The technology business week: €16.2bn in export sales for Enterprise Ireland clients, troika exit to boost IDA’s efforts


22 Apr 2013

Enterprise Ireland chief executive Frank Ryan (seated) with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton, TD

A digest of the top business technology news stories from the past week.

Enterprise Ireland client companies achieve €16.2bn in export sales

Enterprise Ireland has revealed its client companies’ export sales in 2012 broke the €16bn mark for the first time, with the greatest wins coming from sectors such as engineering, software, internationally traded services and medical devices.

Enterprise Ireland’s CEO Frank Ryan said client companies achieved €16.2bn in exports in 2012, with such companies continuing to broaden their export footprint and increase their sales.

Exports were up €1bn from €15.2bn in sales achieved in 2011, according to Ryan.

Despite increasing challenges across all global markets, Ryan said Irish companies managed to widen their export reach.

“It is especially encouraging to see significant gains in established markets like North America, the high-growth economies of Asia-Pacific and record performances from advanced engineering, software and medical-device sectors,” said Ryan.

Exit from troika will boost IDA’s efforts overseas – O’Leary

Ireland’s planned exist from the ‘troika’ lending programme later this year will provide a reputational boost overseas, the CEO of IDA Ireland Barry O’Leary explained, helping the agency in its efforts to attract inward investment.

“When the eventual exit comes there will be a big reputational boost,” O’Leary told members of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce.

“Looking at things today, there is no doubt the sentiment is improving, and in the US, in particular, it has improved significantly,” he said.

“Any challenges about Ireland now are just not raised. In any of the interactions we have with companies, there is a lot of positivity about Ireland,” he added.

O’Leary was speaking during a talk to chamber members about how Ireland’s brand suffered during the peak of the financial crisis and how Ireland is viewed now by new and existing investors.

Intel buys API player Mashery for an estimated US$180m

Tech giant Intel has acquired Mashery, a provider of API technology that helps major brands, including the Guardian, USA Today, Klout and Rovi, use APIs to build new revenue models and powerful web experiences for their users

While the acquisition price hasn’t been disclosed, there has been speculation that the price may have been up to three times more than Mashery’s last recorded valuation of US$60m.

Mashery employs 124 people and it is understood that the majority of these workers will join Intel’s Services Division.

The company has said web-based APIs are exploding in popularity as the technology of choice for cost-effective distribution of digital content and services.

Where it potentially gets interesting for Intel is the fact that APIs are moving from being primarily web-based entities that typically take the form of a URL to appearing on a variety of web-connected devices, such as wearable sensors for health monitoring and more.

Google reports Q1 revenues of US$14bn and net profit of US$3.48bn

Internet giant Google reported Q1 revenues of US$14bn, resulting in a net profit of US$3.48bn, which CEO Larry Page said was due to solid execution of the company’s product strategy.

“We had a very strong start to 2013, with US$14bn in revenue, up 31pc year-on-year,” said Page.

“We are working hard and investing in our products that aim to improve billions of people’s lives all around the world.”

Google-owned sites generated revenues of US$8.64bn, or 67pc of total Google revenues.

Partner sites generated revenues of US$3.26bn, or 25pc of total Google revenues.

Google revenues from outside of the United States totalled US$7.1bn, representing 55pc of total Google revenues in the first quarter of 2013.

Microsoft’s bold bet on cloud pays off as software giant reports US$20.49bn Q3 revenues

Microsoft said the bold bets it took on cloud are beginning to pay dividends. The company reported third-quarter revenues of US$20.49bn and a US$6bn profit.

The revenues are up US$3bn on 2012 and the profit is up by around US$1.3bn.

“The bold bets we made on cloud services are paying off as people increasingly choose Microsoft services, including Office 365, Windows Azure, Xbox LIVE, and Skype,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft.

“While there is still work to do, we are optimistic that the bets we’ve made on Windows devices position us well for the long-term.”

Microsoft’s Business Division reported revenues of US$6.3bn, up 8pc, driven by sales of the new Office technology.

Yahoo! reports 36pc profit increase while revenue slides 7pc

Lower operating costs helped buoy internet giant Yahoo!’s first-quarter profit up 36pc to US$390m from the same period last year, while its revenue for the quarter dipped 7pc to US$1.14m.

Revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs amounted to $1.074m for the first quarter of 2013, flat compared to the same period last year.

Income from operations totalled US$186m, and earnings per share amounted to US$0.35 during Yahoo!’s first quarter of the year.

Yahoo!’s advertising revenues saw ups and downs during the first quarter.

Display advertising revenue decreased by 11pc to US$402m, compared to US$454m during the year-ago period.

Search advertising revenue increased by 6pc during the quarter to US$490m, compared to US$384m for the first quarter of 2012.

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Business and exporting image via Shutterstock