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

Mining firm nets £600,000 in share sale

Ovoca Gold, a precious metals developer that is listed in London and Dublin, raised £600,000 (€887,115) before expenses by selling shares to new and existing investors.

The company, which has assets in Russia, Sweden and Ireland, placed 8.8 million shares on Wednesday. It plans to use the proceeds to finance a new project evaluation as well as current project work.

C&C directors acquire shares

C&C Group, the distiller of Tullamore Dew and maker of Tayto crisps, said directors, including chairman Tony O'Brien, acquired shares at a scrip price of €5.05 apiece. As a result of the scrip dividend, the number of C&C shares outstanding is 325.2 million.

EasyJet passenger numbers up 8.3%

Passenger numbers at low-cost carrier EasyJet rose by 8.3 per cent in November, but the airline said that its planes were less full.

The airline said that 2.3 million people flew on its planes during November, but it added that its load factor, which shows how full its planes are, fell to 80.2 per cent last month from 81.2 per cent the same time last year.

Revenues for the month increased 21.2 per cent to £1.37 billion (€2 billion).

Minmet operations officer steps down

Mining and exploration company Minmet said yesterday that David Hall, group operations officer, had stepped down from his position to pursue increased commitments at Minmet associate companies GoldQuest Mining Corp and Horizonte Minerals.

Minmet also named John Liwosz as a non-executive director of the company. Mr Liwosz is managing director of Felix Corporation and operations director of its parent, Felix Group.

Radio licence for Newry advertised

The British radio regulator Ofcom has advertised a new FM commercial radio licence covering the city of Newry and surrounding areas.

Ofcom estimates this licence could reach an adult population of about 66,000.

The exact coverage will be determined by the location of the transmission site and other specifications.

The closing date for applications is March 8th, 2006. A non-refundable fee of £5,000 (€7,380) will be payable for each application submitted, Ofcom said.

Microsoft to create 3,000 jobs in India

Microsoft's workforce will expand more rapidly in India than in any other country in the world over the next three to four years, according to Bill Gates, the software maker's chairman, despite a growing shortage of managerial level talent.

The company will hire 3,000 people in India over this period, taking its headcount there to 7,000, in a move that reflects the country's "accelerating" productivity in IT, Mr Gates said.

"India is the absolute leader in IT services offered on the world market," he added. - (Financial Times service)

European banks 'exposed to clients'

Large European banks are reluctant to reduce their loan exposure to corporate clients, despite the increasing trend towards diversification of balance sheet risks, according to Standard & Poor's.

Research by the credit rating agency shows Europe's banks still have substantial exposures to their largest corporate clients compared with banks in the US and Australia. - (Financial Times service)