IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 24 November
24-11-2009
by Deirdre McArdle
Ireland now less attractive to investors | HP profits jump 14 percent
The Irish Examiner reports that Ireland has fallen out of the top 20 list of the most attractive global countries for investment, according to research by Ernst & Young. Ireland fell 5 places and is now in 21st position in the Global Venture Capital and Private Equity Country Attractiveness Index. The effects of the Irish recession in comparison to other countries, the increase in company failures and the fall off in volume of mergers and acquisitions were all factors in our slide down the list. However, the research revealed that there is the potential for Ireland to recover its position with the Government's commitment to green technologies and a highly attractive medical devices market.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Hewlett-Packard reported profits for the period ended 31 October of USD2.41 billion, or USD0.99 a share, up 14 percent from USD2.11 billion, or USD0.84 a share, in the year-earlier period. The quarterly jump in profit is an indication that HP's focus on technology services and cost-cutting has put it in a strong position as the economy starts to recover. Although HP's revenue declined 8.4 percent to USD30.8 billion from USD33.6 billion, the firm's figures are being regarded as a sign that conditions are improving in the tech sector.
In more news of results, the same paper reports that chip maker Analog Devices has posted profits of USD105.6 million, or USD0.36 a share, for its fourth fiscal quarter, down 27 percent from USD143.9 million, or USD0.49 a share, a year earlier. Revenue dropped 14 percent to USD571.6 million. However, Chief Executive Jerald Fishman said order rates grew about 17 percent from the third quarter and as a result the semiconductor company said it expects earnings for the current quarter from continuing operations, excluding items, of USD0.36 to USD0.37; analysts are estimating earnings of USD0.28 a share for the period.
The paper also notes that Google has agreed to acquire Teracent, a start-up which has developed algorithms designed to deliver customised display ads on websites. Teracent's technology allows advertisers, agencies and ad networks to make changes to the format of display ads in real time, such as changing an ad's images, products, messages or colours based on factors such as a web page's content, the time of day and the user's location. The acquisition is Google's latest move to strengthen its presence in the online display-ad market, a business that's been traditionally dominated by rival Yahoo. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
The Financial Times reports that European regulators have dropped their antitrust investigation into Qualcomm after the companies that had brought a complaint against the US mobile chipmaker over patent royalty rates withdrew their charges. "All complainants have now withdrawn or indicated their intention to withdraw their complaints," the European Commission said in a statement. "In view of this, the commission doesn't consider it appropriate to invest further resources in this case." The investigation originally started in 2005 and followed a complaint by Nokia, Broadcom, Texas Instruments, Ericsson, NEC and Panasonic Mobile Communications.
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