A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

Goodbody is top-performing Irish broker

Goodbody Stockbrokers has been rated as the top-performing Irish broker for its recommendations on mid-cap stocks by AQ Research, an independent research analysis firm.

In an annual review of broker recommendations, Goodbody topped the Irish category, followed by NCB Stockbrokers and Dolmen.

AQ noted Goodbody benefited from being the only house analysed to cover Dragon Oil, on which it made two good calls.

The top analyst was Liam Igoe of Goodbody Stockbrokers for his coverage of DCC and Greencore. He was followed by Paul Meade of NCB Stockbrokers.

AQ Research noted that UK brokers made an impact.

Numis Securities was the top-rated firm for recommendations on United Drug and emissions firm Agcert. AQ said Dolmen Securities, which focuses more on retail clients, did well with a mixture of "buy" and "hold" calls on Greencore and DCC.

Merrion Capital did not feature as it adopted an absolute rather than an index-relative approach to recommendations only in May. Davy was not included because it did not issue "buy" or "sell" recommendations as part of its research.

Stamp duty as 'contraception'

Stamp duty could be described as the most effective form of contraception in Ireland, as having larger families prompts homeowners to investigate trading up the property ladder, according to IFG Mortgages.

Typical city dwellers need to pay nearly €30,000 in taxes if they decide to trade up from a one-bedroom apartment to a family-sized property, according to Shane Connole, head of sales at IFG Mortgages. "We welcomed the first-time buyers stamp duty reduction in 2004, but we now believe that the Minister for Finance should extend more reasonable terms to all house purchasers," he said.

Sisters challenge UK inheritance law

Two elderly sisters who have lived together all their lives are challenging inheritance laws in the UK that deny them the same rights as married or same-sex couples.

Joyce and Sybil Burden, aged 88 and 80, fear that when one of them dies, the other will have to sell their jointly owned home to pay the 40 per cent inheritance tax. They are seeking a European Court ruling that their exposure to the tax breaches their human rights.

German property fund launched

BDO Simpson Xavier Real Estate has opened a €300 million German commercial property fund in partnership with Tyburn Lane Private Equity.

The fund has a target return rate of more than 15 per cent a year after charges and before tax.

The minimum equity investment is €200,000.