A roundup of today's other business news in brief

CFOs confident of firms’ recovery

Almost three quarters of chief financial officers (CFOs) here believe revenues and profits at their companies will stabilise or recover in the next six months but are less confident about the broader Irish economic recovery, a report has found.

More than 40 CFOs were interviewed in September and October by financial consultancy firm Deloitte. The results show cautious optimism on the part of CFOs about the health of their businesses, with 55 per cent expecting profits to rise over the next six months, compared with 25 per cent who believe profits will fall.

Almost half of those surveyed – 46 per cent – saw turnover rising in the period, while 30 per cent predicted it would fall.

The results suggest the tide may already be turning, with 32 per cent saying they had seen a rise in turnover over the last six months while 43 per cent had experienced an increase in profit in the same period.

Most believe it will be 2011 before the economy will begin to recover.

PAC disposal of print firm backed

A resolution to approve the disposal of its printing business Bell Bain was approved yesterday at an egm of Dublin-listed Prime Active Capital (PAC). PAC told the stock exchange that a further announcement would be made following the completion of the transaction, which is expected to take place within the next week.

PAC announced in July that it had been approached by a potential buyer for the academic printing business.

ISPs’ merger to create 35 new jobs

A MERGER between two Irish wireless internet service providers, Amocom and Callidus/Omnitel, is expected to create 35 new jobs. The combined firm, Ripple Communications Limited (Ripplecom) hopes to increase its workforce from 14 to 50 full-time employees by growing its customer base to 30,000 and expanding services to all 26 counties.

Ripplecom began trading this month from Blackpool, Co Cork, and Limerick.