For the past seven years, Digicel, the Caribbean mobile phone operator controlled by the businessman Denis O’Brien, has been battling a US rival who it alleges defrauded it out of millions of dollars on international calls.

Digicel’s Haitian subsidiary issued a court action against Oregon-based UPM Technologies back in 20015. Prior to issuing the case, Digicel had sought the help of the Haitian police over the issue.

UPM subsequently counter-sued, and the legal battle has been working its way through the US courts ever since. The dispute centred on an allegation by Digicel that UPM perpetrated so-called “bypass fraud”. This is where one telecommunications company uses technology to override the protocols of another company’s network, thereby allowing it to get calls on the cheap.

The case came before a federal jury in Portland, Oregon in recent weeks, with the jury siding with Digicel. Jurors awarded Digicel Haiti $5.4 million in compensatory damages and $3.6 million in punitive damages against the Oregon company, plus $700,000 in punitive damages against UPM CEO Duy Bruce Tran.

Local newspaper The Oregonian reported that court testimony showed that UPM bought or obtained Digicel Haiti SIM cards from third parties in Haiti and then sent the cards to UPM in Oregon.

What Amwell saw in SilverCloud

Last July Amwell, a publicly listed US telehealth company, acquired Irish digital healthcare firm SilverCloud for an estimated $250 million. The deal cemented a big payday for its backers, and its founders, including CEO Ken Cahill.

New accounts show how the company is performing. For the nine-month period to the end of 2020, the company generated revenue of €3.6 million and posted a pre-tax loss of €965,000. Last year, revenues increased to €9 million while pre-tax losses widened to €3.3 million.

The losses were expected as the company was expanding internationally at the time and investing in product development. At the end of the year, it had cash in the bank totalling €6.6 million and positive equity of €11.3 million. Cahill established the business in 2012 and it raised funds from B Capital, ACT Venture Capital, Investec Ventures, the NDRC, and Enterprise Ireland. Much of its growth has come from the US, which was an attraction for Amwell.

Newship’s big R&D spend

The Irish social media analytics firm Newswhip has raised more than $9 million from investors and counts Walmart, IBM, the Washington Post, and Microsoft among its clients.

The company was founded in 2011 by Andrew Mullaney and Paul Quigley, and its main business is in tracking the spread of news stories and narratives across the web and social networks.

It is a fast-growing market and one the company is keen to expand in. As the directors put it in its latest set of financial accounts:

“As environment has created an increased demand for understanding and predicting the news cycle in real time, so organisations can understand the reputation threats and opportunities presented by the online world each day. The Group aims to become the globally trusted source of that real time understanding and prediction. As such, it increased investment in the research and development of its technologies and services in 2021 and positioned itself as a long term strategic partner for its customers. This approach led to strong revenue growth, and the company is aiming to accelerate this growth in 2022 and beyond.”

Those accounts show that the company is investing heavily in research and development. In 2020, it spent €1.2 million on R&D, and this was followed up by a figure of €1.4 million last year.

Revenues increased from €6.3 million in 2020 to €7 million last year., while pre-tax losses increased from €58,000 to 1 million. The company employed 55 staff last year.

Insurance profits

One of the big business stories over the past four years has been the consolidation of the insurance sector. One of the consolidators is PIB, a UK insurance broker that has built itself up through acquisitions. Funded by the private equity giant Carlyle, it has made 35 acquisitions since 2015. In 2019 it bought the Meath-based Optis Insurances and followed it up with the acquisition of Enniscorthy-based broker Creane & Creane.

Optis has just filed accounts showing strong growth in both revenues and profits. Turnover increased from €3.8 million in 2020 to €10.3 million last year. Pre-tax profits swelled from €2.5 million to €5.4 million over the same period. The company had retained profits of €9.3 million at the end of the year.

SSE in court action

In 2019, SSE Renewables said that it expected to develop a 29-turbine wind energy farm in Offaly after acquiring the ‘shovel-ready’ development from Green Wind Energy Wexford.

The shareholders in Green Wind Energy Wexford Ltd were Smart Wave Ltd, Don Curtin, Niamh Curtin, Alison Curtin, Donal Curtin, Margaret O’Rourke, Paraic O’Rourke, Alan O’Rourke, and Emma Glennon.

Last week, Smart Wave, along with the other named shareholders, issued a High Court action against SSE Renewables Holdings. The plaintiffs are represented by Eversheds Sutherland. The matter is expected to come before the Commercial division of the High Court on Monday, where SSE is expected to set out its position.