WHILE others have blown millions trying to flog broadband to Irish consumers, BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster in which News International, owner of The Sunday Times, has a 35.3% stake, has bided its time, waiting for the right opportunity to strike.

With nearly 450,000 digital TV subscribers here, Sky has a strong customer base from which to cross-sell broadband or other telecoms services.

It compares well with the 600,000 homes to which Smart Telecom can potentially sell its broadband and fixed-line services. As yet, only about 50,000 homes have taken up Smart’s telephone offering and another 17,100 the broadband.

On the face of it, they would seem like uneasy bedfellows. But maybe not. Sky sees broadband as a logical extension of its business here, but it is only likely to offer a high-speed internet service if it can exercise total control over its customers. Which is where Smart might come into the equation.

Smart has unbundled 39 telephone exchanges, meaning it no longer relies on Eircom to manage the so-called last mile between the exchanges and homes. It is one of only a handful of companies other than Eircom to exercise such control. With Smart exchanges and Sky’s branding and sales expertise, the pair could make a good team.

Sweet success for Greencore

As if the wounds of sugar beet growers weren’t already raw enough, Greencore rubbed some salt in them last week by informing the stock market that Irish Sugar had traded ahead of expectations since its decision to close the business on March 15.

As a result, the company said its ingredients and agribusiness would deliver profits in excess of the €25.1m forecast by analysts.

The news was delivered around the same time as the growers, who have lost lucrative livelihoods, were hurling insults at the agriculture minister, Mary Coughlan, at the ploughing fest in Co Carlow last week for her handling of the sugar company’s closure.

David Dilger, Greencore’s chief executive, has always had an uneasy relationship with his farmer shareholders and the cynics might question the timing of his company’s trading update. A change in the EU sugar regime put the kibosh on the Irish operation and it is now just a matter of sorting out who gets what from the €145m restructuring fund allocated by Brussels.

Greencore’s results also showed up the less healthy performance of its malt division, which took a hit of €4m in rising energy costs.

About two years ago, Greencore hired Goodbody Corporate Finance to test the market for buyers of its malt arm. It got a lukewarm reaction.

With sugar gone, and Greencore’s focus now on growing its ready-meals and sandwich business, and sweating its property assets, it might not be too long before Dilger decides the time is ripe to once again seek a buyer for its underperforming malt division.