A round-up of other business stories.
Great year for Providence - O'Reilly jnr
Providence Resources plc has had a "transformative" year, chief executive Tony O'Reilly jnr said in the company's recently released annual report. The last year has been "great for the company at a time of great change in the global energy market", he added.
According to the annual report, salaries, emoluments, fees and pensions for the company's board of directors increased from €234,000 in 2004 to €426,000. Last year, Mr O'Reilly, who was appointed chief executive in July, took home almost €136,000 in salary and emoluments. For the year ended December 31st, 2005, the Irish oil and gas exploration company reported a turnover of €1.376 million compared to €1.051 million in 2004.
Small firms find tech tough going
One-in-three small or medium-sized companies in Ireland describe their PC skills as poor or non-existent, a new survey found. One fifth of the companies polled found technology too difficult to understand.
Just 56 per cent of companies employing fewer than 10 people have their own website, the research showed. The survey was conducted for 02 Ireland.
AMD invests €2bn in German plants
Advanced Micro Devices, the number two maker of microchips for personal computers will spend an additional $2.5 billion (€2 billion) to upgrade and expand its two factories in Germany.
The investment comes as AMD steadily gains market share from larger rival Intel and highlights the company's desire to prove that its once-crippling supply problems are a thing of the past.
It also comes on the heels of the announcement this month that Dell will start using AMD chips in high-end servers for powering business networks, fuelling expectations the world's top PC maker will offer more AMD products in the future. - (Reuters)
Champagne deal for French family
Champagne house Taittinger, put up for sale by US fund Starwood Capital Group Global LLC, is set to return to the hands of the founding family with the backing of French bank Credit Agricole.
In a statement issued late on Sunday, Starwood said it had "entered into advanced discussions" with Credit Agricole du Nord Est about the sale of Taittinger and two linked vineyards in California and France. Starwood did not say how much the deal was worth or how it would be structured. - (Reuters)
SAP plays down merger talk
Software maker SAP played down speculation it was interested in a merger, saying it was happy to remain independent and saw no reason to emulate rival Oracle in pursuing major M&A deals.
"We are independent and we are pretty strong so there's no reason why we should not continue," chief executive Henning Kagermann said ahead of a company event. - (Reuters)
