A roundup of today's other business news in brief
Standard Life’s Irish businesses decline 21%
Insurer Standard Life beat expectations with a 7 per cent drop in sales during 2009 as a market recovery during the second of the years helped soften the impact of crisis-hit British consumers cutting back on savings, reports Charlie Taylor.
In Ireland domestic sales increased by 11 per cent in a shrinking market, while offshore bond sales were 44 per cent lower at £370 million due to the impact of the weak economic conditions experienced during the year.
As a result, businesses operating out of Ireland declined 21 per cent from £1 billion to £886 million.
Standard Life, which is Britain’s fifth biggest insurer by market value and the first to detail sales for the full year, said it saw “good momentum” as it moved into 2010, despite an uncertain environment, adding it saw “good prospects” for its UK arm.
Pfizer shares fall on latest results
Pfizer, which has about 5,000 employees across 13 locations in Cork, Dublin, Kildare, Limerick and Sligo, saw its shares fall by almost 2 per cent after publishing its latest results.
The pharmaceutical giant posted fourth-quarter earnings which were slightly below analyst expectations and gave a full-year profit forecast that was below Wall Street forecasts.
The world’s biggest drugmaker said it earned $767 million (€552 million), or 10 cents per share, compared with $266 million, or four cents per share, in the year-earlier period.
Excluding special items, Pfizer earned 49 cents per share. Analysts on average had expected 50 cents per share.
Pfizer revenue rose 34 per cent to $16.5 billion, above Wall Street expectations of $15.9 billion. – (Reuters)
UK watchdog seeks say in mobile deal
Britain’s consumer watchdog has asked for a say in the planned merger of the UK arms of France Telecom’s Orange and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile, saying it fears the deal could hurt competition.
The Office of Fair Trading has asked the European Commission to refer the UK aspects of the proposed deal to it for scrutiny and to decide whether to refer it to the UK’s Competition Commission. – (Reuters)
Cadbury chiefs resign after buyout
The chairman, chief executive and finance officer of Cadbury said yesterday they would stand down after rival Kraft Foods finally won control of the British confectioner.
Chairman Roger Carr, chief executive Todd Stitzer and chief financial officer Andrew Bonfield wished Kraft well and thanked colleagues for their spirited bid defence.
Cadbury shareholders accepted the Kraft offer on Tuesday. – (Reuters)
Profits of €1.3m for McConnells Advertising
McConnells Advertising made a profit of €1.3 million in 2008, a significant fall from the €4.8 million in pretax profits made the previous year, according to accounts just filed.
Turnover fell to €35.5 million from €40.4 million the previous year, but operating expenses rose by about €1.5 million to €6.1 million.
The balance sheet shows the company is owed €34 million from debtors.
The bulk of this, €26.3 million, is owed by group companies but the accounts are prepared on the basis that these monies are recoverable given “current expectations regarding future trading of the group”.
Shareholders’ funds at year’s end were €12.4 million.
McConnells employed an average of 63 people during the year, an increase of seven on the previous year.
