Current Account: Bovale Developments, the property development company that featured so strongly in the sittings of the Flood - now Mahon - tribunal some years back, is among the august group of wealthy concerns that have recently decided to abandon their limited liability status.
As an unlimited entity Bovale is no longer obliged to file annual accounts with the Companies Registration Office, so nosey journalists are denied the pleasure of perusing the accounts for any line of interest. All that Thomas and Michael Baily have to file these days is an annual return and auditor's report, both of which have recently become available for the year to June 30th, 2005.
No financial data is included, although the auditors, McGrath & Co, did give their opinion that the financial statements they had seen gave a fair and accurate view of the company's loss for the year. How the company managed to lose money given current market conditions is not elaborated on.
IN&M not quite ready to head for the tropics
One shareholder in Independent News & Media echoed the thoughts of all reporters in attendance at the firm's agm yesterday when he wondered why the event was being held in the Dublin suburb of Sandyford. To be precise, it was the leafy surrounds of the Irish Management Institute (IMI) that housed proceedings which, as is traditional, extended to two hours. The IMI is located about a 35-minute drive from Dublin's city centre, in good traffic.
Responding to the query, Independent's chief executive Sir Anthony O'Reilly acknowledged that Sandyford was "a little bit off the route" for agms. He suggested to the shareholders that the "blame" for the choice of venue should fall on the shoulders of Ivor Kenny, a non-executive at Independent and former director-general of the IMI. As befits a management guru, Mr Kenny kept his cool.
As the meeting progressed, however, it emerged that next year's venue could be at an even further remove from the centre of the capital. Just as it did last year, Independent sought and received in a resolution the permission to hold the 2007 agm "at any location outside the State". This prompted a more cheerful shareholder to wonder if this meant that he and his like would be treated to a trip to Florida, or perhaps Rio, in order to attend. He was politely told no, much to his disappointment and that of Current Account, who had been wondering the same thing.
McArdle finds range
The Wayne Rooney of inflation forecasters, the redoubtable Pat McArdle, is back on form. Famed for his ability to forecast the rate of inflation, Pat missed hat trick early last month when the April inflation number turned out to be 3.8 per cent. This was much higher than any economist, including Pat, had forecast.
Having predicted the previous two months spot on, Pat was naturally disappointed. This month, he has returned to form. His prediction for May - conveyed to us a day before the release of the Consumer Price Index for that month - was for 3.9 per cent, exactly the number that transpired.
Just as interesting is that Pat is predicting 3.8 per cent for the full year and 3.6 per cent for next year. If the most accurate inflation forecaster in Ireland is right, wage rises agreed under the next social partnership agreement will deliver a paltry 1 per cent in real wage rises over the 2½- year term.
Quinn at the margins
Quinn Group managing director Seán Quinn yesterday said the firm had decided to offload its stake in wind energy group Airtricity because it was not part of its "core business".
For some time we've been wondering just what Quinn Group's core business actually is. It makes cement, glass bottles and radiators.
It also sells insurance, buys property and owns part of a telecoms company and a stockbrokerage.
It's not like any of these activities have anything other than the remotest relationship with the other. Or that wind energy looked to be in any way less central to the group than stockbroking or buying golf courses.
So, we're just going to come out and ask: what is Quinn Group's core activity? We should be told.
