A round-up of other business news in brief
Madoff expected to plead guilty
There is a “fair expectation” that accused fraudster Bernard Madoff will plead guilty tomorrow to criminal charges in Wall Street’s biggest fraud, his lawyer has said in court.
Asked by Judge Denny Chin in a Manhattan court whether Mr Madoff (70) will plead guilty to 11 criminal counts, his lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, said: “I think that is a fair expectation.”
US prosecutor Marc Litt said there was no plea agreement with Mr Madoff.
At a court hearing in New York over potential conflicts of interest for Mr Sorkin, Mr Madoff said, “yes, I am”, when asked by the judge whether he was satisfied with his lawyer continuing to represent him.
US prosecutors have said Mr Madoff, out on $10 million (€7.89 million) bail but under 24-hour house arrest and electronic surveillance in his Manhattan apartment, ran the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. A Ponzi scheme is one in which early investors are paid with the money of new clients.
The purported fraud ran for decades with amazingly consistent returns of between 10 and 12 per cent, but collapsed in last year’s market meltdown. – (Reuters)
Trinity Biotech revenue down 4.8%
Trinity Biotech, the Bray- based manufacturer of medical diagnostic kits, yesterday reported a 4.8 per cent drop in fourth quarter revenues to $34 million (€26.9 million).
However, profit before tax, restructuring expenses and impairments in the final quarter of 2008 rose 16 per cent to $1.8 million.
The company recorded once-off restructuring charges and asset impairments totalling almost $88 million in the fourth quarter, it said.
Overall, revenues fell by 2.4 per cent in 2008, largely due to lower sales of HIV products in Africa.
An after-tax loss (before once-off items) of almost $78 million was recorded for 2008. In December, Trinity Biotech announced that was making 70 people redundant in a bid to cut costs.
British house-price falls accelerate
The fall in house prices in England and Wales accelerated last month and average sales over the previous three months hit a 30-year low, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has said.
The RICS monthly price balance fell to -78.3 from -76.6, though it remains above last September’s record low of -84.5.
Average sales completed per surveyor sank to 9.5 for the three months to February from 9.8 in the previous survey, the lowest since the RICS started the series in 1978. Data from mortgage lenders Halifax and Nationwide shows property prices down about 20 per cent from their peak in late 2007 after a shortage of mortgage finance and growing worry about job security has put many Britons off buying a new home.
Surveyors expected prices to continue to fall over the next three months, with the index only up a fraction at -78. Nonetheless, the RICS survey showed new buyer enquiries rising at their fastest pace since August 2006. – (Reuters)
UK output down 2.6% in January
British industrial output fell more than twice as fast as expected in January, shrinking at its fastest annual pace since January 1981, official data showed.
The figures from the UK office for national statistics show Britain’s sharp economic downturn did not slow at the start of 2009, and match similarly bleak data from France.
The office for national statistics said industrial production, which makes up 18 per cent of economic output, fell 2.6 per cent in January, much worse than the 1.2 per cent drop forecast by analysts.
That took the annual rate of decline to 11.4 per cent. Industrial output in the three months to January fell by 7.1 per cent, the biggest fall since March 1974. – (Reuters)
