its own rhetoric
Platform: Bear Stearns, the financial institution whose ill-judged foray into hedge-fund management was the catalyst for much of the market volatility of the last month, decided that it might regain some credibility by asking for the resignation of co-president Warren Spector. p
Nardelli in to rev up misfiring Chrysler
The early reviews of Chrysler's new model chief executive are in: Good acceleration and inexpensive, at least at first, but lacks fit and finish. Some analysts see Chrysler's hiring of Bob Nardelli as chief as a smart move, bringing in an energetic executive who could bring a much-needed outside perspective to the newly independent automaker. p
Attitude to empty properties will shape market
Economics: As the outbreak of war approached in 1939, and Stalin remained inscrutable, Winston Churchill described Soviet strategy thus: "It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." Much the same can be said of the performance of the Irish housing market over the past 10 years. p
Planet Business
Compiled by Laura Slattery. p

Personal Finance

Not-so-free education
Even though fees for third level are no more, the costs of putting children through university can still be significant. But there are a number of ways to help manage the expenses. Caroline Madden reports p
Counting the cost of university
In the UK, and to an even greater extent in the US, students leave university saddled with huge debts which will take them years to pay off. p
Student case study
Rebecca Murphy (21) begins her second year of drama and theatre studies at University College Cork (UCC) next month. p
China's wealth of problems
Serious Money: China has come a long way since reforms were first introduced in the late 1970s and its subsequent expansion has been the largest growth surprise experienced by the world economy. p
Giving pensions the hard sell
Cents & Nonsense: Cake or cat food? That's what you brought me here to see: a big, glossy advertisement with an outstretched pair of hands holding a rich chocolate cake in one hand and a manky bit of cat food in the other? p
Interested in global rates
Croesus/The Investor's View: Central bankers were at the forefront of developments this week with the Federal Reserve in the US leaving its policy rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent on Tuesday, while in London, the Bank of England released its closely-watched quarterly inflation report. p
Q&A
Dominic Coyle answers your questions. p

Technology

Sweet spot for software
Steve Mills, senior vice president of software giant IBM, is impressed by Ireland's technology scene, he tells John Collins. p
Consulting firm briefs State on viability of tech R&D
Senior executives from PA Consulting's international technology centre were in Dublin recently to brief large Irish businesses and Government bodies on how the company's services could assist them in turning research into marketable products. John Collins reports. p
Log on to book taxis online
Citiranks.com is a new online taxi booking service for the Dublin area that claims to be the first of its kind in this country. p
First Irish online pharma students graduate
The Republic's lead in the sphere of e-learning was underlined yesterday, when 27 students graduated with masters in pharmaceutical medicine through online institute Hibernia College. p
UK broadband services failing speed test - study
New research from British consumer organisation Which? has found that there is a huge gap between broadband speeds advertised by service providers and those actually achieved by users. p
Too legit to quit
Wired: I'm in Las Vegas for the 15th annual DefCon conference, possibly one of the strangest conferences to have endured as long and as healthily in this city, writes Danny O'Brien. p
Seoul ambition
Net Results: The onscreen webcam image suddenly goes wonky, fizzling from a perfect colour image of the student sitting in front of it to a gritty black and white rendition that might look rather good as album cover art, writes Karlin Lillington. p
Spam attack
Inbox: Spam e-mail is the bane of all our lives. It affects everyone from busy business people to the elderly who often have no idea how to banish it. It's enough to put anyone off using the internet, but unfortunately it just takes one gullible person to respond and the spammers can justify their daily annoyance, writes Mike Butcher p
Blogspot
The web is not short of blogs from venture capitalists and other financiers who support early stage technology and internet companies. Perhaps even more than any other aspect of the blogosphere, though, the high-profile writers tend to be from the US. p
In Short
A round-up of today's other stories in brief. p

Recruitment & Management

Quick 'fixers' with lasting value
Taking time is a luxury that no interim manager can afford. Those first 100 days, viewed as decisive for a new chief executive, can be more than the total time an interim executive has to analyse a problem, devise and implement a solution and move on. p
Constructive plan to help the homeless
CRH's corporate social responsibility project tackles construction industry safety and will aid the Simon Community, writes Caroline Madden p

BackPage

Shannon's hopes of autonomy grounded
One More Thing: Now that Aer Lingus is taking flight from Shannon, the odds on the Co Clare airport ever becoming an independent entity have lengthened considerably. p
Setanta's plans suffer hitch
One More Thing: Setanta Sports makes its long-awaited debut this weekend as a live broadcaster of English Premiership football. p
Tullow bid not on cards
One More Thing: Rumours of a bid by Tullow Oil for the west African oil and gas assets of Devon Energy appear to be wide of the mark. p
McCann's inn profit
One More Thing: Having successfully built a chain of three-star hotels in Britain under the Jurys Inns brand, Pat McCann is now hoping to repeat the trick with his latest hotel venture. p
Language development
Under the Radar: Kristian O'Donovan has his wife Muireann to thank for the initial success of his company Flúirse, a Tralee-based education software company which designs and develops interactive media and software that is specifically aligned to the curriculums in primary schools. p

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