Previous Day
ESB plans to spend €22bn on network and plants
THE ESB is planning to spend €22 billion on developing its network and generating plants, in what will be the biggest investment of its kind in Ireland. Barry O'Halloran reports. p
INM predicts single-digit earnings growth
SHARES IN Independent News & Media (INM) recovered some
recent losses to close 8.4 per cent higher last night after the
company said it expected "low to mid single-digit growth" in
adjusted earnings per share for 2008. Arthur Beesley, Senior
Business Correspondent, reports. p
Moran to spend €166m on expansion of hotel chain
BUSINESSMAN Tom Moran is planning to spend more than €166 million refurbishing and expanding his Moran's and Bewleys hotel chain over the next three years. Ciarán Hancock , Business Affairs Correspondent, reports. p
Other Stories
Gloves are off in fight for INM's future
Gavin O'Reilly delivered his message with brio: Denis O'Brien now has a major fight on his hands. Arthur Beesley , Senior Business Correspondent, reports. pHouse prices fall again but decline remains slow
HOUSE PRICES fell again in February but the rate of decline remained slower than the drop in prices during the last three months of 2007, according to the latest Permanent TSB/ESRI house price index. pSoftware firm wins innovation award
ChangingWorlds, the Dublin maker of personalisation software for mobile phones, has won the inaugural Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG)/ Irish Times Innovation Award. pAverage hourly earnings for industry workers increase 4.8%
AVERAGE HOURLY earnings for the 244,000 people employed in industry increased by 4.8 per cent in the year to the third quarter of 2007, according to earnings data released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office. pIkea decides to accept the euro at Belfast store
THE SWEDISH furniture giant Ikea is to reverse a decision not to accept the euro at its Belfast store. pIKB chairman defends €8.5bn bailout
THE CHAIRMAN of Germany's crisis-hit Industriebank (IKB) has rejected responsibility for subprime deals at the bank that forced a €8.5 billion government bailout. pSmurfit Kappa to close mill
PAPER AND packaging group Smurfit Kappa is to close its recycled containerboard mill in Valladolid in Northern Spain. LAURA SLATTERY reports. pECB 'ready' to act to calm market tensions
THE EUROPEAN Central Bank said yesterday it was ready to take fresh action to calm financial market tensions, as Jean-Claude Trichet, its president, rejected suggestions its emergency liquidity injections were posing inflationary dangers. pAction centres on IN&M on otherwise quietish day
Market Report: THE ACTION centred on Independent News & Media yesterday, as more than 20 million shares traded in the stock in Dublin, following the publication of the group's full-year results, but more excitingly, a letter written in 2003 by "dissident shareholder" Denis O'Brien in which he said he was "waiting for the appropriate time to rectify the damage" of alleged efforts by the media group to destroy his reputation. pIn Short
A round-up of today's other stories in brief. p
A powerful plan
ESB's €22bn strategy aims to cut emissions, develop renewables and expand its overseas operations, writes BARRY O'HALLORAN. pCoal sector hoping to clean up its act
CLEAN COAL sounds like a contradiction in terms but, unlikely as it seems, it's a potentially viable solution to the world's growing energy shortage. pStaying power
THE FRIDAY INTERVIEW: As Tom Moran tells it, his €1.1 billion hotel empire in Ireland and Britain has come together more by accident than by design. pBoycotts or Big Macs
PLATFORM: Sponsors and big media bought in to the Olympics because of the global platform it offers, but now they risk being exposed to the fury of protesters, writes Richard Gillis. pDoing the State some service
ECONOMICS: The importance of the services sector is often underestimated, but this year the economy is banking on further strong growth in services exports for its salvation, writes Paul Tansey . pPlanet Business
Compiled by Laura Slattery. p
Hoping for a clean break
Gaps have emerged in the divorce system that can heighten the financial impact of marital breakdown, writes CAROLINE MADDEN pThe cost of splitting up
THE MORE dramatic elements of the high-profile Heather Mills-Paul McCartney divorce ruling provided plenty of sensational frontpage headlines last week, but the legal implications for Irish divorces went under the radar. pHow to take matters into your own hands
CASE STUDY: Cathy O'Brien could not afford to pay a solicitor for a divorce, so she decided to do all the paperwork herself. Now, she tells CAROLINE MADDEN , she has turned her experience into a business - DIY Divorce pRunning out of steam
SERIOUS MONEY: The mechanics of investment reveal that the commodities bubble cannot last, writes Charlie Fell. pInternational equity markets not yet out of the woods
CROESUS/AN INSIDER'S VIEW: The markets are going to have to absorb quite a lot of further bad news before an end to this bear market pCan AVCs maximise your pension scheme?
