D Tuesday, January 19, 2010 Business 17 Business Bites WHILE bankers have replaced stockbrokers as everybodys favourite people to hate these days, at least some stockbrokers have the good grace to have gone to prison. One such is Jordan Belfort, the so-called Wolf Of Wall Street, whose drug- fuelled life in the brokerage he founded is apparently being turned into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Now a motivational speaker, hes giving a free talk in the Westbury Hotel on January 23. Just remember, theres no such thing as a free lunch, and anyway, lunch is for wimps. See jordanbelfort.ie Microsoft Ireland employees Liz Costello, Dave Warrick and Jenny Mee kicked off the companys Green Week by celebrating the fact that it has recycled 1,000 tonnes of office waste in the past decade. Microsofts Green Week has started with a focus on greener ways of getting to work Picture: Maxwells Electric dreams Economy stabilising, bank says Edited by Alan Caulfield news@metroherald.ie Business & Finance DOWNDOWN v$v$ DOWNDOWN vv ISEQISEQ by 10.13 at 3,108.17 $1.44 0.88 MICROSOFT has signed a five- year outsourcing deal with an international company with an office in Dublin. The computer giant is moving to one provider for several business activities previously handled by several firms and has signed a deal with Arvato, which has operations in Dublin, Singapore, the Philippines, the US and Brazil. Matthias Mierisch of the media and communications service provider said: We will now be focusing on ensuring Microsoft realises the true benefits from this latest substantial investment in Arvato. SOURCES say Google is investigating whether one or more employees may have helped in a cyber-attack from China. The worlds most popular search engine said last week it may pull out of the world most populous internet market after being hit by a sophisticated cyber- attack on its network that resulted in theft of its intellectual property. Sources say the attack, which targeted people who have access to specific parts of Google networks, may have been facilitated by people working in its Chinas office, but the company would not comment. THE countrys economy is stabilising, with gross domestic product falling 0.3 per cent in the half year to September, compared with the disastrous 7.5 per cent plunge in the six months to March last year, Bank of Ireland has said. Its Quarterly Economic Outlook said growth in exports would provide the main economic stimulus, while domestic demand is expected to fall again, with the return of inflation before year end. One could state that the recession ended in the second quarter of 2009, although this growth was due to a sharp fall in imports relative to exports, following a further decline in domestic spending, said report author Dr Dan McLaughlin, BOIs group chief economist. The real income of Irish residents, as measured by GNP [gross national product], contracted by 1.4 per cent. He said the bank was predicting a return to growth of one per cent, compared to the Governments minus one per cent, but this was because the bank was predicting slightly stronger exports than other analysts. Call for refund of water rates BUSINESS group Chambers Ireland has demanded firms left without water by the bad weather get a total refund of their water rates. Deputy chief executive Sen Murphy said businesses paid for water and waste water treatment in accordance with the user pays principle but many food businesses, cafs and bar had had to close. Local authority budget projections for 2010 alone indicate that they will raise approximately 200million in business water charges, he said. However, given the current water shortages and lack of supply that many businesses are experiencing, it is right that they should be refunded for a service that they cannot use. He added that if a business does not come up with the goods it does not get paid, and it should be the same for local authorities.Impact: The big freeze Figures show retailers hit hard in Christmas run-up By Con Doherty RETAIL sales volume fell 8.2 per cent last November compared with the same month in 2008, figures show. The drop in the value of these sales was nearly 13 per cent, the Central Statistics Office revealed. But sales were up 1.1 per cent from October to November 2009, as people got ready for Christmas. The motor trade was a big compo- nent of the year-on-year fall (down 24.5 per cent), and if this was exclud- ed, the drop in sales volume was 5.4 per cent. Volume sales in bars were also down 12 per cent on November 2008. Information services company Ex- perian also found footfall in the final quarter of last year was down seven per cent in Ireland on last year but up 0.1 per cent in Northern Ireland. Reacting to the CSO figures, Retail Ireland said they showed the sector was in serious decline. A major problem for the retail busi- ness is the fact that with retail prices falling by 4.8 per cent in the period, overall retail turnover values fell by an annual 10.7 per cent, said director Torlach Deenihan. He urged the Government to reform the arbitration procedure for disputes over rent reviews and to build on the decision to ban upward-only rent re- views by addressing unsustainable rent costs through a process facilitat- ed by the Government. 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