Whether it was Dr Tony O'Reilly's decision to take a more hands-on executive chairman approach at Independent News and Media or the planned flotation of Independent's iTouch mobile phone information company this year, there's no question that it has been a good week for Independent shareholders with the shares soaring from €6.35 before the twin announcements to €7.30 yesterday.

Analysts in Dublin tended to take the view that the application of Tony O'Reilly's hands-on approach was the main reason for the strong reaction in the market with the iTouch flotation already factored into the share price.

But with Independent and its Princes Holdings offshoot extending the move into e-media with the acquisition of Internet Ireland, analysts have shifted their position and believe the continued expansion into emedia is behind the 18 per cent jump in the share price this week.

Liam Healy's decision to retire to the less onerous non-executive chairman's office is no surprise, but the decision to dispense with a group chief executive position and leave departmental heads to report directly to Tony O'Reilly is something of a surprise.

Some might say that Liam Healy's decision left Independent with a void to fill. But Tony O'Reilly clearly does not see a group chief executive position as an essential component of Independent's structure.

Look at Waterford Wedgwood where two divisional managing directors, Redmond O'Donoghue and Brian (Back-to-the-Floor) Patterson, report directly to Tony O'Reilly - although in Waterford's case he limits himself to a non-executive chairman's role. That structure seems to have worked well in Waterford although there is an argument that many institutional investors like to know who the number one executive is in companies into which they plough their money.

Still, the market seems to be happy that Tony O'Reilly will be in Independent's offices in Hatch Street more often for the next five years or so. And there is no question that he is taking over the reins from Liam Healy at a time when Independent is moving into a more expansionary mode.

The Irish newspapers continue to boom and churn out cashflow, Australia is doing fine, while New Zealand and South Africa have recovered to some degree from the economic weakness that hit earnings from these areas in the past year or so.

Whether the London Independent can recover - it has swallowed up buckets of money but still churns out heavy losses - remains to be seen. However, few believe that Tony O'Reilly would be willing to sell or pull the plug on his only British national title. The Indie might be a plaything, bringing more prestige than anything else to Independent. But, losses or no losses, Tony O'Reilly revels in his position as a national newspaper proprietor in Britain.

Needless to say, Independent's flagship Irish title, the Irish Independent, saw the expansion of the e-media business and Tony O'Reilly's return to Middle Abbey Street as something of a new dawn. An "analysis" piece positively drooled about "one hell of a day for the parent group of this newspaper" - and to be fair it's hard to argue with the market in the way it responded to the various announcements.

Independent is certainly on an upswing - but it was also on an upswing in 1996 and early 1997 before the slump in the South African and New Zealand economies dragged the shares to less than half their current levels.