ENGINEERING KEY TO ECONOMY'S FUTURE SUCCESS - While Dell is pulling out, one multinational company in Limerick that is staying and continues to operate successfully in the city Analogue Devices. The company makes the semi-conductors that are essential to so many electronic goods and has been here since 1976. The man who brought Analogue to Limerick is Ray Stata. He was in town this week to honour the memory of company co-founder Hans Krabbe.
Mr Stata says innovation has been central to Analogue's success here, but adds that he is worried about the decline in careers in engineering not just here but in the US as well. He says that over the last decade when it looked like Wall Street and other financial centres where the only place to make money, all the graduates looked to finance. The building industries and property development were also booming and people leaving school were sensitive to that. He also says that - for whatever reason - doctors and lawyers - were seen as a more prestigious professions than engineering.
However, Mr Stata says this is different to views held in India and China - the powerhouses of the global economy - where the most prestigious careers are in science and engineering. He says that even at government level, most of the higher level officials in the Chinese government have PhDs in engineering. He says it is a whole different view of what is valued-added.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Figures from the UN's trade body show that Ireland was hit by a big outflow of funds from foreign investors last year as the financial crisis took hold. UNCTAD said foreign investors withdrew what it called a 'massive' $38 billion in intra-company loans - loans between subsidiaries of multinational companies - while they also reduced their equity investments by $9 billion. This exceeded the amount invested in the country by $20 billion, a sharp turnaround from the $25 billion which flowed into the country into 2007.
*** Temple Bar in Dublin does not only create noise, and revelry - according to a report carried out by the traders organisation there, it also generates a total estimated turnover of €676m a year. Much of this relates to tourism and leisure as would be expected. However, the report carried out by Amarach Consulting did highlight that business confidence is low in Temple Bar with 27% of businesses saying they had cut full time staff numbers in the past year and 30% of all businesses anticipating cutting more jobs in the next 12 months.
*** France's economy will shrink by only 2.25% this year rather than by 3% as forecast and will return to positive growth in 2010, according to Prime Minister Francois Fillon. Last week, the French central bank forecast that the economy would expand by 0.3% in the third quarter of this year, confirming a trend that had seen it emerge from a year-long recession in the second quarter.
*** Swedish furniture giant Ikea has reported record earnings of €21.5 billion this year, despite slumping demand for its products. Ikea said that sales for the year from September 1, 2008 to August 31, 2009 were up by 1.4%, compared to a 7% rise 12 months earlier.
*** Budget hotel group Travelodge Ireland has reported a 20% increase in room sales at Travelodge Ballymun in Dublin for the month of August compared to July which it puts down to the opening of Ikea in the city.
*** Two new luxury apartments in Hong Kong have been put on the market for a record per square foot price of HK$75,000 (US$9,640) as the buoyant economy and stock markets on the Chinese mainland lift demand for exclusive properties.
The three-storey apartments are on the market for HK$300m each, about €26m each.
*** 40 new jobs be announced at the Galway city office of RSA Insurance.
*** UK shirt makers, Thomas Pink, who have a shop here in Dublin, are introducing a new line - the commuter tie. This is a silk tie featuring a small pocket on the reverse side designed to hold an ipod nano or a mp3 player.
*** On the currency markets, the euro is worth $1.47 and just under 90 pence sterling.
