SETANTA SPORTS SET FOR TAKEOVER? - The rumour mill is in overdrive this morning over the future of Setanta Sports which according to media reports is on the market with a price tag in excess of €1.3 billion. That is not bad for two Irish men, Michael O'Rourke and Leonard Ryan, who set up the TV station back in 1990, to screen Irish interest matches to ex-pats in foreign pubs. 17 years on and Setanta is now a massive pay TV business with revenues of around €0.5 billion annually, though it has yet to make a profit. Today's news of a possible bidding war is in response to a pre-Christmas approach, thought to be from a European rival. Setanta's most notable coup of recent times was swiping Premiership fixtures from the grasp of Rupert Murdoch's BskyB, but it also has rights to the UEFA Cup, and Seria A as well as the FA Cup.
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YAHOO SET TO REJECT MICROSOFT OFFER - The board of internet search engine Yahoo is set to dismiss a $44.6 billion takeover bid from Microsoft later today. Microsoft's $31 a share offer is 62% above the level at which Yahoo's shares were trading the day the offer was made. London analyst Justin Urquhart-Stewart of Seven Investment Management says that although Microsft seems to be dominant in its field in terms of PC software, what it has tried to develop in terms of the internet has been a bit of a disaster. The two leaders in internet innovation has been Yahoo and to a greater extent Google. He says this is Microsoft's effort to try and get back into the internet game. The analyst says it can not afford to buy Google, but they can have a go at Yahoo.
Mr Urquhart-Stewart says that Yahoo is nowhere near its strength of two years ago and Google has really wiped the floor with the company. As a result, its share price has fallen back quite significantly. He says the board of Yahoo might say that it does not like the Microsoft offer, but what alternatives do they have. The company now has to keep its shareholders happy, and it will have to sell itself - if the price is right.
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FURTHER FALL IN CONSTRUCTION SECTOR - The monthly Ulster Bank barometer on the health of the construction sector shows further malady with a further substantial fall in new orders and lay-offs from building sites increasing to new records. On the plus side delivery time of building materials from suppliers is much improved. Ulster Bank chief economist Pat McArdle says that the survey fell at the fastest pace since it was started in June 2000. All three components of the survey - housing, commercial and civil engineering - were weaker, with housing once more leading the way.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Societe Generale, the French bank reeling from a trading scandal, launched a rights issue at a steep discount today to bolster its balance sheet after losses due to the US sub-prime crisis.
*** On the currencies today, the euro is worth $1.4559 and 74 point 79 pence sterling.
