22 Business Monday, January 18, 2010 D n MOBILE phone retail chain 3G has been wound up, with a loss of 150 jobs, after if failed to secure new investors. Ulster Bank has also taken control of 3Gs major shareholder, Sigma Telecom, after the troubled firm lost one of its biggest customers, Meteor. Edited by Alan Caulfield news@metroherald.ie Business & Finance Open skies deal failing as flights see dramatic fall By Peter Woodman Philip OConnor of Dublin Employment Pact, Lord Mayor Emer Costello and Minister of State with special responsibility for the Knowledge Society, Conor Lenihan, at the celebration of 1,500 people from the community and voluntary sector completing training under the BenefIT Scheme. The Scheme promotes the use of computers by people with little or no usage previously Picture: Conor McCabe Making IT work AN ESTATE agency claims it is bucking the trend of falling business in the property crash with an unusual selling point the hard truth. Wilson Moore, set up at the peak of the boom, admits it has left customers angry with its straight-talking, no nonsense approach but also says almost half its clients are referrals. Im not going to tell people what they want to hear, said managing director Christina Wilson. We are being very up front with people. We will very much tell them the situation. When valuing property we tell them straight up what can be achieved... Theres an awful lot of nonsense talked by people and you are not doing people any favours with that, she added. The firm, which has two offices in west and north Dublin, plans to open a third in the city centre this week, with new staff also being hired despite the recession. Agencys hard-hitting approach bucks trend THE US-EU open skies deal brought in nearly two years ago to boost transatlantic air services appears to be failing, latest flight figures reveal. The number of airline seats on of- fer between North America and Western Europe this month is five per cent down on the January 2009 total, with the frequency of North America-West Europe flights also down six per cent this month from the same period last year. After years of negotiation, the US and EU agreed the first phase of the opening up of more transatlantic routes, introduced in March 2008. Part of the agreement allowed more airlines to use Heathrow for their transatlantic flights. The statistics from aviation data business firm OAG also showed that Heathrow was offering two per cent fewer flights and seats on all services this month compared with January 2009. Overall though, airlines across the world are offering more than 294million seats this month three per cent more than in January 2009, with global frequencies up two per cent to 2.37 million flights. Worldwide, low-cost airlines have taken a 22 per cent share of the seat market this month and a 19 per cent share of flights. Frequency and capacity between Western Europe and the Middle East is up seven per cent this month, while Western Europe-Africa serv- ices show 19 per cent more flights and 18 per cent more seats. The Western Europe-Asia market is also slightly down, as is the North American domestic market, where the number of flights are 2.7 per cent down, with seats also 2.8 per cent down this month. Business Bites KRAFT is set to sweeten its hostile bid for Cadbury as it looks to melt the resolve of the Dairy Milk makers shareholders. The US food giant is thought to be in the process of upping its existing 10.5billion (11.9bn) offer for its unwilling UK target. Cadbury has criticised the bid as derisory and sought to convince investors of its strength as an independent entity. Kraft has until tomorrow to raise its bid. n MORE than 200 retailers are likely to go out of business this year and there will be no improvement in the retail sector in the short-term, a property expert has warned. Marie Hunt, director of research at CB Richard Ellis, said that 200 retailers went bust last year and she expected a similar number to become insolvent in 2010. She said low interest rates were cushioning consumers and warned consumer spending could contract further when interest rates rise. 200 retailers to fold this year AN IRISH field marketing firm has announced it is creating more than 50 new positions. CPM, which has more than 500 employees, said the jobs will be across a range of fields. CPMs Alan Peyton said: Given the very difficult times we are facing in the economy we are delighted that many of our clients are committed to investing... and ensuring vacated roles are replaced, as well as creating new jobs. n In decline: International flights index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html