AIRCOACH FOUNDER'S NEW BUS VENTURE - The Irish Times says John O'Sullivan, the founder and former owner of Aircoach, has set up a new bus company with his wife Una and awarded it the contract to operate shuttle services from their Quickpark car park to Dublin Airport.
The paper says this contract was held by Aircoach and was worth €1.2m a year to the company. Last Bus began operating the service last Sunday.
Mr O'Sullivan is increasing the daily charge at Quickpark by 25% from €6 to €7.50 from tomorrow. The Dublin Airport Authority's long-term car parks cost €8.50 a day. When VAT is stripped out, the price rise could increase income at Quickpark by €1.5m a year, according to the Irish Times.
Mr O'Sullivan founded Aircoach in 1999, and sold 90% of the company to First Group, a British operator, in 2003 for €15m before selling the balance for €1.5m.
***
EIRCOM LOOKING FOR NEW FINANCE CHIEF - The Irish Independent reports that Eircom has lost its second chief financial offer (CFO) in three months. It says Peter Tarrant has resigned from the company.
Mr Tarrant replaced Peter Lynch, who left the company just before Christmas. Mr Lynch left following the takeover of Eircom by Babcock & Brown.
The Indo says it is not yet known what Mr Tarrant will do following his resignation, although it quotes industry sources as saying that he is not leaving to join Mr Lynch, despite speculation. Mr Lynch is setting up an equity investment vehicle.
***
INTERNET CENSORSHIP ON THE RISE - The Financial Times reports on research from a transatlantic group of academics showing that internet censorship is spreading rapidly, being practised by about two dozen countries and applied to a far wider range of online information and applications.
The FT says the warning comes a week after a Turkish court ordered the blocking of YouTube to silence offensive comments about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, marking the most visible attack yet on a website that has been widely adopted around the world.
The paper says a recent six-month investigation into whether 40 countries use censorship shows the practice is spreading, with new countries learning from experienced practitioners such as China and benefiting from technological improvements.
***
BARCLAYS WANTS US MORTGAGE MONEY BACK - The Daily Telegraph says Barclays, one of Britain's biggest banks, has demanded the immediate repayment of about $900m of mortgage loans from New Century Financial, America's second largest sub-prime lender.
In a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US regulator, New Century confirmed the British bank had issued a notice of default under a repurchase agreement.
The Telegraph says this is the latest illustration of how the US mortgage crisis is starting to hit Britain's financial giants. Barclays confirmed the move.
'We do not envisage any material losses due to exposure to the sector,' the paper quotes the bank as saying.
