STRONG growth in orders at Hewlett Packard Ireland contributed to an 8 per cent rise in net earnings for the quarter at company as a whole, according to the interim results. Hewlett Packard said it was on target to have 2,000 employees at its Leixlip, Co Kildare manufacturing plant.
Net earnings for the three months to the end of April were $784 million (£512 million), compared with $723 million for the same quarter in 1996. Net revenue for the quarter was $10.3 billion, against $9.9 billion last year. For the six month period, net earnings rose 12 per cent to $1.7 billion.
In Ireland, the company said, there had been very strong order growth in the first half of the financial year.
"Our results in Ireland showed an increase of over 25 per cent compared with the same period last year, well ahead of the HP corporate trend," said Mr Brian Kennan, the firm's managing director for Irish operations. "While all businesses show healthy growth, Ireland has shown strongest growth in PCs, servers and computer systems."
Dunloe buys shopping centre
DUNLOE, the property group, has announced that it has acquired the Mill Shopping Centre in Clondalkin, Dublin, together with some adjoining lands, from the businessman Mr Jim Mansfield. The company said the deal, at a cost of £9 million, was its largest acquisition this year. Dunloe said the current income from the shopping centre was about £750,000. The centre, with an area of around 100,000 sq ft, is fully let.
Accountants elect president
MR Tom Griffin has been elected president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants to succeed Mr Leo O'Donnell. A senior partner with Fraser Russell In London, Mr Griffin was born in Waterford in 1938 and qualified as a chartered accountant in London in 1964.
