The Irish Independent reports that the more-than-10pc fall in Anglo Irish Bank's share price over the past week has been blamed in part on a general softening of the market, and in part on annual results which for the first time in over a decade did not exceed market expectations.

The Irish Independent also reports that Daniel Leahy, an Irish investor in failed Langbar International, has spoken of the "nightmare situation" that led to his detention in a cell for six weeks in Monaco.

The Irish Times reports that the economy's export performance improved in March, according to trade figures published yesterday. Exports rose to €7.46 billion, according to Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, up 4.8 per cent on February.

This followed a 14 per cent drop to €7.1 billion in February from €8.2 billion in January.

First-quarter trends reflect a sharp fall in exports of high technology chemical and computer products in February, followed by a recovery in March.

In the quarter as a whole, exports were up 6.4 per cent on the same period of year. Imports rose by 12.6 per cent year-on-year in the quarter, with growth strong across a range of industrial and consumer goods.

The seasonally adjusted surplus was €2.32 billion in March, up from €2.04 billion in February but down sharply on the €3.31 billion recorded in January.

A detailed breakdown of the figures - available for January and February - shows that a merchandise deficit would have been recorded but for the largely foreign-owned chemicals sector: Chemicals exports exceeded imports by €5.14 billion in January and February combined, exceeding the total trade surplus for the period of €4.2 billion.

"Following a weak period for merchandise exports over the pervious three years, there are early indications that this trend may be turning in 2006," Goodbody stockbrockers economist Dermot O'Leary, said yesterday.

The Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment Michael Ahern also welcomed the figures and said that Irish exporters were "performing well in a difficult trading environment caused by rising oil prices".

But the outlook for the euro could harm exports in the coming year, Alan McQuaid of Bloxham stockbrokers warned yesterday .

"With the euro set to make healthy gains against both the greenback and sterling this year and next, the outlook for Irish exports in 2006 and 2007 is none too bright in our view," he said.

"Indeed, we expect exports, which were for so long the strongest link in the Irish economy, to be the weakest link over the next couple of years".

The Irish Times also reports that over 70,000 separated parents are not making a contribution to reimburse the Department of Social and Family Affairs for the cost of one-parent payments provided to their former partners, the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was told yesterday.

The secretary general of the Department of Social and Family Affairs John Hynes said there were around 2,000 separated parents making such contributions.

He said the department received around €2 million last year in contributions from separated parents towards the cost of one-parent payments. Around 80,000 people were receiving these payments. In 2004 the department paid out €695 million in one-parent family payments.

Mr Hynes said in pursuing persons who were not contributing towards the cost of the payments the department had to take account of the number of absent parents who were receiving social welfare.

There was a limit on the amount which the department could seek in reimbursement in such circumstances. The main focus of the department was on absent parents who were in employment.

The Comptroller and Auditor General John Purcell said there may be a need for a plan and follow-up campaign if a real improvement was to be made in relation to maintenance payments.

A spokeswoman for the department said last night there were just over 900 widowed persons included in the 80,000 people receiving one-parent payment, and in these cases maintenance was not an issue.

She said not all separated parents had been asked to make contributions. "In the period January 2003 to December 2005, the maintenance recovery unit examined 56,032 cases and issued determination orders to 8,017 liable relatives. As at the end of January 2006 - the latest date for which figures are available - 2,193 liable relatives were contributing directly to the department."

Meanwhile Mr Hynes said the department expected that there would be up to 15,000 applications from citizens of EU accession state countries for child benefit here this year.

The number of applicants had increased from 80 per week last year to over 300 per week at present.

Bernadette Lacey, director general social welfare services, said the increase was due to publicity earlier this year and an information campaign on entitlements in Poland.

The Irish Examiner reports that giant US retailer Wal-Mart is to use the Irish Stock Exchange to trade over €350 million in loan notes that fall due for redemption in 2011.

The world’s largest retailer has chosen the ISE over both London and Luxembourg to offer 50bn in Japanese Yen to investors.

The money will be used to pay off debt incurred in Yen by the group, which is reputed to have a computer system bigger than the Pentagon’s.

The group informed the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday of its intentions.

Wal-Mart said it would use the proceeds from the offering to repay some short-term debt denominated in yen.

Last night, a spokesman for the ISE said it does not comment on such listings.

He confirmed, however, that the use of the ISE as a mechanism for raising money has become an increasing part of the exchange’s normal business.

At this stage such big names as Porsche, and TUI, one of the world’s leading travel groups and BASF, the major German chemical group have all used the ISE for raising money.

Sainsburys has used all of its stores as security for money raised though the Dublin stock exchange, while the BBC has also listed its portfolio, in the same way, as a means of raising funds.

Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers are underwriting Wal-Mart’s offering.

The Financial Times reports that SAP, the world’s biggest business software group, is open to an acquisition by US technology groups, according to its chairman.

Hasso Plattner, supervisory board chief at the German group, said in an interview with FT Deutschland, the FT’s sister paper: “There are only three potential buyers: IBM, Microsoft and Google. I don’t see anyone else. If shareholders think that a combination, and not independence, is better, then it will happen.”

