Other stories in brief

Dragon Oil appoints Merrill

Explorer Dragon Oil has appointed Merrill Lynch International as its corporate broker. The company said yesterday that the multi-national will work alongside its existing broker, Davy. Dragon also launched a new website yesterday.

Amarin reports net loss of $8.2m  in first quarter of 2008

Pharmaceutical company Amarin reported a net loss of $8.2 million (€5.23 million) in the first quarter of 2008, down €0.6 million on the same period last year.

The company said that the decrease in net loss for the quarter is primarily due to reduced research and development expenditure.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2008, Amarin's operating loss was $7.8 million, compared with an operating loss of $9.7 million for the same period in 2007.

That was primarily due to a reduction in research and development expenditure with the completion of the company's third phase trials for AMR101 in Huntington's disease.

Pension call by Women's Council

The National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) has called for a universal pension to guarantee a decent standard living for all.

In a report Pensions: What women want: a model of pensions that guarantees independence the NWCI said the current pension system discriminated against women because it is closely linked to wages earned from employment.

It said that this discriminated against women because: women earn less than men; women work fewer hours than men; and women will leave employment to a greater extent than men due to caring for children and family members.

US insurer to raise $20bn

American International Group will raise a total of $20 billion, 60 percent more than the New York- based insurer originally said it needed to protect against further writedowns. - Bloomberg