Business Forum - December 1984
AVENUE 84 is a classical concert featuring five young Irish musicians to be held in the Examination Hall in Trinity College, Dublin on Thursday, December 13 1984, at 7.30pm. This unique concert is being organised by the participants of the AnCO/Irish Museums Trust training course in Arts Administration.
The musicians, who have received grants and scholarships over the past number of years, have been selected by the participants for their excellence in musicianship. The concert aims at providing a platform to further their performing careers.
The artists in elude: Donal Bannister on trombone who will play Sonatina by Casterede and a sonata in A minor by Gaillard, Annette Cleary on cello performing Debussy's cello sonata, Mary Collins who will perform pieces by Scarlatti, Chopin and Lizt on the piano, Aedin Halpin playing pieces by Loeillet, Telemann and Gordon Jacob on the recorder and Paul O'Hanlon on violin who will perform Bach's Partita in D minor.
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THE NEW Man's Shop at Brown Thomas held a reception on Tuesday November 13 for its account customers and press. Despite bad weather and the tragic air crash over 300 people turned up to congratulate managing director George McCullagh on his re-design of the new department. Also the decision to diversify into younger men's clothhing. Phil Fitzpatrick, Man's Shop buyer, has done an incredible job in maintaining quality merchandise at competitive prices.
ALLIED IRISH BANKS' unaudited Group profit before taxation for the half-year ended 30 September 1984 amounted to IR£40.5 million. This compares with IR£43.4 million for the previous half-year to 31 March 1984 and IR£42 million for the half-year to 30 September 1983. The tax charge for September 1984 is IR£10.6 million less than the March 1984 figure (which included a levy of IR£lO.4 million) and IR£2.9 million less than the more comparable Sepptember 1983 figure. This reduction of IR£2.9 million is because of lower profits and greater tax based lending.
Resulting from the lower tax charge, the after tax position shows an inncrease of IR£7. 7 million over the March 1984 figure and IR£l.4 million over the September 1983 figure.
The directors have declared an interim dividend of 4.5p per share on the higher number of shares in issue, which will absorb IR£7.5 milllion as against an interim of 4.5p per share last year which absorbed IR£6.7 million. The dividend which carries a tax credit of 25/75 (twenty-five seventy-fifths) will be paid on 18 December to shareholders on the company's register at the close of business on 23 November 1984.
AT the Annual General Meeting ~ J1Lf}', Niall Crowley, Chairman, mentioned that he was "hopeful that he will be able to at least equal last years results, which would be a good performance in the circumstances. " The results for this half-year are in line with those expectations. This performance is understandable having regard to the difficult economic connditions prevailing in our principal marketplace, the Republic of Ireland. The recession here has' resulted in the continuation of a high level of bad debts charged against profit and they do not foresee any improvement in that situation for the second half-year.
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CARA DATACOMM, the Data Commmunications division of CARA Data Processing Limited, has received two major awards from Racal-Milgo and T -Bar for sales in Ireland.
The Racal-Milgo award was for the most outstanding sales of Network Management systems and Local Area Networks in the Europe and the Middle East area in the last year.
The T-Bar award was for the highest value of sales in Europe for computer and communication switchhing and patching equipment over a year. This brings to four the number of sales awards CARA Datacomm has received in recent years.
Mr Denis Behan, General Manager of CARA Datacomm, announcing the awards, said: "They underline the rapid development of high technology in Data Communications in Ireland, which has now become a significant market in European terms for sophissticated equipment of this kind.