Indy Guerrillas in the Irish Mist

Denis O'Brien, the 'dissident shareholder' who wants to take over Tony O'Reilly's Independent News and Media group, obviously thinks he can run it much better. Pause and scratch head. Better than operating profits up 6 per cent in 2007? Better than margins boosted to 21.9 per cent? Better than ad revenues growing at 5.4 per cent? Better than online cash jumping 108 per cent?

Nobody peering bemusedly into this Irish mist, hearing the O'Briens snarl and the O'Reillys snarl back, can quite tell you what it's all about. O'Montague! O'Capulet! INM's results show a clean pair of heels to most comparable rivals. Would they have been better if Sir Anthony had ditched the two London Indys, as Dissident Den prescribes? Maybe, by a few million euros (out of €349m). But what gives O'Reilly his worldwide salience and clout? Not packing up when it begins to drizzle in London and diving for Dublin cover.

The £14.6m O'Reilly has just spent on building his personal stake in the company may be part of some frenetic struggle between hostile families: but it is also, and significantly, pretty reasonable business, too.