Inside the world of business
Fingleton the focus of speculation for top job
THE DECISION by John Fingleton to step down from the Office of Fair Trading after seven years has sent a frisson of excitement through the Department of Finance, where he has been linked to the current secretary general vacancy.
Mr Fingleton claims that he does not have anything lined up and has indicated a certain fatigue after 14 years in the public service at the higher level, both in the UK and Ireland where he was head of the competition authority. He is also well ensconced in London.
But there was enough ambiguity in Fingleton’s comments last week to allow for speculation that he might be at least half interested in the top job in Dublin on the right terms.
In particular, his apparent willingness to seek to leave the OFT early “if something particularly interesting” came along has caught attention.
Indeed, Fingleton is understood to have said privately that he might be interested in the role at the Department of Finance for a short period, with a focus very much on reforming the senior department in the public services, rather than the drudge of merely running it.
Whether he has communicated this to the Government is another matter – and whether they are interested is yet another.
However, a second straw in the wind in the secretary general succession race has added further fuel to the speculation pyre. And it is that the various internal candidates for the job have been told that they were not successful “at this stage”.
The odds on an outsider being appointed have thus shortened dramatically and it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that Fingleton could yet be enticed home.
Global mobile industry hears call in Barcelona to focus on software
AFTER SHAKING off the spectre of a debilitating transport strike, Mobile World Congress got under way officially in Barcelona yesterday. More than 1,400 exhibitors are taking part in this year’s show, with over 60,000 visitors expected to pass through the exhibition before it closes later this week.
All eyes are on this week’s event to indicate what the future of mobile will be. This year’s theme is “redefining mobile” but it appears attendees are looking beyond hardware to find out what exactly can redefine the mobile sector.
The move reflects how the industry has developed in recent years. While it’s still important for mobile makers to get the hardware right, it’s equally important to have decent software that users will want. Mobile devices are now more than the sum of their parts. Software has transformed them into e-readers, methods of payment, ways to monitor our health, even manage our social lives on a scale that goes beyond simply text messages and calls.
The exhibition hall showed plenty of innovations in mobile software, from mobile payments firms to multimedia services, on display.
That’s not to say the hardware announcements have been absent this year. There have been a few big announcements on the hardware side of things, with Huawei’s quad core mobile devices and its push into the European market being among the most notable.
Barcelona, meanwhile, is set to become a showcase for the latest mobile technologies after a new strategy was announced for the city. In 2011, the GSMA – the organisation that runs Mobile World Congress – chose Barcelona as Mobile World Capital, and yesterday showed off what that would mean.
The project will focus on certain areas to begin with, including mobile payments, improving health services, real-time travel information and leisure and entertainment activities.
It was an obvious choice for the initiative. Barcelona has been home to Mobile World Congress since 2006. Now it seems it will reap the benefits of mobile in other ways.
Hydrocarbon sector hots up
IRISH HYDROCARBON discoveries are like buses; you wait ages and then a couple turn up together. Earlier this month, Tamboran announced that it believes there may be up to 4.4 trillion cubic feet of gas in the rock underlying Fermanagh and Leitrim. Yesterday, Providence Resources revealed that it has encountered high-quality light crude oil in a well in the Barryroe area of the Celtic Sea.
The last notable “commercial” discovery was, of course, the Corrib field off the Mayo coast, from which Shell and its partners, Statoil and Vermillion, hope gas will begin flowing in early 2015.
Providence’s discovery is very different from Tamboran’s. It’s oil, not gas, and it’s around 50km offshore rather than on land. But nevertheless, it qualifies as a hydrocarbon discovery.
The markets certainly think it’s a significant one. Providence’s shares surged yesterday, increasing by over 25 per cent at one point and closing 22 per cent ahead at €4.20.
In the past, the company has made much of the fact that it is the only one with exploration interests around the entire Irish coast. It’s too early to say that its faith in Ireland is going to be repaid, but those who bought at prices approaching €4.29, almost 86 cent ahead of its opening quote, obviously think there’s a good chance that this will happen.
There’s no question the well-documented controversy involved in getting the Corrib project up and running has dented Ireland’s reputation as a location for hydrocarbon exploration. But there are some indications that that is likely to change and a flow of good news from here may serve to perk up interest among the big players once again.
After Shell bought into Corrib, none of the majors turned up here for a while. Perhaps, like the proverbial buses, we could see more than one arriving all at once.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Nothing can take the sting out of the world’s economic problems better than millionaires handing out gold statues to each other
Comic actor Billy Crystal hosting the Oscars.
Tuesday:Stock market heavyweight CRH reports full-year figures this morning for 2001, as does Aer Lingus.
Elsewhere, the CSO publishes retail sales data.
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