A round-up of other business stories in brief...
Waterford's US unit files for court protection
Waterford Wedgwood USA, a unit of the Irish maker of fine crystal and china, filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 7 protection. Waterford Wedgwood listed assets of $1 million to $10 million and debts of $500 million and $1 billion, according to a filing in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan.
In Chapter 7 liquidations, a court-appointed trustee oversees the dissolution of the business.
Couple ordered to pay ACC 4.43m
A businessman and his wife have been ordered to pay €4.43 million to ACCBank arising from personal guarantees given by them for loans made to a company relating to a pub redevelopment.
At the Commercial Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly earlier this week entered judgment in favour of ACC for €4.43 million against Cormac MacCarthaigh, Wooden House, Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Kelly entered judgment in the same amount against Mr MacCarthaigh’s wife, Mary, after being told guarantees provided by the couple made them jointly and severally liable for the debts of Tymonville Ltd.
The judgment orders arise from personal guarantees given by the couple over loans made by ACC in 2005 to Tymonville, with registered offices at Wooden House, Kilmore Quay. The loans related to the purchase and redevelopment of the Wooden House pub and 12 apartments and the bank said it had demanded repayment in September last but no repayment had been made.
EBS settles action against businessmen
The EBS Building Society has settled an action against two businessmen arising from alleged unpaid loans of some €4.5 million.
Earlier this week, Mr Justice Peter Kelly transferred to the Commercial Court list proceedings by the building society against Thomas Considine, Fanore House, Oranmore, Co Galway, and James Considine, Ballagh, Bushypark, Co Galway.
However, as a proposal on behalf of the defendants had been made to the society in recent days, counsel asked that the matter be deferred.
Mr Justice Kelly agreed to adjourn the case to yesterday when he was told by Mr Leonard it had been settled.
Mobile firm 3 to cut termination charges
Mobile operator 3 will reduce the termination charges on its calls from January 2010, following the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) decision to regulate the charges.
ComReg said it had imposed a price control on 3 to “address its position of dominance in the provision of call termination services to end users”. The mobile termination rates will reduce annually to reach an average rate of 5 cent per minute by January 2013.
Amazon posts strong results
Amazon.com beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly earnings and revenue as lowered prices lured more shoppers online and sales of its Kindle electronic reader gained momentum.
The company increased revenue an unexpectedly strong 18 per cent as cash-strapped consumers went shopping online and Amazons own discount shipping program spurred purchases.
Chief executive Jeff Bezos said sales of the company’s Kindle device had “exceeded our most optimistic expectations”.
Amazons first-quarter net income rose a strong 24 per cent to $177 million, or 41 US cents per share, from $143 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.
Samsung’s profits tumble
Samsung Electronics, the world’s top maker of memory chips and LCD screens, posted a 72 per cent drop in quarterly profit and said it was too early to call a recovery in demand or prices.
But a rebound in mobile phone margins helped Samsung, the worlds second largest mobile maker after Nokia, beat market profit forecasts by some distance.
Samsung’s January-March net profit fell to 619 billion won ($458.1 million) from 2.19 trillion won a year ago, but was well above an average forecast for 149 billion won. Quarterly sales of 18.6 trillion won also beat expectations. – (Reuters)
China doubles its gold reserves
China has quietly almost doubled its gold reserves to become the world’s fifth-biggest holder of the precious metal, it emerged yesterday.
