A round-up to today's other stories in brief
Island Oil & Gas position 'excellent'
Exploration and production company Island Oil & Gas told shareholders at its first annual general meeting that the company is in an "excellent position" to enhance their returns this year.
Island generated gas revenue of £700,000 (€1 million) for the seven months through yesterday, exceeding the £480,000 it posted for the previous 10 months.
Island became a gas production company after buying a 12.5 per cent stake in the Seven Heads Petroleum lease last year.
The company is preparing to drill wells at Seven Heads, the Old Head of Kinsale, and the Inishbeg prospect in its Donegal Basin Frontier exploration licence.
Calyx to buy IT security specialist
Calyx, Ireland's biggest single-source provider of ICT network solutions, agreed to buy a Dublin-based IT security specialist for €4.95 million in cash and stock in its largest-ever acquisition.
Calyx, located in Cork, is acquiring Entropy Ltd as UK and Irish companies increasingly adopt a zero tolerance approach to the security and integration of their IT networks and infrastructures, which has created a growing market for firms such as Entropy.
Entropy has partnerships with security providers including Microsoft and Websense, and Waterford Crystal and Grafton Group are among its customers.
Its revenue amounted to €6.25 million last year.
Babcock & Brown lifts Eircom stake
Babcock & Brown Capital confirmed yesterday that it had acquired 21.6 per cent of Eircom, thus lifting its holding above the 21.5 per cent held by the worker-controlled Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT).
It is thought the Australian investment fund has further increased its position since making the declaration.
Exploration firms to merge
Moydow Mines International, which is run by a number of Irish executives, is to merge with another exploration company Diamond International.
Diamond Fields principal assets consists of its Namibian diamond mining project. As a condition of the deal Moydow is required to complete a private placement which should raise $1.8 million (€1.5 million).
A number of Irish businessmen are involved in Moydown. Noel P Kiernan is chairman. He is a geologist with 40 years experience in the mining and petroleum industries, including 16 years in West Africa; he was formerly managing director of Teberebie Goldfields, and a founder and former managing director of Glencar Mining plc.
African Diamonds selects Westwind
Exploration company African Diamonds has appointed Westwind Partners (UK) as its joint broker. Westwind is an independent international investment bank owned by its partners.
Gas Natural data goes unnoticed
Gas Natural issued strong figures yesterday, but they went unnoticed as everyone waited for its next move in Spain's drawn-out utility merger saga.
The Spanish gas supplier is expected to hold a board meeting next week to review its bid for Endesa, Spain's biggest electricity group, amid reports it will try to match a rival €29 billion offer announced last week by Eon.
Gas Natural's cash-and-shares offer for Endesa, worth €€23 billion at current prices, was immediately overtaken by a revaluation of Endesa's shares. These shot up again after Eon's bid and Endesa is now valued at €€29.5 billion. - (Financial Times service)
