Today's other stories in brief
Ryanair seeks to take case against Ifsra
Ryanair yesterday applied to the commercial division of the High Court for permission to file a case against the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority over its alleged failure to investigate the airline's claims that rival Aer Lingus abuses stock exchange rules.
Ryanair claims that Aer Lingus - in which it holds a 29 per cent stake - passed market-sensitive information to one shareholder, the Minister for Transport, while keeping other shareholders, including Ryanair, in the dark. The allegations relate to communications ahead of the decision by Aer Lingus to end the Shannon- Heathrow route.
IT executives 'optimistic'
More than half of senior technology executives are confident about the prospects for the sector this year, with just 26.4 per cent saying the credit crisis is influencing their outlook.
The research by public relations network Eurocom Worldwide and its Irish affiliate Simpson Financial & Technology PR found that 68 per cent of respondents expect to increase employment in their firms this year. About half (48 per cent) said it was getting more difficult to recruit IT staff.
Airport has 7% more passengers
Dublin airport reported a 7 per cent rise in passenger numbers in January. Some 1.5 million people travelled through the airport last month, 110,000 more than in the same period last year.
Numbers flying to the US were 32 per cent up, while 9 per cent more passengers travelled to continental European destinations.
Abbey and CRH pursue buybacks
Housebuilder Abbey and building materials group CRH both reported further activity yesterday in their share buyback programmes.
Abbey yesterday acquired 110,000 shares in the market at €6 each. The shares have been cancelled.
CRH reported the purchase of 156,000 shares at prices between €25.20 and €25.75 last Friday, bringing to 4.27 million the shares acquired under its buyback programme.
Online sales of mobiles to surge
The sale of mobile phones online is set to surge to 21 per cent of the total market by 2012, according to research from Informa Telecoms and Media. The firm says total sales of mobile handsets will reach $180.9 billion (€123.4 billion) by 2012, up 23 per cent on 2007.
Deals to prompt rise in steel prices
The price of steel is set to rise after Asian and European producers agreed to pay up to 71 per cent more for iron ore in term-contract rates beginning on April 1st, the second-largest annual increase ever recorded.
The big increase suggests that demand for commodities from emerging economies such as China remains strong, offsetting the US slowdown and fuelling fears that global inflation will continue to rise in the near-term. - (Financial Times service)
Tea prices to rise to all-time high
Tea prices are likely to jump to an all-time high this year, underpinned by production disruptions in Kenya, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation will forecast today.
In the latest sign of rising global food inflation, wholesale tea prices surged last year to an annual average of $1.95 a kilo, a 6.5 per cent increase from the previous year. - (Financial Times service)
