Other stories in brief:
Aer Lingus adds six new Europe routes
Aer Lingus has introduced six new European routes to its winter schedule and 25 new flights a week from Dublin and Cork on existing routes.
From the end of October, new services from Dublin to Helsinki, Bucharest, Agadir and Funchal (Madeira) will come into operation, in addition to the recommencement of services from Dublin to Copenhagen and Cork to Munich.
Services starting this summer from Dublin to Vilnius and Cork to Manchester have been extended to the winter schedule. Additional capacity will also be added on 14 existing European routes.
Sub-prime home lender opens
The Republic's sub-prime mortgage market saw another new entrant yesterday, as a joint venture between IIB Homeloans and Lehman Brothers called Stepstone Mortgages was officially launched.
IIB Homeloans will sell and process the Stepstone mortgage products, which were developed by Lehman Brothers, through intermediaries. The loans are aimed at borrowers with poor credit histories and self-employed people with irregular earnings. The market is estimated to be worth €1 billion in the Republic.
Exploration firm to raise €18m
Island Oil & Gas, which started drilling its first appraisal at the Old Head of Kinsale in the Celtic Sea at the end of last month, plans to raise at least £12.5 million (€18 million) through a share placing to fund further drilling.
The company also said it is in talks with RMB Resources about refinancing its existing short-term loan facility. Island needs these funds to continue drilling off the Celtic Sea.
African diamond project 'on track'
Aim-listed exploration group African Diamonds said yesterday its AK6 project in Botswana is moving forward rapidly and is on track to start production in 2009. Initial estimates are for 3.2 million tonnes a year.
Sales software firm earns €120m
Salesforce.com, which provides sales and marketing software over the web, had revenues of $162.4 million (€120.4 million) for the first quarter to the end of April. Salesforce.com has its European corporate sales headquarters in Dublin.
