A roundup of today's other business news in brief

Liquidator to be appointed to Airport Kia firm

Dublin car dealership Cloghran Motor Company Ltd, which trades as Airport Kia, has called a meeting of creditors at which a liquidator is to be appointed, writes Suzanne Lynch.

The meeting will take place on December 4th at the Skylon Hotel in Dublin. Company director Patrick Shanahan confirmed that a liquidator would be appointed at the meeting. He also said he was the company's largest creditor.

Airport Kia, located on the Old Airport Road, had been a Kia dealer since 2000, although it ceased trading Kia vehicles two weeks ago. It has also held an Isuzu franchise.

Mr Shanahan said yesterday the company had fallen victim to the adverse trading conditions in the motor sector.

He said the decision to focus on the new-car business rather than second-hand trade had contributed to the difficulties.

Covidien raises its 2010 sales outlook

Covidien says solid sales of medical devices drove better- than-expected quarterly earnings and it has raised its 2010 sales outlook, sending its shares up 3.5 per cent.

Dublin-based Covidien, which was spun off from Tyco International in mid-2007, posted net profit of $56 million (€37.6 million), or 11 cents a share, for the fiscal fourth quarter ended September 25th, compared with $409 million, or 84 cents a share, a year earlier.

Net results were reduced by a string of charges related to acquisitions. - (Bloomberg)

Full-year profits at EasyJet tumble

Full-year profits have tumbled at EasyJet, caught out by hedging fuel prices at high levels, but the low-cost airline has forecast better earnings next year as it brings its fuel costs down.

EasyJet reported a 65 per cent fall in underlying pretax profit to £43.7 million to September 30th, its worst performance since 2001, on revenue up 12.9 per cent at £2.66 billion. Passenger numbers rose 3.4 per cent to 45.2 million, its slowest growth rate since the airline listed on the London Stock Exchange in November 2000. - (Reuters)

Leading tech figures to talk in Dublin

A series of lectures by leading international technology figures kicks off this Friday with Tim Draper, one of the best known venture capitalists in Silicon Valley.

The lectures are being presented at Trinity College Dublin by Lectures Ireland, an initiative of social networking enthusiast Paddy Cosgrave.

Draper, whose investments include e-mail company Hotmail, internet telephony pioneer Skype and Chinese search engine Baidu, is credited with creating the concept of viral marketing on the internet.

Irish ranking in corruption index improves

Ireland's ranking in an international corruption index has improved, but the culture of "crony capitalism" has yet to be tackled, according to Transparency International.

The latest Corruption Perceptions Index published yesterday by Transparency International showed that Ireland improved its score this year from 7.7 to 8 out of 10, indicating a drop in the level of corruption.

The annual index, which measures the perceived levels of public-sector corruption, shows that Ireland is ranked as the 14th least-corrupt country in the world (up from 16th last year), bringing it in line with Germany. However, Transparency International Ireland chief executive John Devitt warned against complacency and said reforms were still needed. "This year's result could be taken as a sign that the country is effectively dealing with economic crime and corruption," he said. "That perception is far from the truth."

Berkshire reveals Exxon, Nestlé stakes

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has disclosed stakes in oil producer Exxon Mobil, sweet maker Nestlé and insurer Travelers.

Berkshire had about 1.28 million shares of Exxon, it said in a regulatory filing. The stake was valued at about $87.6 million (€59 million) at the end of the third quarter. Berkshire increased its stake in Wal-Mart by 90 per cent to 37.8 million shares from 19.9 million as of June 30th. - (Bloomberg)

Lehmans seek to claw back billions

Lehman Brothers Holdings lawyers have filed a lawsuit against Barclays Capital to claw back billions of dollars of profit from last year's purchase of Lehman's US brokerage business, court papers show.

It follows claims by Lehman lawyers that BarCap received an $8.2 billion "windfall profit" from excess assets it took control of in the fire sale of Lehman's US brokerage in 2008. A spokesman for BarCap declined to comment. - (Reuters)