US STREETS STILL PAVED WITH GOLD? The credit crunch, financial markets turmoil, banks bail-outs and the appreciation of the euro against the dollar - these are all things that those doing business with America are dealing with at the moment. They might find it more difficult to get their foot in the door to new clients, to get paid by existing ones, and as the companies they already work with shed jobs, they find themselves having to make new relationships within their client's firms. So under this pressure Irish companies operating there are checking out new avenues of business.
America is the biggest market for a lot of Irish firms, with 500 companies doing €1.2 billion worth of business there. Enterprise Ireland is seeing a big increase in the number of firms keen to do business in the US, and its Park Avenue headquarters has a waiting list for its business incubation units.
Tom Cusack heads Enterprise Ireland's operations in New York City and he says the agency would advocate the importance of a presence on the ground as it shows a lot of commitment to the market and is really a necessity to do business state-side. Enterprise Ireland's incubation units offer companies an opportunity to start up in the US for six months and then move on to set up their permanent presence. The agency funds about 70 start-ups a year, which gives Enterprise Ireland a constant pipeline of firms coming through. Mr Cusack says he believes that companies who are not uniquely targeting the financial services sector will confidently achieve their export goals this year. He says the picture is different for the financial services sector with the current rate of turmoil. He predicts that 2009 will be even more challenging but says that with the change in US government early next year that by the second half of 2009, an uplift is expected to be seen.
Interactive Services is a learning services company, which has been in New York for five years doing business with most of the major banks like Citi, UBS and Morgan Stanley. The credit crunch and then the financial markets crisis has had a huge effect on the company, and its had to look to other sectors for new business.
Mark De Rosh says that while there are real problems in companies involved in the financial services sector, it still has a lot of good companies. He says the skills of the financial services sector must be leveraged with those of the pharma and high-tech sectors. He says that Interactive Services has had no problems with the larger companies defaulting on payments. But he says the lack of uncertainty in the market is causing problems. He says that in these troubled times, people need cool heads and creativity and he adds that Irish businesses are certainly known for that.
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FUSE BROADCASTING WINS LIVEWIRE AWARD - The Shell Livewire Young Entrepreneurs of the Year for 2008 are Brian Corish and Gavin Payne. Both aged 29, they run Cork-based Fuse Broadcasting, which provides shops and businesses with in-store radio station and digital imaging.
Gavin Payne, speaking last night after Fuse's win, says his company provides retail chains with their own branded in store radio station and digital signage system. He says the win is a great boost for the company's confidence.
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MORNING BRIEFS - After reporting sharply reduced profits earlier this week, Sony has another problem on its hands. Computer manufacturers are recalling 100,000 laptop batteries made by Sony after 40 incidents of overheating, the Japanese electronics giant said today. Some users reported smoke or flames. Four of the incidents resulted in minor skin burns while 21 of the cases caused damage to property, Sony said. Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Dell are involved in the global recall.
*** Britain's BT Group said today its second-quarter earnings would be slightly below expectations due to a poor performance of its Global Services unit and the boss of that division has now resigned.
*** Overnight the Bank of Japan cut interest rates for first time in seven years. The bank also cut Japan's economic outlook, saying strains in global markets are rising and that severe conditions for the world will stay for some time. Rates there are now at 0.3%, down from 0.5%, and Japan now has the lowest interest rates in the developed world. A soaring yen and the slowdown in Europe and the US have put Japanese exporters under severe strain in recent weeks.
*** Another sign of growing strains in the Japanese economy came this morning as the Nissan Motor Company reported a 40.5% drop in half-year net profits and predicted annual earnings would plunge by two-thirds due to weak global markets and a strong yen.
*** A cartoon produced by Spiddal-based Telegael and Kilkenny's Cartoon Saloon has been nominated for a BAFTA. Skunk Fu is produced by the two firms and distributed by UK based Cake Entertainment.
*** On the currency markets today, the euro is trading at $12738 cents and 78.3 pence sterling.
