Fyffes learns from the Government's mistake

Current Account: Current Account wonders if Fyffes has been taking some lessons in PR from the Government, which must have learned a few things about clashing news stories from the Callely/Budget extravaganza last week.

A week before the verdict is due in the insider dealing case it took against Jim Flavin and DCC, the firm has issued no fewer than two press releases on significant company events.

The first, the retirement of Neil McCann, brought to an end a 55-year dominant presence at the firm, cutting a tie with the past

The second, the establishment of a property company, lifted Fyffes squarely into the future, proving there is more to business than bananas.

By revealing both pieces of news this week, Fyffes has been assured of some positive coverage in the media. The situation might have been somewhat different, however, if the same stories had emerged after the High Court decision, the Fyffes equivalent of the Budget. Whether the outcome will be positive for Fyffes or not remains to be seen.

Regardless of the verdict, however, it is likely that it will overshadow much of what the company does for some time to come.

How many units make up a whole customer?

Sometimes the language of business lacks a certain humanity. For example, instead of people losing their jobs, senior executives prefer less emotive phrases like "headcount reductions".

Up to now when members of the public have paid for a service they have generally been referred to as customers. But it is possible that cable giant NTL Ireland may be about to change all that.

In its latest statement - concerning its takeover by Liberty Global - it made no mention of how many "customers" it has in the Republic. Instead the following phrase was used: "At September 30, 2005, NTL Ireland had approximately 375,100 revenue generating units". The company later confirmed this effectively referred to customers.

Current Account is not sure if this technocratic phrase will really catch on. But then again maybe NTL will no longer need a customer service department. Also instead of "the customer is always right", NTL could try its own version - "the revenue generating unit is always right".

The sound of silence

Ireland's public relations professionals gathered for their annual Christmas bash this week. It would appear, to Current Account at least, that the corporate spin merchants spent at least some of the time discussing a topic for which they are little known - the art of silence.

Murray Consultants, one of the largest PR groups in the State, is normally keen to ensure coverage of its listed clients. However, when it came to the annual meeting of Joe Moran's troubled IWP group, nothing was to be heard.

Whether or not it was concern at the prospects of IWP's board receiving a rough ride from shareholders who have seen the company's value slide dramatically or not, we shall never know. We simply weren't invited.

Waterford Wedgwood's weary shareholders might expect some insight from the media briefing given by the company last Monday following it publications of interim results showing yet another half-year loss and a continuing fall in underlying sales.

Unfortunately Dennehy Associates, who act for the troubled luxury goods maker, only got around to informing empty newspaper offices of the impending results announcement late on Sunday evening by e-mail. Small wonder that company executives met such as smaller contingent of journalists than expected the next morning.

Maybe they were simply following the example of that doyen of the PR business Don Hall. Hall, who represents, among others, Irish Continental Group, was a difficult man to track down in recent weeks as the shipping group and unions representing its seagoing staff were at loggerheads.

That staple of the Irish PR professional, the mobile phone, was unresponsive even for such non-contentious issues as the annual meeting of another client, Conroy Diamonds and Gold.