In short

A round-up of today's other business news in brief

Apology

In an article published in the business section on March 12th, concerning an investment by Mr Dermot Desmond's investment vehicle IIU Nominees in Bank of Ireland and AIB shares, The Irish Timeswrongly stated that IIU had lost €12 million on such investments and wrongly inferred that IIU had sold such shares. IIU did not lose €12 million on these share transactions and The Irish Timeshad no actual basis to calculate the profit or loss on such trades.

Glanbia warns of tough conditions

Food group Glanbia told shareholders yesterday that its US operations were performing well but its Irish consumers businesses were facing tough conditions, writes Barry O'Halloran.

The Kilkenny-based group issued a profit warning at the end of last month following a deterioration in global dairy markets.

Yesterday, Glanbia said that in line with the statement issued at the end of April, it expects earnings per share to be between 30 cent and 32 cent this year.

In a statement issued at its agm yesterday, the company said that “food ingredients USA is experiencing good demand and is performing in line with expectations”.

Revenues down at Telefónica O2

Telefónica O2 Ireland has reported a 5.6 per cent drop in service revenues to €210 million for the first three months of the year compared with first quarter in 2008, writes David Labanyi.

Customer numbers rose 3 per cent over the period to 1.71 million, but have declined compared to the fourth quarter total of 1.73 million.

Monthly blended average revenue per user (arpu) declined 9.3 per cent to €39.4, compared to €43.35 during the first quarter of last year. Compared with the preceding quarter, arpu was 7.7 per cent lower at €42.60.

Average monthly arpu for billed customers for the quarter was €64.50, down from €69.20 on the previous quarter.

Sharp rise in short term claimants

According to the CSO, the number of short-term claimants on the Live Register, those signing on for less than 12 months, has more than doubled in the year to April.

Short-term claimants rose 113 per cent to 166,452, according to the Central Statistics Office, with almost three-quarters of these people joining the register between October 2008 and April 2009.

The number of long-term claimants, or those signing on for over one-year, increased by 43 per cent in the 12 months to last April.

Fine Gael spokesman Damien English said those aged between 25 to 34 were facing a looming unemployment catastrophe. “These are the same people who bought into the housing bubble, purchasing hastily-built properties at inflated prices, and are now left in negative equity.”

25 redundancies at firm of solicitors

Dublin-based Matheson Ormsby Prentice (MOP) said yesterday that it is making 25 people redundant from its staff of 600.

In a statement, the firm said the job cuts will affect lawyers in the firm’s corporate and commercial, banking and financial services, and tax departments, along with some support functions.

The cuts follow 20 redundancies which the firm made in February this year.

In a statement, MOP blamed “the downturn in economic conditions and especially the pronounced decline in corporate and financial transactions”.

The firm added that the move would not hit its trainee or graduate recruitment programmes.

It also announced pay cuts which it estimates will reduce salary costs by 10 per cent.