Hibernia Foods, the frozen desserts group with a share quotation on the US Nasdaq, is full of hype. "I am very pleased with the progress . . . I believe we are ideally positioned to go from strength to strength," says chairman and chief executive officer, Mr Oliver Murphy, in a comment on the latest results.

They showed an operating profit of $2.2 million compared with a loss of $1.1 million and a 128 per cent increase in sales to $24.4 million. The bulk of this improvement was due to the inclusion of an eight-months contribution from Majestic Food Group which it acquired last year. But Hibernia's shareholders are in the dark about the group's underlying growth in profits.

That would not have been the case had its shares been quoted on the Irish Stock Exchange; that would have obliged it to quantify the profit contribution from Majestic. Also, Irish fund managers would have frowned on Mr Murphy's dual chairman/chief executive role.