A round-up of other stories in brief

Science body invests €122m in research

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) invested a record €122 million in 2005, the organisation said yesterday.

The money was used to fund "world-class scientific and engineering research in third-level academic institutions" in Ireland.

Funding has been increasing steadily since the foundation's establishment in 2001 and a total of €520 million is now committed to more than 780 projects.

The director general of SFI, Dr William Harris, said the organisation had achieved much in the short period since it was established. "We aim to create a robust and sustainable research community in Ireland capable of competing with the best in the world and the recent assessment report indicates that we have set out in the right direction."

Small businesses upbeat about 2006

Small businesses are upbeat about the outlook for 2006 following a positive year for employment and investment in the sector, the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises association (Isme) said yesterday.

According to a survey by Isme, around 28 per cent of companies are more confident about business prospects than they were in the previous 12 months.

However, Isme warned that high costs have undermined the Republic's competitiveness, estimating that the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector experienced a 30 per cent increase in production costs over the last three years.

Isme said increases in Government-controlled costs such as waste, energy and local charges were having a noticeable impact on small businesses and that it was imperative that it took action to control those costs.

US Hilton group to buy UK arm

Hilton Hotels of the United States has agreed to buy the hotels of its British namesake for £3.3 billion (€4.8 billion) in an expected deal that leaves the UK group with its gambling business Ladbrokes.

In mid-October, Britain's Hilton Group Plc announced it had received an offer from the US Hilton, which sources close to the deal said at the time valued the UK company's hotels at £3.6 billion, although the UK group then sold around £400 million of hotel assets.

The deal will reunite the Hilton brand after more than 40 years.

The Hilton business split in 1964 with the US company running all Hilton hotels in the US and the UK group operating the brand elsewhere around the world. - (Reuters)