Today's other stories in brief
Icon surges 8% on bonus issue plans
Shares in clinical research, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Icon surged by nearly 8 per cent to €47.50 yesterday following the company's announcement of plans to double its capital through a bonus share issue.
If the move is ratified by shareholders, the company will issue one new ordinary share for each ordinary share held by shareholders. Icon said that the bonus share issue would increase the liquidity and marketability of the stock.
Bank chiefs in market for shares
Bank of Ireland chief financial officer John O'Donovan spent €67,500 buying 10,000 shares at €6.75 each on Monday.
AIB non-executive director Stephen Kingon, chairman of Invest Northern Ireland, spent €50,940 buying 4,500 shares at €11.32 each on Tuesday.
Northern Rock may take legal action
Northern Rock confirmed yesterday that its new bosses have launched an investigation into whether legal action can be taken against the now nationalised bank's former board.
Executive chairman Ron Sandler has instructed the bank's lawyers, Freshfields, to review the previous board's conduct during its time presiding over Northern Rock and its near-collapse last autumn. - (PA)
Equity groups in fundraising fall-off
Fundraising by European private equity groups fell by almost a third last year, indicating that investors pulled back sharply from the buyout market for the first time in five years, according to a report published today.
Private equity groups raised €79 billion ($122 billion) in Europe last year - (Financial Times service)
Slowdown in sales at Sainsbury
J Sainsbury, the third-largest UK supermarket chain, reported slower first-quarter sales growth as higher living expenses cut into spending on food and clothes.
Sales gained 3.4 per cent, excluding petrol, at stores open at least a year in the three months ended June 14th, the London-based company said yesterday. - (Bloomberg)
Sanofi-Aventis to bid for Zentiva
French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis plans to make a 40.04 billion crown (€1.7 billion) offer for Czech drugmaker Zentiva, trumping a bid from financial group PPF.
The move would take Sanofi deeper into the field of generic drug production, an area which has traditionally been shunned by large pharmaceutical companies. - (Reuters)
Pfizer settles case with Ranbax
Pfizer, the US-based pharmaceutical company, yesterday agreed a deal with Ranbaxy of India that ends the uncertainty over the patent expiry of Lipitor, the world's top-selling medicine.
Ranbaxy has settled most of its worldwide litigation with Pfizer. - (Financial Times service)
Gazprom's €$64m European exports
Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom expects to generate a record $64 billion on export sales to Europe in 2008, some 62 per cent more than in 2007, as energy prices beat new records, the company said yesterday.
In 2007, Gazproms export sales stood at $39.5 billion. Gazprom, the worlds largest gas producer, supplies a quarter of Europe's gas needs. The firm said it saw its average gas export prices at around $401 per 1,000 cubic metres this year.
