The other business news of the day...
Chemical treatment firm to be wound up
A company employing 45 people which supplied chemical timber treatment products and other services has been wound up by order of the High Court after an examinership failed.
Protim Abrasives Ltd had a €3.7 million deficit in its pension scheme, the court heard.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly appointed Kieran Wallace as liquidator of Protim, with registered offices at Ballycoolin, Dublin 15, after hearing efforts to secure an investor for the company had failed primarily as a result of issues over the deficit in the pension scheme.
Protim’s business included distribution of hardware and bathroom products. Mr Wallace was appointed examiner to the company last September on the petition of the directors. Last month he told the court there remained one potential investor, the company’s parent, Osmose Inc, with which negotiations were ongoing. Osmose had later indicated it was not in a position to continue with its proposal to invest in Protim, Mr Wallace said.
Record companies' action struck out
A legal action by five record companies against an internet service provider in a bid to stop illegal downloading of music has been struck out at the Commercial Court.
EMI Records (Ireland) Ltd, Sony Music Entertainment Ireland Ltd, Universal Music Ireland Ltd, Warner Music Ireland Ltd and WEA International Incorporated brought actions for undertakings against BT Communications Ireland Ltd and UPC Communications Ireland Ltd to prevent “peer-to-peer infringers” illegally downloading music.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Peter Kelly was told the proceedings against BT could be struck out with no order in relation to costs. The action against UPC remains.
Siac grows profits by more than 80%
Civil engineering group Siac Construction grew pretax profits by more than 80 per cent last year, boosted by lucrative joint-venture projects.
Accounts just filed with the Companies Registration Office show that Siac generated pretax profits of €9.85 million in 2008, up from €5.4 million a year earlier.
Group turnover grew from €236.5 million in 2007 to €272.7 million.
Although the company generated a group operating loss of just under €2 million, its share of operating profits from joint ventures – €8.4 million – brought it back into the black for the year.
Siac also received interest of €2.1 million from its joint ventures, compared to €1.2 million in 2007.
Openet named company of the year
Openet was named company of the year at the Irish Software Association’s annual software industry awards last night.
Openet provides software to network operators which provides data on transactions occurring on their networks.
Established 10 years ago, Openet’s customers include major telecoms providers such as ATT, Orange, Verizon, Telstra and BT. This year it also signed a partnership deal with US network equipment-maker Cisco.
