A roundup of today's other stories in brief.
ICI's fragrance business sells for £1.2bn
Shares in ICI closed at their highest level since March 2001 after Switzerland's Givaudan agreed to buy Quest, its flavours and fragrance business, for £1.2 billion (€1.78 billion) in a deal that will leave the UK group debt free.
ICI closed up 9.3 per cent at 423p as investors warmed to a sale price that was about £300 million higher than analysts had valued Quest. The move increased ICI's market value by £428 million to £5 billion.
Givaudan shares closed up 4.1 per cent at 1,072 Swiss francs, in spite of the prospect of a SFr1 billion (€630 million) equity placing to fund the purchase. The company said the acquisition would make it the global market leader in fine fragrances and generate annual synergies of SFr150 million after three years. - (Financial Times service)
Honorary degree for NDFA chief
Anne Counihan, chief executive of the National Development Finance Agency, has had an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree conferred on her by Dublin Institute of Technology.
Ms Counihan, who is a director of the National Treasury Management Agency, was honoured by DIT for "outstanding service to business, industry and the professions".
A native of Dublin, she is a graduate of UCD and a solicitor by profession. She is president of the Corporate and Public Lawyers Association. She is member of the board of the Irish Aviation Authority and the Irish Prisons Authority and is a member of the women's committee of the Harvard Business School advanced management programme.
Deloitte's Fast 50 winner unveiled
Xsil, a Dublin-based maker of laser micro-machining systems for the semiconductor industry, last night won the top prize in the annual Deloitte Technology Fast 50 awards for the second time in four years.
The company, which also topped the Fast 50 in 2003, has increased revenue by 17,333 per cent in the past five years.
Xsil's customers include almost all of the world's high-volume manufacturers of semiconductors.
It has become a world leader in laser micro-machining techniques in just six years of business. It has offices in the US, Japan and Taiwan.
Parmalat lifts settlement hopes
Parmalat yesterday raised hopes for a settlement of its $10 billion (€7.7 billion) damages claims against former auditors and bankers, reporting that a judge in New York had ordered the groups involved to try to reach a deal out of court. Shares in the Italian dairy company were up 3.7 per cent at €3.01 towards the close of trading in Milan as investors assessed the chances of money being recovered.
Parmalat collapsed under the weight of massive fraud in 2003.
It was reborn under new management last year and has been pursuing auditors and banks for damages, alleging they helped prolong wrongdoing as they knew or should have known about problems. - (Financial Times service)
