Today in the press

McCreevy warns on directives - Government delay in enforcing EU directives is preventing Irish businesses taking full advantage of the EU's market, European commissioner Charlie McCreevy warned yesterday. The Irish Times says that the former minister for finance told an Institute of Directors lunch in Dublin yesterday that the Council of Ministers had already adopted a number of directives aimed at opening up previously closed markets. 'We now need to see timely and correct implementation of these by all member states, otherwise we are left with a paper exercise that delivers nothing,' said Mr McCreevy, Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services. He added that all states should aim to have no more than 1.5% of new directives outstanding at any one time. But, in a criticism of his former Government colleagues, he pointed out that the Republic had fallen behind in implementing new regulations.

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SuperValu sales hit €1.75 billion last year - Grocery retail group SuperValu saw sales increase to €1.75 billion in 2004, despite a fall in food prices last year, writes the Irish Independent. The company said that it would continue its expansion, with another 10 outlets due to open under the SuperValu flag in 2005. There are now 182 stores, 14 of which opened last year, including five in Dublin, and these additional stores helped boost revenue growth. SuperValu managing director Donal Horgan said: 'These sales figures reflect a healthy performance in a challenging and competitive trading environment. This real growth comes against a backdrop of a fall in food prices in 2004.' Speaking at SuperValu's national conference in Killarney, he said that €65m was invested by retailers in new SuperValu store developments in 2004, adding 165,000 sq ft of retail space. An additional €50m has been invested in refurbishing stores in in 22 outlets.

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Airlines face losses of $5.5 billion on high oil prices - The global airline industry could lose $5.5 billion in 2005 because of continuing high crude oil prices, according to a warning on Monday by Giovanni Bisignani, chief executive of the International Air Transport Association. The Financial Times says that the total losses by the world's airlines in the five years from 2001-05 would then exceed $40 billion.

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Global broadband connections hit 150m - While broadband adoption flattened out in Asia and the US during 2004, take-up of high-speed internet grew exponentially in Europe, says Electricnews.Net. Global broadband connections amounted to 150.5 million lines by the end of December 2004, with 50 million lines being added during 2004, 26.5 million of which were added during the second half of the year, according to new research from Point Topic. Growth in broadband adoption was most pronounced in Europe where 28% of worldwide broadband subscribers now reside, compared to 29% based in the US and 43% in the broadband-loving Asian region. Europe added 9.9 million lines during the second half of 2004, less than one million behind the US and less than 500,000 behind Asia.