Q&A: AVCs are a useful way of augmenting a pension fund, especially if it is a flexible, public-sector scheme. p
Maynooth students on top of tech world
Four prizewinning Irish students had an eye-opening experience
at an elite technology boot camp in Silicon Valley, writes
KARLIN LILLINGTON pCompeting for the cup
TWELVE TEAMS, chosen from a final entry of 20, will compete in this year's Imagine Cup Ireland competition final on April 10th, with the winner going on to an international final in Paris in August. The theme for this year's cup is "technology and a sustainable environment". pHitch for Eircom e-mail abroad
Security measures to prevent spam have hindered some customers from sending e-mails, writes John Collins pSnyder takes the helm at Belfast software firm Aepona
AL SNYDER, the former chief operating officer of Nasdaq-quoted Carrier Access, has taken over as chief executive of Belfast telecoms software firm Aepona. pDublin-based tech firm wins €30m NHS contract
DUBLIN-BASED iB Solutions has won a €30.2 million five-year extension of a software-hosting contract with the National Health Service (NHS) in Britain. pTech firms raise over €84m
DESPITE THE credit crunch, Irish technology and life sciences firms raised €84.4 million from investors in the fourth quarter of last year, according to new data from the Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA). pValley firms go 'topless' at meetings
Frustrated by distracted workers so plugged in that they tune out at meetings, a growing number of companies are banning laptops and electronic gadgets from the conference room. pHow will we manage?
NET RESULTS: A management group has looked into the crystal ball for 2018. Some of what it finds is wild and wacky but other predictions have a ring of truth, writes Karlin Lillington. pIf only kids could be programmed differently
WIRED: The Silicon Valley cocktail-party cliche is that children aren't interested in understanding computers, writes Danny O'Brien. pApple takes iTunes users on surprise Safari
INBOX: ON THE internet, there is a generally accepted law which most believe in but which is broken every day: don't spam. In other words, don't send me something unless I've requested it. Big, reputable companies are usually wary of being accused of spamming. But last week Apple sailed very close to the spam wind, writes Mike Butcher. pIn Short
A round-up of today's other stories in brief. p
Dubliner's vision is just the job
Rosaleen Blair has reinvented the way the recruitment industry works, despite entering the sector without many academic or business credentials, writes MARTIN DOYLE. pCareers of exiled execs far from over
FOR ALL of Wall Street's unexpected twists during the past year, the markets' upheaval did produce at least one predictable effect: a string of abrupt divorces between high-ranking executives and the firms they helped lead. pPositive approach is best goal
IT HAPPENS in almost every newsroom in the country, in most sales offices and in many financial institutions. It's the "goal-keeper syndrome", where managers round on employees over some missed news story, sales deal or financial closure. p
Payzone post no sweet job
One More Thing: IT IS 18 days since electronic payments group Payzone publicly dumped its chief executive John Nagle and still we await the appointment of a replacement and the resumption of trading in its shares. pO'Leary tails rival in pay freeze
One More Thing: IT IS rare that Ryanair follows Aer Lingus's lead, especially when it comes to cost efficiencies, so Dermot Mannion might have allowed himself a wry smile when Michael O'Leary announced a management pay freeze on Wednesday. pBewleys a clean deal for Moran
One More Thing: HAVING SPENT the guts of €700 million buying Bert Allen's six Bewleys hotels, Limerick businessman Tom Moran is hoping to clean up on the deal in more ways than one. pClosure of electrical firm gives economy another jolt
One More Thing: ELECTRICAL CABLE manufacturer Nexans Ireland cited the weakening of the dollar and, more importantly, the sterling against the euro as the reason why it pulled the plug on its Athlone operation earlier this week with the loss of 100 jobs. pBest foot forward
UNDER THE RADAR: TO GET to the finals of one national business competition in your first full year of operations is a notable achievement. To get to the finals of two would suggest you must be doing something right, writes Ciarán Brennan. p
