A round-up of today’s other stories in brief

High Court extends airline’s protection

The High Court has extended court protection for Aer Arann to Friday when it will be asked to approve survival plans for the airline.

Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan was told yesterday a majority of the airline’s creditor classes had met and approved the scheme of arrangement put forward by examiner Michael McAteer, of accountancy firm Grant Thornton.

GNP forecast to fall by 1.5% this year

GNP is forecast to fall by 1.5 per cent this year, while GDP will be almost flat, according to a revised forecast by Davy Research.

The rate of economic decline had slowed but growth prospects for the economy “remain subdued”, it said.

Davy economists predict GNP will decline by 1.5 per cent in volume terms in 2010 and will regain 1.2 per cent next year. GDP will be almost flat in 2010, at 0.3 per cent growth. However, next year, GDP volume growth of 1.9 per cent is expected.

Davy expects exports will be the only positive contributor to growth in the near future.

AIB gets Truvo stake in US bankruptcy restructuring plan

Truvo, a publisher of telephone directories in Europe, has won US bankruptcy court approval for a restructuring plan that hands ownership of the company to senior lenders, including AIB. US bankruptcy judge Arthur Gonzalez in Manhattan approved Truvo’s plan at a court hearing yesterday. Under the plan, senior lenders will own “substantially all” of the equity of the Truvo Group, the company said in a statement. The lenders will receive a recovery of between 66.6 per cent and 85.8 per cent on their claims, according to court papers. - (Bloomberg)