Mr Plattner, who holds 12 per cent of the company, said he would have to act in the interest of all shareholders, not just himself.

He is the only one of the four SAP co-founders still holding a position within the group.

“You have to be emotionless,” Mr Plattner said.

Asked about the widely speculated merger scenario involving IBM, Plattner said: “I do not want to invent rumours because there are no talks. However, I do not want to say that I dislike IBM so much that I could not imagine such a scenario at all.”

But he could not imagine talks with Oracle, SAP’s arch rival.

A takeover of SAP would be a stretch for most companies, given its market capitalisation of more than €50bn ($64bn) and the fact that it is in the middle of a period of immense organic growth.

Two years ago, observers were surprised when Microsoft approached SAP with a bid and worries of long-winded EU competition probes brought talks to an early end.

Mr Plattner said many European IT companies had been unable to compete with American rivals in the past because they were too nationally minded and had focused on small markets.

Bull in France and Olivetti in Italy were number ones in their domestic markets until being overrun by US groups.

“We would long have needed an ‘IT-Airbus’,” Plattner said in analogy with the construction of aircraft where Germany, France, Spain and the UK had bundled their forces to compete with Boeing.

Last week, SAP gave Henning Kagermann, its chief executive, an incentive to renew his contract as chief executive next year by flagging unprecedented bonuses for senior staff.

The supervisory board plans to pay out €300m to hundreds of employees if SAP’s share price doubles by 2010, with one-third of the sum reserved for the chief executive and the six other executive directors.

Mr Kagermann took over in the aftermath of the tech-bubble bursting and has led SAP to stellar sales and profit growth. He has yet to say whether he will renew a contract that ends in 2007.

A vital part of his success is melding technology and marketing expertise, throwing up the question of whether SAP would be able to find a replacement with a similar balancing influence on the executive board.

A decision could come as late as next spring, with Mr Kagermann’s deliberations coinciding with a debate in Germany on whether executives should sign three-year rather than five-year contracts.

Mr Plattner told shareholders at last week’s annual meeting the bonuses would help SAP realise “very ambitious” goals to double sales in the next five years.

The FT also reports that DIY enthusiasts and football fans helped high street sales rise by more than expected last month, reinforcing the view that the next move in interest rates may be up.

The Office for National Statistics said on Thursday that the volume of seasonally adjusted retail sales in April rose by 0.6 per cent against the previous month. Sales were 3 per cent higher than April last year.

News of the stronger than forecast numbers, which included an upward revision for March from growth of 0.7 per cent to 0.9 per cent, gave a boost to sterling and initially delivered a hit to government bonds.

The moves reflected traders’ belief that with consumption growth in line with its long-term trend and signs that industry is contributing a greater share of economic growth, the Bank of England may need to put on on the brakes.

The Bank’s monetary policy committee discussed at its May rate-setting meeting the possibility that consumption growth might be softer than forecast because of fears over a weak labour market, high energy prices and the effects of an increase in taxation. However, if current rates of growth persist, such fears may appear unduly pessimistic.

The ONS said that all sectors saw an improvement in sales, apart from food stores and non-store retailing. The strongest growth was seen in household goods, which rose by 3.3 per cent month-on-month.

The sector was lifted by a particularly strong performance in DIY outlets, doubtless aided by a buoyant housing market, and electrical goods stores, the latter enjoying strong sales of wide screen TVs. According to DSG International, the group formerly known as Dixons, much of the demand for the new wide screen TVs has come from football fans preparing their living rooms for next month’s World Cup.

However, while total retail sales were firm, there was further evidence that fierce competition on the High Street is making life hard for shop owners. The ONS said prices fell by 1.2 per cent in April compared with the same month a year ago. The figure for March was a decline of 1.1 per cent.

Commenting on the monetary policy implications of the data, Simon Hayes, UK economist at Barclays Capital, said: “This firm outturn will go some way to reassuring the MPC that household consumption has not been holed below the waterline by weak wage and employment growth and higher energy prices. As such, the rate increase that the committee has signalled is needed is likely to happen sooner rather than later.”

The New York Times as global manufacturers seek new places to plant their flags, India is seeing early stirrings of an industrial renaissance.

India has cultivated an image as a center for outsourcing, creating a new economy of call centers and software campuses that has lifted the relatively privileged. And even though workers here have for years stitched clothing and apparel, a widespread manufacturing base has been elusive, and factories have long been conspicuous for their relative absence here.

So the new murmurings of manufacturing could have a profound effect for a vast number of India's poor people, as well as for the international sourcing of goods from cars to bras.

For decades, manufacturing in India has been hobbled by antiquated labor laws, creaking infrastructure and paperwork. But for many of the three-quarters of Indians with less than a middle-school education, few factories has meant few jobs.

