A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Accounting 'excellence' recognised
CRH, Jurys Doyle and Concern were among the companies praised for the "excellence" of their annual reports and financial accounts in the Leinster Society of Chartered Accountants' Published Accounts Awards yesterday.
CRH again won the award for large publicly-listed companies with Jurys taking the prize for smaller quoted groups. ESB was rewarded in the statutory and unquoted large entities section while Concern won the award for charities and not-for-profit groups.
Other awards went to Paddy Power (design), Bórd na Móna (corporate and social responsibility) and Irish Life & Permanent (technology).
Telefónica says sorry for O2 bid
Telefónica yesterday briefly broke its silence on its £17.7 billon (€25.8 billion) bid for O2, as one of the Spanish telecoms group's most senior executives apologised to investors for surprising them with a deal that ran counter to its strategy.
Shareholders were caught off guard by Telefónica's agreed offer for the mobile phone operator, which is Ireland's second largest operator, last month.
The Spanish company had previously signalled its search for acquisitions was focused on medium-sized operators with fixed and mobile operations in the Mediterranean basin and eastern Europe. Telefónica denied interest in O2, which has operations in Britain, Germany and Ireland, as recently as September. - (Financial Times service)
Opec to reveal oil production figures
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries - the cartel that controls 40 per cent of world oil exports - will today lift a four-decade veil of secrecy and begin to reveal regularly how much oil it is actually pumping.
China and India, the fastest growing major oil consumers, will also supply consumption and storage data for the first time.
The Joint Oil Data Initiative (Jodi), which will be launched today in Riyadh by energy and finance ministers of the biggest oil producing and consuming countries, will meet a persistent demand of the Group of Seven industrialised countries for transparent energy data.
Traders said they would have to wait for the numbers before they knew whether they would move the oil price when markets re-open on Monday. - (Financial Times service)
Accountants welcome forum
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) has welcomed this week's move by EU internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy to establish a consultation forum on auditor liability. Aidan Lambe, the ICAI's director of representation and technical policy, said Commissioner McCreevy had rightly identified the danger to the markets posed by reduced competition for audit services.
Disney reports 27% drop in profit
Disney has reported a 27 per cent drop in fourth-quarter profit, weighed down by weak US performances from movies including Proof and Dark Water, and soft DVD sales.
Disney's media networks division, which includes cable sports channel ESPN and broadcaster ABC, posted a jump in earnings.
Shares fell after the company posted a drop in net income to $379 million, including the effect of stock options expensing, in the quarter to the end of September, from $516 million a year ago. Revenues rose to $7.734 billion from $7.543 billion a year earlier. - (Reuters)
