ELAN IN 'GOOD SHAPE' - Irish pharmaceutical company Elan has reported revenues of $245m the first three months of the year. It continues to talk to potential suitors, according to Elan chief executive Kelly Martin.
Mr Martin says that the company's main goal is being able to access a global commercial infrastructure and says that hopefully down the road it will be able to share progress in the whole process. After February's 230 global job cuts, he says he feels the company is in 'very good shape' from a profit and loss point of view. He points out that Elan's products' revenues are growing and its costs are in good shape. The company is not focused on cutting costs but on executing its pipeline, he states.
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IRELAND FACING BIG BANK BILL - IMF - The Irish Monetary Fund has been doing the numbers on the global banking crisis. It estimates that $4 trillion will have been written off by the end of next year in all sorts of assets. The IMF says when it comes to footing the bill for the banks' bad loans, Ireland is going to end up paying top dollar. It estimates that the cost of re-capitalising the Irish banks will be around €24 billion. It comes up with that figure on the basis that it believes our bail-out of the banks for their bad loans will amount to 13.9% of our GDP, which is the sum total of all the goods and services we produce every year.
Brian Lucey, Professor of Economics at Trinity College in Dublin, says the €24 billion represents about 75% of a good year's tax take by the Irish Government. He says the figure comes out of a series of simulations and modelling excerise that the IMF calculates. The IMF produces a report on the world's financial stability every six months or so and most times we can cheerfully ignore it because the world is fairly stable, Professor Lucey explains. However, the last couple editions have been read with interest as the worldwide recession deepens.
He says the Irish results are included in a group which includes the US and the UK in terms of double digit costs of national income to bail out the banks. He points out that the Government will have to borrow the 'stunning' amount of $80 billion for NAMA.
The IMF report also predicts an 'L-shaped recovery' for the world economy. Professor Lucey says if the bottom of the downturn has not yet been reached, we are nearly there. He says that by the end of the year we should be able to see the bottom of the slowdown, but that the recovery will take a long time. He also says the IMF is recommending 'temporary nationalisation' of the troubled banks.
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MORNING BUSINESS NEWS - Internet company Yahoo says it will cut 5% of its global workforce - that is about 650 job losses in total
*** A new appetite for savings, and concern about our banks, has led to a surge in the take-up of prize bonds. Last year, gross sales were €279m, a 95% increase on 2007, according to the annual report of the Prize Bonds company.
*** On the currency markets, the euro is worth 88 pence sterling and $1.29.
