Current Account: As the Aer Lingus investment roadshow continues to visit various European capitals, fund managers are closely scrutinising the make-up of the airline's board.
Those who have the time can read all about the directors and their various corporate interests in the 382-page sales prospectus. The list of current and former directorships for Anglo chairman Seán FitzPatrick takes up a whole page. Mr Fitzpatrick has 37 current directorships alone, while another board member, solicitor Ivor FitzPatrick, has 35 current directorships. As Aer Lingus becomes a listed company, these directors are going to have a tough time juggling all their various interests. But there is one man on the board who will not be facing these difficulties.
That is the Taoiseach's key associate, Chris Wall. He will be able to devote his time 100 per cent to the airline in the post-IPO period. Written under the section on Mr Wall's current and previous directorships is the word "none". So guess who will be whiling away long hours on the audit, remuneration, appointments, safety and risk committees over the next few years?
Stormy reaction to IPO
Staying with Aer Lingus, the company has finally revealed its indicative share price range (from €2.10 to €2.70), the reaction at home has been mixed. While Irish opinions tend to be coloured by local circumstance, the reaction in the UK financial press is best described as lukewarm.
The Financial Times described the airline's valuation as "cautious" and said it was "at the lower end of market forecasts". It added that assessing the company's recent performance was "clouded by the release in Ireland of complex first-half results in its IPO prospectus".
The London Independent was even more vigorous in its analysis, saying that the Government had "cut" the flotation price to ensure the sale went smoothly. It said the Government would have hoped for a €1.5 billion price post-flotation. With advisers being paid over €30 million to fine tune the airline's sales pitch, clearly some people on London's Fleet Street are not on message just yet.
Lidl hits the right note with in-car MP3 player
Current Account was intrigued on Wednesday to read, in this very newspaper, that "in-car MP3" would be legal by the end of the year. So the story went, communications regulator ComReg was preparing to lift the ban on electronic devices that allow drivers to listen to music players through their car radios. Such items, commonly known as wireless FM transmitters, were expected to hit the shops in time for Christmas. The problem with them, heretofore, was that ComReg saw them as being akin to mini pirate broadcasting facilities.
Popular demand for the facility has forced the change of mind, with the retailers of such goods presumably awaiting the opportunity to sell them with considerable appetite.
Well, all apart from one - Current Account can reveal that one chain of shops appears to have pipped the others (and ComReg) to the post by putting the devices on sale already. Lidl, the German discounter, features a "wireless FM transmitter" in the batch of offers it publicised in Sunday newspapers last weekend. Lest we should be confused, the blurb attached to the advertisement tells us the device is "compatible with all iPod models and can send a wireless audio signal to any FM radio. The product was on sale from Monday (as opposed to Christmas), for ComReg's information.
Gremlins hit campaign
Independent Newspapers' latest media campaign analysing the strengths of their writers through an analysis of their handwriting seems to have become the latest victim of the gremlins associated with its outsourcing programme.
The analysis of property editor Clíodna O'Donoghue's signature points to the "slashed dot over the i", which "shows impatience, someone who gets to the point without hemming and hawing". Well maybe. But, as it happens the "slashed dot" is, in fact, a fada.
It goes on to refer to the "delta d (shaped like a music note)" in Ms O'Donoghue's first name, which "signals a strong literary aptitude". Possibly, but it might also signify that Clíodna uses the letter d from the traditional Gaelic alphabet rather than the more prevalent version.
