IT was a week when, in news terms, second liners captured most of the attention, with a few surprise announcements hitting the market.
Adare had been in favour following its acquisition of Prontaprint in the UK. However, the share price was hit hard by the loss of a printing contract from Microsoft.
Adare dropped 85p in two trading sessions as the loss of the contract will be a blow to its Mount Salus printing subsidiary, bought for more than £12 million last year.
Last trading at 440p on Thursday, it appeared to have established yesterday, although there were few bids coming in at higher levels.
Investors now await results for the last financial year, due to be announced on Monday. The figures are expected to show pre-tax profits of around £7.7 million, giving earnings per share of around 47p.
The loss of Microsoft will be felt in the current year, with brokers trimming profit forecasts. The Prontaprint acquisition is still expected to lead to earnings growth, but forecasts for pre-tax profits have `been revised' down from £9.7 to £9.8 million to around £9.2 million.
Brokers will wait to see Monday's figures before finalising these forecasts.
They also believe that institutional investors will be listening closely to what the company says in the normal presentations following its results.
The other big news of the week was the removal of Golden Vale managing director Mr Jim O'Mahony.
The news of his departure comes as the company has been suffering something of a crisis of confidence from investors. Irish institutions have been sellers of" the shares in recent weeks, with Mr Dermot Desmond the only big buyer, picking up 5.82 per cent of the stock.
Following Mr O'Mahony's departure, analysts still have questions they want the company to answer.
First of all, the market is looking for a full account of how the £3.1 million milk super levy arrears bill came about, and whether ongoing investigations by the Department of Agriculture haven further financial implications.
There are also doubts about whether the board will be able to agree on a milk price cut to boost its profit margins domestically.
News that the board only voted by a narrow majority to remove Mr O'Mahony and the clear division among co-op shareholders at the recent meeting is not increasing confidence that Golden Vale can reach agreement on milk price reductions.
Analysts and investors are also fearful of further problems in the company's operations in Northern Ireland and Holland.
On a more positive note, CRH continues to go from strength to strength. Upgrades from UK brokers stimulated overseas demand yesterday, bringing the share price to 665p at one stage yesterday.
While the share slipped to close at 650p, it was still 37p ahead on the week.
The share looks well under pinned and is benefiting both from positive sentiment towards the sector in Britain and evidence of a healthy pace of new home building on the domestic market.