Across India, total exports — mostly manufactured goods — are rising at an annual clip of 26 percent, according to the Commerce Ministry. The manufacturing sector is growing at 9.4 percent annually, compared with 6 percent a year from 1991 to 2004, according to the Finance Ministry.

Special economic zones, the model that helped jump-start China's export-led industrialization, are now spreading here, providing tax holidays, less regulation and more control over infrastructure like water and power. At least 75 new zones are in the works, with more than a dozen already operating.

Here in Tamil Nadu State, where the changes are the fastest, global corporations are already taking advantage of this shift toward manufacturing. Victoria's Secret buys 6.5 million bras a year in this city, roughly one-tenth of its global total, from a factory run by Limited Brands, the parent company. Nokia recently erected a high-volume factory here that it says will produce more than 30 million phones a year and account for at least one-tenth of its global output.

Hyundai Motor, which produces cars in Tamil Nadu, has made India its global hub for the Santro hatchback; it plans to ship 100,000 India-made cars to 60 nations this year, and 300,000 within two years.

"Geographically, it's close to the market, and the second thing is the very highly educated people in India," said Heung Soo Lheem, chief of India operations for Hyundai, explaining why his company had invested in the country. Third, he said, the suppliers are there.

The industrial gold rush is being fueled by multinational companies like Bayerische Motoren Werke, General Motors and Intel, which are snapping up real estate in Tamil Nadu. Scores of little-known companies are also coming from places like South Korea and Italy.

"After China, the next great manufacturing story is India — and companies are buying it, because otherwise they wouldn't be buying property," said B. G. Menon, who has sold property to BMW and others as chief operating officer of Mahindra World City, a special economic zone outside Madras.

It is hard to say how many jobs the boom has spawned. But recent government statistics show that auto plants and associated industries alone employ more than 10 million people — exceeding the entire worker population of Indian factories in the 1990's.

India's emergence as a manufacturing hub comes as multinationals look for alternatives to China. A talent shortage is lifting wages there, and that could make Chinese goods costlier and help India compete against China's smooth and comprehensive infrastructure, an advantage that reduces its cost of production.

"Increasingly, what we're seeing is that multinational manufacturers have a lot more interest in India," said Ng Buck Seng, head of Asia research at Manufacturing Insights, a consultancy that advises foreign manufacturers.

Still, India is not the only country gunning for new factories. Southeast Asian nations, including Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, are also expected to see spurts in manufacturing. India lags those countries in infrastructure, but has one big advantage: a home market of more than a billion people.

Indian wages are also relatively low, beginning at about $2 a day for factory jobs. That compares with a minimum of $3.50 to $4.50 a day in Thailand, and $4 to $8 a day for some Chinese workers, who are beginning to command that wage level as labor shortages spread.

China is not in any immediate danger of falling behind. Its exports exceed India's by several multiples, and the gap keeps widening. In 2005, India's exports were worth about $8 billion a month, against China's $63 billion. Manufactured goods were the bulk of both countries' exports.

Experts say the two countries will occupy different positions in the vast market for offshore manufacturing. The usual first wave of low-cost manufacturing — the making of toys, electric kettles and television sets, among other wares — will remain out of India's reach because it is hard to run Indian factories on the large scale that China does. Official paperwork and regulation are still onerous here, and power still costs about twice as much.

But a vast middle segment of factory goods relies on a mixture of technical skill and low-cost labor, and here India can supplement China, experts say. Not toys, but cellphones. Not hangers, but bras. Not patio furniture, but car parts. Not synthetic shoes, but leather ones.

Consider the formula of Muhammad Yavar Dhala, chief of Forward Shoes in Madras. The factory made a million pairs of leather shoes last year for European brands like Clarks. In other words, for shoes under $60, leave it to China. Above $240, leave it to European cobblers. In the middle, give it to India.

Tamil Nadu leaders are credited with nudging the state to build infrastructure a few years before officials in the Indian mainstream caught on. The Madras seaport was recently privatized, trimming turnaround times, and electricity is now reliable. The government has focused on microchanges that can more easily avoid political problems while still lubricating trade, so they will approve special zones or allow companies to calculate their own customs.

One principal weak point of Indian factories is the workers, and their tendency to strike. Many multinationals still say they cannot produce here until there are major changes in the labor laws, which are highly restrictive.

Companies have now found ways to work around those laws, hiring and nurturing workers unlikely to join a union. Companies seek out villagers with scant opportunity or experience, often women. They build temples in their villages and invite their families for company prayers. And they coddle them to an extent perhaps unnecessary in less worker-friendly countries.

At the Victoria's Secret factory, 2,600 workers, mostly women, are picked up near their homes by 78 company buses so they do not have to live in dormitories or commute by foot and bus. There are other perks: a day care center, a morning energy drink, an air-conditioned factory floor and meals tasty enough that the factory boss eats them, too. Workers are sold bras at a discount.

Within the special zones, foreign managers say that whatever used to hold back producers is gone. "I don't know why people say it was impossible earlier," said Jukka Lehtela, the Finnish operations manager at Nokia, which operates its own special zone. "I can prove that they are wrong."