A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
New gas find for Island Oil
Exploration group Island Oil & Gas has found gas at its 49/23-2 well at the Old Head of Kinsale site in the Celtic Sea, not far from the 23-1 well where it encountered gas last year.
In a statement to the stock exchange yesterday, the company said this confirmed the presence of a 30-metre (100-ft) gas column at the Old Head field. Island will now drill a sidetrack hole from the existing well, aimed at maximising the potential gas deliverability to ensure that any future gas production from the field can be achieved at the highest possible rates.
Analysts welcomed the discovery, saying it was good news for shareholders and underpinned the group's Celtic Sea gas strategy.
Motorola to shed 4,000 jobs
Mobile-phone maker Motorola plans to shed an additional 4,000 jobs this year, bringing the cuts for 2007 to more than 11 per cent of its workforce, as it seeks to return to profitability.
Motorola had already planned to cut 3,500 jobs by June 30th, including the closure of its software development facility in Cork, which employed 330 staff.
Motorola is budgeting for restructuring charges of about $300 million (€223 million) for the additional layoffs.
The firm has been losing market share to rivals such as Nokia due to a lack of advanced phones and price competition.
Waterford posts documentation
Waterford Wedgwood said yesterday that documentation in connection with the open offer and possible placing of preference shares announced by the company on April 5th is being posted to qualifying shareholders today.
Productivity at Toyota slips
Toyota has suffered a rare humiliation at the hands of rival General Motors (GM) in an authoritative survey of productivity at carmakers' North American plants.
According to the annual Harbour Report, Toyota's assembly, engine, transmission and stamping plants remain the most productive among the six big carmakers, measured by hours of labour required for each vehicle. However, productivity slipped by 1.8 per cent last year to 29.93 hours per vehicle built, while GM's rose 2.5 per cent to 32.36 hours. - (Financial Times service)
WestLB trade losses at €240m
WestLB's losses from botched trades by its equity proprietary trading desk have exceeded €240 million and could rise further, the German bank said yesterday.
The figure exceeds previous estimates, and the bank warned that losses could increase as it pulled out of current positions in the market.
WestLB's equity prop desk, which invests the bank's own money, incurred the losses this year after speculating in shares of carmakers Volkswagen and BMW, and retailer Metro, according to market sources.
The German financial regulator, Bafin, is investigating the trades, which the bank blames on rogue traders at the desk. - (Financial Times service)
6.7% sales jump for DIY group
The unseasonably warm Easter weather across Europe helped DIY group Kingfisher report a 6.7 per cent jump in like-for-like first-quarter sales.
Consumers rushed to buy outdoor goods and gardening equipment, particularly in the UK, France and Poland. As a result, retail profit climbed 29.5 per cent to £88.6 million (€130.4 million), in line with market estimates. "The year has started well," said chief executive Gerry Murphy.
But he added: "We remain cautious on the UK market, with demand for bigger home improvement projects likely to be sensitive to interest rates." - (Financial Times service)
