Today's other stories in brief
Unlimited liability borne by auditors is 'no longer tenable'
The unlimited liability borne by auditors is "no longer tenable", the European Commission has said. It recommends that countries introduce legislation to limit the risks auditors face.
Regulators have been concerned about concentration in the audit market since the collapse of Andersen in the wake of the Enron scandal.
That left only a "big four" of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG, which audit nearly all the world's biggest companies and more than four-fifths of listed companies in Europe.
Regulators have been examining ways in which they can encourage new entrants, and auditors have long argued that the potential cost of unlimited liability was a barrier to entry for smaller firms wanting to grow.
"It is a potentially huge problem for our capital markets," said Charlie McCreevy, the internal market commissioner. "The current conditions are not only preventing the entry of new players in the international audit market but are also threatening existing firms." - (Financial Times service)
Aminex falls in London trading
Aminex, the listed Irish oil and gas explorer with operations in Africa, fell in London trading after it said it would abandon a well in Egypt.
Aminex declined as much as 8.3 per cent to 24.75 pence. Data from the Tanan-1 exploration well indicate that "no hydrocarbons were encountered", the Dublin-based company said yesterday. "The well will now be plugged and abandoned."
The announcement came just two days after Aminex announced "excellent results" from a test well at a prospect in Tanzania.
Intel facing US Federal Trade Commission investigation
Semiconductor giant Intel faces a formal investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission after fighting similar anti-trust probes in Europe and Asia, the company said yesterday.
Smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices has long accused Intel of abusing its dominance of the $280 billion chip market and filed its own lawsuit against Intel in 2005. Intel's microprocessors - the electronic brains of personal computers - power more than 80 per cent of the world's PCs.
An FTC spokeswoman confirmed the case was upgraded to a formal investigation, but declined to say more. Intel's counsel Bruce Sewell said the company already gave the FTC hundreds of thousands of documents and would continue to co-operate.
"We don't believe that there's been abusive behaviour or illegal behaviour," he said.
The FTC investigation is a second blow this week for Intel.
On Thursday, the Korea Fair Trade Commission ruled Intel abused its dominant position in the local market and imposed a fine of $25.6 million. Intel said it would almost certainly appeal. - (Reuters)
