A round-up of today's other stories in brief
TV3 faces ratings setback
TV3 has fallen into third position among the Republic's main television stations, according to new figures from AGB Nielsen. RTÉ 1 and RTÉ 2 are now in the top two positions.
RTÉ 2 had a 12.9 per cent viewing share among individuals, compared with 12.4 per cent for TV3. The figures for 2006 were released yesterday by the Dublin advertising agency Initiative. They will come as a disappointment to TV3's owners, private equity group Doughty Hanson. RTÉ 1 had a 26 per cent share of viewing figures.
Ormonde tungsten project disappoints
Shares in exploration group Ormonde Mining fell almost 13 per cent yesterday after the company said it was unlikely that it would recover sufficient tungsten at its Salamanca project in western Spain to be economically recovered into a saleable concentrate.
In a statement, the company said while these latest results were disappointing, it hadn't spent a lot of money on the project to date. It also said it would continue to look at other nearby areas where "hard rock" tungsten mineralisation had been discovered in recent results.
The shares closed down 3 cent, at 17 cent.
€6.5m pre-tax profit for Enterasys
Shannon-based e-commerce firm Enterasys Networks recorded a pre-tax profit of €6.5 million in 2005, according to accounts recently returned to the Companies Office, writes Gordon Deegan.
Located in the Shannon Free Zone, the US-owned multinational employs 42 people and the principal activity of the company is the distribution of local area network and enterprise network systems. The accounts show the firm enjoyed a gross profit of $72 million (€55 million), operating expenses of $66 million, and an operating profit of $6.5 million.
Conroy pleased with gold results
Conroy Diamonds said yesterday it was pleased with the initial estimates for its Clontibret gold deposit on Co Monaghan.
Its chairman, Prof Richard Conroy, said the results, which cover just a small area of the prospect, were encouraging and if they were to continue outside of that area, would suggest a much larger deposit than anticipated.
Alcatel-Lucent warns on profits
Alcatel-Lucent, the Franco-American telecommunications equipment group, yesterday said the complexities of its recent merger had hurt profits, driving its shares sharply lower. The stock was the worst performer among France's blue chips.
The warning is the first significant act of the group since the French and US companies merged.
The group expects to do little more than break even for the fourth quarter of 2006, against 2005's $742 million (€570 million) operating profit, while full-year earnings would be down from €1.41 billion to €1.04 billion. The shares fell 8.5 per cent to 10.02.
Macao outstrips Las Vegas
Gross gaming revenues in Macao increased more than 22 per cent last year to $7.16 billion, as the tiny Chinese special administrative region extended its recently acquired lead over the Las Vegas Strip. Macao, with a population of just 500,000 and 24 casinos, first pipped the Las Vegas Strip in October, when it realised gaming revenues of $5.51 billion for the first 10 months of the year, compared to $5.44 billion in downtown Las Vegas.
