A roundup of today's other business news in brief

Harvey Norman ‘not going anywhere’ despite €40m loss

The chief executive of Harvey Norman’s Irish operations said yesterday that the company was “not going anywhere”.

The pledge came despite losses increasing more than ninefold to €40 million last year, writes Gordon Deegan.

Blaine Callard was commenting on accounts just filed by Harvey Norman Holdings (Ireland) Ltd, retailer of electrical, computer, furniture, entertainment and bedding, to the Companies Office for the year to the end of June 2009, showing that it recorded a pretax loss of €40 million after sustaining a pretax loss of €4.3 million loss in 2008.

Reaffirming the Australian- owned company’s commitment to Ireland, Mr Callard said: “Harvey Norman is a long-term player in the Irish market. We are not going anywhere.”

Mr Callard said the company continued to invest in Ireland where the position of chief executive was recently created.

A €15.7 million impairment charge on the value of the business of the company’s 14 stores in the Republic contributed to the company’s losses last year. Turnover was down marginally to €136 million from €137 million a year earlier.

Judgments against exclusive properties

ACC Bank has registered judgments against a large number of properties, including at Dublin’s exclusive Shrewsbury Road and Ailesbury Road, in an effort to secure repayment of loans made to developers Larry O’Mahony and Thomas McFeely.

The bank had last July secured summary judgment orders for some €6.2 million against Mr O’Mahony and Mr McFeely over non-repayment of a commercial development loan issued in April 2005.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly granted summary judgment after finding Mr McFeely, Ailesbury Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin, and Mr O’Mahony, Shrewsbury Road, Ballsbridge, had no arguable defence to the bank’s claim.

IN&M completes one share for seven move

Independent News & Media has completed its one-for-seven share consolidation aimed at boosting its share price and aiding liquidity in the stock.

The move had been approved at its recent annual meeting and had the effect of reducing the number of shares in issue from about 3.5 billion to just under 500 million. Having traded last week at about 11 cents, IN&M’s shares closed in Dublin yesterday above 80 cents, on the back of the consolidation of stock. Gavin O’Reilly, IN&M’s group chief executive, said: “Consolidation of the group’s share capital is intended to reduce share price volatility . . . and, in time, to restore the share price to a level which better reflects IN&M’s intrinsic worth and prospects.”