A roundup of today's other business news in brief
Profits at multinational insurer QBE up 8% to $822m in first half
Insurance profits at multinational QBE, which employs 100 people in the Republic, grew 8 per cent to $822 million (€640 million) in the first six months of the year, it said yesterday.
The company’s net profit after tax was down 39 per cent at $440 million.
The company blamed a fall in interest on cash and investments for the overall fall in profitability.
In Ireland, QBE provides cover to businesses for casualty, motor fleet, commercial property, liability and professional indemnity. It did not reveal how its Irish operations performed during the first six months.
Lord Brittan to advise Cameron
David Cameron has recruited Tory former cabinet minister Lord Brittan as his trade adviser.
The British prime minister said the peer – who served as home secretary and trade and industry secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s government – had “unrivalled experience” for the role.
However, Lord Brittan will only remain in the position for six months before returning to investment bank UBS, where he is vice-chairman. – (PA)
Private car licences up by over 61%
The number of private cars licensed in the State in July was up by some 61.1 per cent compared to July of last year, new figures show.
Some 7,018 new private cars were licensed in the month, compared with 4,355 in July of last year. Of these, 69.1 per cent were diesel-fuelled and 27.7 per cent were petrol. The highest number of new private cars licensed in July, classified by make, was Volkswagen (911) followed by Opel (898), Ford (774) and Toyota (687).
Backing for Dell chairman falls
Dell chief executive and chairman Michael Dell failed to win the support of more than a quarter of the computer manufacturer’s shareholders for re-election to the board, the company said in a regulatory filing.
About 377.8 million of the 1.5 billion votes cast, or 25.1 per cent, were to “withhold” support for Mr Dell at the company’s shareholder meeting in Texas last week.
The vote comes as Dell’s sales and earnings per share have declined over the past two years. In light of that, the vote isn’t surprising, said Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Bros in San Francisco which has a “hold” rating on the shares. Dell’s acquisitions haven’t transformed it, he said.
“The Dell board had expressed its confidence in Michael Dell’s leadership and the majority of shareholders agreed with them,” said Dell spokesman Jess Blackburn. – (Bloomberg)
