Business in brief
Irish firm strikes huge China deal
Wednesday March 19 2008
Internet: A Co Tyrone technology company has cracked the Chinese internet market to win a prestigious multi-million euro contract. Based in Clogher, Microchannel Technologies has developed software for internet search engines.
The specialised software is used by search engine marketing companies and advertising agencies to calculate a client's return on investment when running traditional and pay-per-click campaigns on the internet. The software will connect to Baidu, China's leading internet search facility, as well as all other major search engines worldwide.
Regulator fines Marsh €5,000
INSURANCE
The Financial Regulator has fined insurance firm Marsh Ireland €5,000 and reprimanded it over a failure to issue receipts to customers. The regulator said the breaches of the rules involved a failure to issue receipts to all commercial customers and to personal customers in its Cork office. It added that there was no loss to any Marsh Ireland customer and no customer had yet made a complaint.
Tysabri still set to pass regulators
BIOTECHNOLOGY
The chief executive of Biogen said he expects to see more cases of a potentially deadly brain infection in patients who take its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri. The treatment is made by Biogen and Elan. But James Mullen said he did not expect problems with drug regulators, provided the number remained small.
Utility bills push up inflation
UK Economy
Rocketing utility bills pushed British inflation further above target in February, highlighting the dilemma facing the Bank of England as it grapples with slowing growth and rising price pressures.
The Office for National Statistics said consumer prices rose 0.7pc last month, taking the annual rate to 2.5pc, its highest since last May. Inflation has been running above the government's 2pc target since October and economists expect higher oil and food prices to push it even higher in the coming months.
