February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Stephen McKinley
Ryanair has concluded a deal with Cable and Wireless – C and W has supplied the airline with a new completely integrated communications service, linking all 45 Ryanair sites throughout Ireland and Europe.
The system also allows for the easy integration of new service outlets, so that Ryanair’s ability to expand its service smoothly and speedily is enhanced.
The system connects multiple call centers and check-in desks at forty-five Ryanair destinations, updates booking information in real-time and integrates with WAP mobile phone services.
Wireless coffee
Bewley’s, the cafe chain, will make use of a new wireless messaging service by wirelessROI to market their latest coffee drink, the “Cappuchillo.”
Never miss an issue of The Irish Echo
Subscribe to one of our great value packages.
“tPulse(tm)” allows businesses to manage 2-way text messaging from a single PC to mobile phones in over 90 countries.
Bewley’s customers can now enter a competition by sending a text message directly from their mobile phones and receive an automated response within seconds.
“It’s all about involving your customers with relevant, personal and anticipated information”, said tPulse managing director, Jim Nugent. Companies are already building special communities such as wine clubs or passing on information on special deals – hotel or airline bargains – he said.
How much for Celtic?
What price Celtic football club? So far, _22.5 million, apparently.
Dermot Desmond and other Dublin businessmen have been raising money to push Celtic into the European big league, and complete control of the Scottish club could soon be in the hands of Desmond and Co.
Desmond already owns 15 percent of the club and has thrown _5 million of his fortune into the ring.
Other Irish backers include racing boss Eddie Jordan and three others who each put in _5 million. Their shares in Celtic will not have voting rights until 2007, but after that, the consortium could well control the club.
Sweet sale
Leaf Ireland, a confectionery maker, has been sold by its Dutch owner CSM NZ, to Zed Gum, another Irish candy maker.
Leaf’s turnover has been about $13.15 million. It was a brief relationship: CSM acquired Leaf Ireland in 1999, when it bought the Leaf Group from Finland’s Huhtamaki.
Henchey sells up
Kerryman Maurice Henchey has agreed to sell his healthcare company Healthcall to Nestor Healthcare for _110 million. He stands to gain about _27 million (c. $30 million).
Regulators still have to approve the sale of Healthcall, which is based in the UK. The other beneficiaries of the Nestor deal will be the venture capital group Bridgepoint, a 60 per cent shareholder in Healthcall, and about 3,000 staff and managers who own about 15 per cent of the company.
Healthcall offers an automatic phone answering service when patients contact GP surgeries out of hours. They are connected to helpdesks manned by doctors or nurses. If necessary, home visits can be organized.
Sainsbury’s focuses on home
Trouble up North? Watch investors stampede for the nearest flight out of there.
Sainsbury’s demonstrates this basic principle of business with an announcement this month that it will focus its growth in the south of England rather than in Northern Ireland.
However, Sainsbury’s has only seven stores in Northern Ireland compared with larger UK rivals Tesco, which has 36, and Safeway, which has 12 stores.
This, experts say, shows that Sainsbury’s plan is driven more by pure market share constraints that by any political instability.
“We would expect Sainsbury’s to focus on its domestic business, particularly in the south of England where its main customer base is and it is unlikely to focus on extending its base elsewhere,” HSBC analysts said.
Although Sainsbury’s has hailed its flagship store in Northern Ireland, at Forestside Shopping Center in Belfast, as one of its top performing stores in the UK, industry sources in Northern Ireland say the remaining six stores do not come near to matching its turnover. The group estimates that on average 150,000 people shop in its Northern Ireland stores, which employ more than 1,700 people, each week. Tesco has also proven to be simply too large and too well established for Sainsbury’s to make much of an impact.
SFA warning
The Small Firm’s Association has warned members that the Irish economy is “on a knife edge.”
The organization announced that it believes that official growth and employment figures have masked a significant downturn in the economy.
Since the start of 2001, 12,000 jobs have been lost, according to the SFA. Pat Delaney, the director of the SFA said that the December budget “will have a pivotal role to play in maintaining the real gains of recent years.”
His organization wants the overall thrust of the budget to be “an exercise of discipline in public spending.”