Aer Lingus chief finds his feet - eventually

Current Account: The first public appearance of new Aer Lingus chief Dermot Mannion did not begin very auspiciously this week at Dublin's Berkeley Court hotel.

First Mannion's slide show stubbornly refused to work. Then his opening joke - "from emirates aisle to emerald isle" - failed to elicit even a chuckle (although in mitigation this was an audience of chartered accountants).

Just to make things worse, Mannion had to spend several minutes praising the airline's cost-cutting performance and its use of the self-service check-in system FastPass. The problem is that both these initiatives were driven by Willie Walsh, Mannion's predecessor.

However, the new chief executive soon found his feet and both the accountants and assembled media were quietly impressed. Mannion, unlike most corporate bigwigs, was prepared to answer questions (any question - chief executives take note!) from the audience and the fourth estate.

However, when asked to comment on Ryanair's plans to put extra capacity into Dublin, Mannion said it was his long-standing policy not to comment on other airlines. With the voluble Michael O'Leary taking potshots at all his rivals, this policy may need to be revisited.

Gavin finds fresh challenges in India

The growing exposure of Independent News & Media (IN&M) to the Indian market is no doubt going to pay off handsomely as the Indian economy becomes a global powerhouse.

However, executives may have to read a few more chapters from the How to Win Friends and Influence People manual before that happens.

At the presentation of interim results this week, chief operations officer Gavin O'Reilly spoke about the importance of the Indian market.

Gavin recalled one of the downsides of doing business in India. He said every time someone put up an outdoor advertising hoarding in some parts of India a family of eight could be found sheltering underneath it soon after.

The somewhat undiplomatic comment, not surprisingly, was greeted with raised eyebrows.

But as people digested the remarks and wondered what impact they might have on IN&M's developing relationship with India, O'Reilly quickly added the qualification that such sights belonged in the past and the Indian economy was now starting to move fast up the world league table. Well that's all right then...

Juncker sticks neck out

Luxembourg prime minister Jean Claude Juncker decided to stick his neck out at last week's informal meeting of EU finance ministers.

When asked whether he agreed with a statement by Gordon Brown calling for an end to protectionism in Europe, Mr Juncker stunned the audience with the following words: "I didn't have the opportunity to listen in detail to Mr Brown's statement about protectionism. If he is right then I agree with him. If he is not right, then I disagree with him."

This man is obviously a rampant extremist who threatens moderation and common sense in the European Union...

Gremlins in the works

Dealings by directors in the companies on whose boards they sit are always of interest to Current Account, as they can provide valuable indicators to the health of a company.

However, a recent notice left everyone a little nonplussed. Irish Life & Permanent notified the stock exchange of the exercise of share options by group chief executive David Went and Donal Casey, the man in charge of corporate business.

Mr Went did a tidy piece of business acquiring 25,000 shares at a unit price of €9.20 for a paper profit of €145,000.

According to the official notice, however, Mr Casey seemed somewhat out of the money. He was stated as acquiring 9,090 shares at €13.85 only to sell 7,500 of them at a shade over €6.52.

Apart from the loss to Mr Casey, the idea that a senior banker was minded to sell shares in his own company that were trading at around €15 for just €6.52 would hardly instill confidence.

To the relief of all concerned, it emerged that Mr Casey's questionable dealings were all down to a technical gremlin. Alerted by Current Account's colleagues, IL&P quickly issued an amending notification clarifying that Mr Casey had, in fact, bought the 9,090 shares at €6.52 apiece, later selling 7,500 of them at €15.10 - an altogether more profitable proposition.