Other business stories in brief
CRH chief to serve on board
Liam O'Mahony, outgoing chief executive of building materials giant CRH, will serve as an independent director following his retirement at the end of the year.
Finance director Myles Lee will succeed Mr O'Mahony on January 1st.
CRH said yesterday that Mr O'Mahony has accepted an invitation to sit on the board as a non-executive from next year.
Bid for video group abandoned
The Murtagh family-backed vehicle, Carraig Capital, is not going to go ahead with a bid for video camera technology group, Andor. Carraig had until the close of business yesterday to make a firm offer for the company after earlier tabling a €27 million bid for the business.
After Andor's independent directors failed to recommend the Carraig bid to shareholders, it issued a statement saying that it would not at this time continue with discussions on an alternative proposal. Andor's management has already bid for the company through another vehicle, Thorndale. This values Andor at 73 pence sterling a share, compared with Carraig's bid of 76p a share.
Northern Rock warns on slump
Nationalised British mortgage lender Northern Rock said it was repaying its emergency government loan more quickly than planned, but warned the housing market slump could hinder further progress.
In a trading statement, Northern Rock said the outstanding balance on the loan was £11.5 billion (€14.6 billion) at September 30th, which is down 57 per cent from £26.9 billion at the end of December last year.
But Northern Rock warned yesterday that falling property prices and efforts by other banks to rein in their lending could slow the pace of repayment in the months ahead.
The lender has been paying off its government loan mainly by raising its rates in an effort to encourage customers to take their business elsewhere, redeeming their existing mortgages. - (Reuters)
HBOS reviews tracker loans
The last Irish bank to offer tracker mortgage products is reviewing the loans following moves by other lenders to withdraw their tracker loans from the market.
Halifax-Bank of Scotland (Ireland), which launched the first tracker mortgage products in Ireland in April 2001, said it was "reviewing" the products due to the high cost of bank funding.
National Irish Bank offered the lowest tracker rate in the market until it withdrew the products yesterday, saying the decision had been "under review for some time and reflected the increased costs associated with these products". The withdrawal follows similar moves by EBS building society, AIB and Bank of Ireland.
Administrators to control Micap
Micap, the British developer of a process to preserve drugs and cosmetics, said it will cede control to administrators after failing to reach an agreement with a creditor.
The Manchester District Registry is scheduled to hear the application to appoint administrators on October 28th.
Micap Encapsulates Ltd, a unit which manufactures and sells food ingredients from a factory in Athlone, will remain unaffected, the company said. - (Bloomberg)
Ryanair notice to Expedia
Ryanair said yesterday it has given 30 days' notice to Expedia that its hotel contract will end following what it claims is Expedia's failure to honour payment terms.
