A round-up of today's other business news in brief ...
Helsinn to invest 13m in Dublin plant
Swiss pharmaceuticals firm Helsinn has announced a €13 million investment in its plant in Mulhuddart, Dublin.
The privately-held firm, which specialises in oncology, anti-inflammatory and gastrointestinal therapies, will create a centre of excellence in research and development for oral solid dosage at its Helsinn Birex Pharmaceuticals business.
The investment, supported by IDA Ireland, is expected to lead to the creation of 10 research jobs at the company, which employs 210 people in four businesses in Dublin.
EBS planning to sell euro bonds
EBS Building Society plans to sell bonds in euro, according to a banker involved in the sale.
Citigroup, DZ Bank AG, JP Morgan Chase Co and UBS AG are managing the issue for the Dublin-based company. – (Bloomberg)
Security a big issue for savers
More than half of Irish savers are considering security when choosing where to save their money, a new survey has found.
The Postbank quarterly savings index found 54 per cent of savers rate security as their prime consideration, compared to 11 per cent in December last year. Easy access and higher interest rates came second and third.
People are also less confident about the security of their savings, with 11 per cent of respondents in March saying they were not confident at all, compared to 8 per cent in December.
Law firm seeks up to 20 redundancies
Arthur Cox Solicitors is offering a voluntary redundancy package for up to 20 secretarial and support staff in its Dublin office.
The package is not offered to solicitors although about 20 have left the firm in recent months. Staff numbers will fall to about 510 once this redundancy process is complete.
Rise in British house prices
British house prices rose for the first time since October 2007 in March, the Nationwide Building Society said yesterday, but the lender cautioned against jumping to conclusions about a rebound.
Nationwide said house prices rose 0.9 per cent on the month in March after a 1.9 per cent drop in February, taking the average price of a house up to £150,946 (€164,884). – (Reuters)
Swiss Re to reduce workforce by 10%
Swiss Re, the world’s second-larger reinsurer, plans to cut 10 per cent of its workforce over the next 12 months in a bid to cut costs by 400 million Swiss francs (€262 million) by 2010.
The firm also said it would promote Agostino Galvagni to the position of chief operating officer. – (Reuters)
Aviva to cut 1,100 jobs in Britain
Insurer Aviva is to cut 1,100 jobs in Britain, the company said yesterday.
A spokesman for its Irish subsidiary, Hibernian Aviva, said there would be no losses in Ireland. Hibernian Aviva employs 2,200 staff in Dublin, Cork and Galway and is outsourcing 450 jobs to India by the end of 2010.
Norwich Union Life, also owned by Aviva, confirmed plans to cut 1,100 permanent jobs by the end of the year, while a further 590 contract positions would end in the next few months.
Airbus admits it spied on staff
Aircraft maker Airbus snooped on staff in Germany from 2005 to 2007 as part of a campaign to uncover potential corruption, the Eads unit acknowledged yesterday.
Former management at Airbus’s German business had ordered checks to see if staff bank account numbers matched those of suppliers.
The checks did not detect any wrongdoing. – (Reuters)
