The winner of the Business Christmas Quiz is Mr John Kelly, of Rathfarnham, Dublin. Mr Kelly, who works with the ESB in Dublin, will receive a Berry Brothers & Rudd mixed case of claret.
The participant's prize has been won by Ms Sinead Brennan, of Raheny, Dublin. She will receive a bottle of William Pickering 20-year-old Tawny port by Kuinta do Noval.
The question which caught most people out was a photographic one, showing two people (from the waist down) rushing somewhere. The question was: who is leading the way. The answer was Mr Jim Flavin, chief executive of DCC.
The answers for the quiz are as follows:
(1) Dame Anita Roddick said the best entrepreneurs were "crazy people" who had no interest in accumulating wealth, who were "useless" with money and couldn't bear hierarchies.
(2) Willie Walsh said "I'm sure the Taoiseach has his agenda. My agenda is very simple".
(3) The waiver given to the O'Reilly and Goulandris interests to acquire up to 57.63 per cent of Waterford Wedgwood was a whitewash.
(4) BSkyB increased its Irish customer base in the three months to September 30th by 9,000.
(5) It is:
true to say that the final bill for compensating investors in failed Cork stockbroking firm W&R Morrogh is expected to top €10 million;
false to say that Gambia agreed to purchase the assets and goodwill of Kortus Food Ingredients Services for €4.5 billion; and
true to say that IBM abandoned the acquisition of the Irish unit of Schlumberger.
(6) David McCann said: "It was what we believed was the correct thing to say at the time".
(7) Jim Flavin was rushing to a meeting.
(8) A trade union accused Lidl of a "climate of fear stoked up by managers"
(9) Michael O'Leary was giving the thumbs up.
(10) George Soros sold most of his stake in the Valentia consortium, which took Eircom private in 2002, for €24 million.
(11) A former globally thinking Wall Street stockbroker announced plans to launch a hedge fund to short-sell shares in Coca Cola.
(12) It is:
true to say that Dell earned €120 million from its Irish operations in its last financial year;
false to say Unidare decided not to resume dividend payments; and
true to say that Canada Life/Setanta was the best performing pensions fund in the year to September 2004.
(13) Gillian Bowler took over the chairmanship of Irish Life & Permanent.
(14) Larry Broderick, general secretary IBOA, said bank workers are working in a "culture of fear".
(15) Crime costs Irish small and medium-sized businesses €2.15 billion annually, according to ISME.
(16) The eyes belong to Liam O'Reilly.
(17) China raised its benchmark one-year lending rate, the first such rise for nine years.
(18) It is:
false to say that Elan settled its class action for $750 million;
true to say Harvey Nichols is to be one of the anchor tenants in the Dundrum Town Centre; and
true to say Seán Gorman was appointed secretary general of the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment.
(19) David Went said: "With some of the criticisms I hear and read, I wonder whether they're talking about the unstable banking industry of some Third World country or the banking industry at the heart of Europe's outstanding economy."
(20) The name of the new health insurance company is Vivas.
(21) The Dublin chain of computer stores Compustore went into liquidation.
(22) Ireland's overall stock of foreign assets and liabilities are in excess of €1,000 billion, according to Central Statistics Office.
(23) AIB appointed Jenny Winters as a non-executive director.
(24) Mary Harney was "outraged" at the findings in the inspectors' report, which made negative reports against 19 individuals in National Irish Bank.
(25) It was Marks & Spencer which said "information appears to be coming into the public domain which leads us to be concerned that some parties have access to phone records".
(26) Niall Geoghegan was holding the miniature aeroplane.
(27) Pat Costello was appointed chief executive of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
(28) French president Jacques Chirac is pointing the finger at Gerhard Schröder.
(29) It is false to say the following:
McAfee announced the creation of 15,200 jobs in Cork;
Colin Hunt was appointed adviser to Mary Harney; and
the highest fees earned by an accountancy firm in 2004 was KPMG, in this State, with an income of €1.52 billion.
(30) Joyti De-Laurey, a former personal assistant at investment bank Goldman Sachs, who stole more than £4 million from her bosses, was sentenced to seven years jail by a British court.
(31) Noel Hanlon said: "The Minister, in my opinion, was acting on purely political and publicity grounds"
(32) It is:
false to say that Waterford Crystal launched a regime of overtime and bonuses;
false to say Chris Martin was not appointed group managing director of Musgrave; and
false to say that Ryanair recorded a profit of €200,000 in the first half of 2004.
(33) Alan Pickering said: "We cannot save our way through the demographic challenge".
(34) Con Scanlon received €1.9 million as deputy chairman of Eircom.
(35) Two executive directors of Doherty Advertising agreed to be held responsible for €2.2 million of the company's debts.
(36) House price inflation rose by 9.8 per cent in the 12 months to November 2004, according to Permanent TSB figures.
