ISME CALLS FOR PUBLIC SECTOR WAGE REFORM - Small firms association ISME holds its annual get-together today. Its chairman JJ Killian, who also runs distribution and storage firm Flancare, will call for wage restraint and strong leadership in the public sector to cope with more turbulent economic times.
JJ Killian says the warning from Taoiseach Brian Cowen that the slowdown in the economy is putting the National Development Plant at risk is really bad news for small firms. He says it would be wrong to even consider that we should change the country's long-term strategy because of the current problems the economy is experiencing. He says the long-term strategy is absolutely vital for underpinning the economy, which will bounce back in the next 18 months to two years. He says the infrastructure needs to have moved along to meet that. 'It would be a mistake to even consider changing a strategy for short-term considerations,' he states.
Mr Killian says the issue of public sector pay also needs to be looked at. He says it does not sound right to hear of cut-backs in the National Development Plan, while at the same time the social partners are sitting down and deciding how much of a pay rise they will give each other this year.
He says that public sector reform has to come. 'We are up to our tonsils in reports and committees, and now it is time to look at every department in the public sector,' ISME's Chairman says. He says a change of culture is needed in the public sector as well as a change of attitude and the political will to implement these changes.
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NEW IRISH ALBUM RELEASED ON USB - Dowloads both legal and illegal, and a slowdown in consumer spending have forced musicians to think and work harder to get their music out to the general public. One Irish musician, Dave Browne, has come up with innovative ways to both fund and release his new album "Windows to the Soul". The album was produced and funded using a BES, or Business Expansion Scheme worth €282,000. The incentive of a BES is that investors can use it to get tax breaks. Though this is quite uncommon in the music industry, most business expansion scheems are for manufacturing and tourism businesses. The album gets released tomorrow and as well as on CD it is also on a credit card sized USB to go straight into your computer's music files.
Dave Browne is with Kompass Records. Its co-founder Paul Whitnell says that sales of CD sales are down about 27% with another 20% expected. He says the USB card is one of many new innovations in terms of new technology to add to the conventional product. Kompass Records offers this with the album exclusively through HMV Ireland. He says the BES was a way to raise funds in order for the record company to compete with the larger multis. He says it enables the firm to promote the product in a very competitive market.
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MORNING BRIEFS - The ratio of footballers' wages to turnover is at its highest level since the Premier League began. Figures from accountants Deloitte show that as clubs are spending a greater proportion of their cash on wages than ever before, their operating profits are slipping. Only eight of the 20 Premier League clubs recorded an operating profit for the 06/07 season - half the number which did so a year earlier. Wages paid by top English sides grew by 13% from the previous season to €1.2 billion. Chelsea had the highest wage bill, at €167m.
*** In a clear signal that the UK property market downturn is gathering speed, British house prices fell at the fastest monthly pace on record in May to stand 4.4%lower than a year earlier. The Nationwide Building Society, which puts the information together, said house prices fell by 2.5% this month, more than four times the rate of decline forecast by analysts. House prices have now fallen for seven months in a row.
*** One of Ireland's largest poultry producers, which has more than 200 employees, has been placed in interim examinership by the High Court. The High Court was told that a statement of affairs of Cappoquin Chickens shows a deficit of €806,000 on a going-concern basis and a deficit of €7m on a winding up basis.
*** Communications regulator ComReg has set tougher customer service targets for Eircom after finding that the company's performance has deteriorated over the last couple of years. ComReg also said there was 'clear evidence' that Eircom was spending significantly less on maintaining its network, which was leading to more faults and affecting huge numbers of consumers.
*** Oil prices moved $2 higher yesterday but have retreated to just over $130 a barrel in early trade today, as a stronger dollar offset fears of supply disruptions in Nigeria.
*** On the currency markets this morning, the euro is trading at $1.5612 cents and 79.04 pence sterling.
