A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Island Oil starts drilling at Inishbeg
Island Oil & Gas, the Dublin-headquartered exploration company, announced yesterday that drilling has commenced at the Inishbeg Prospect in the Donegal Basin, in which it holds a 31 per cent stake.
The well being drilled is the third in the company's 2006/2007 drilling programme, which has already resulted in two gas discoveries in the Celtic Sea.
Results from the latest well are expected to provide valuable information on the Donegal Basin region, which is largely unexplored.
Kuoni profits beat expectations
Swiss travel group Kuoni said first-half net profit was 8.1 million Swiss francs (€5.1 million), beating analysts' expectations and boosted by strong operating performances in all business units. The group, whose chairman resigned on Monday after a strategic disagreement with management, said booking levels had risen 10 per cent on August 13th, boosted by double-digit increases in India, Switzerland and Scandinavia.
Kuoni was hit in early 2005 by a dearth of bookings to Asia following the December 2004 tsunami, making the year-on-year comparison easier. - (Reuters)
Canada Life investing up 40%
Canada Life's single premium investment business grew by 40 per cent in the first six months of the year, the company said yesterday.
Eunan O'Carroll, director of sales and marketing, said the trend was evidence of continued consumer confidence in spite of interest rate and inflationary pressures.
"It is interesting to note since the end of June the move from property to more diversified portfolios." He also said it had seen more than €20 million invested in its recently launched active guaranteed bond.
Tullow well could be 'commercial'
The latest exploration results from Tullow Oil's well tests in Uganda have confirmed that the Dublin-based exploration firm's Mputa-1 well is capable of producing oil at "potentially commercial rates". Tullow's finance director Tom Hickey said the oil flow rate justified the development of the well, and said the oil could be sold on the local Ugandan market. However, further drilling will be necessary to determine the full potential of the area and to establish whether it is worth installing a pipeline.
Afternoon editions for Scottish paper
UK publisher Trinity Mirror said its Scottish Daily Record planned to launch two afternoon editions in Edinburgh and Glasgow, as part of a resurgence in the British afternoon newspaper market. The papers will go on sale at 3pm each afternoon, with a staff of about 20 journalists. The cover price has yet to be disclosed. - (Reuters)
House of Fraser bid confirmed
A consortium led by Icelandic investment firm Baugur has confirmed it is in advanced discussions to buy British department store retailer House of Fraser for about €351.5 million.
Baugur said it was "in advanced discussions with the board of House of Fraser with a view to making a cash offer . . . at 148p per share".
There was no certainty a deal would be forthcoming, it added. It said it was leading a consortium that includes Scotland's richest man Tom Hunter, retail entrepreneur Kevin Stanford, Don McCarthy, Icelandic investment company FL Group, and Bank of Scotland.
