A round-up of today's other stories in brief...

IL&P chief executive Casey earned €1.36m last year

Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P) chief executive Denis Casey earned €1.362 million last year, according to the group's 2007 annual report.

Mr Casey, who succeeded David Went as chief executive of the financial services group last May, earned a salary of €694,000, a bonus of €617,000, benefits of €30,000 and other remuneration, including profit-share payments, of €21,000. He received pay of €602,000 in 2006.

Finance director Peter Fitzpatrick received €945,000 in 2007, up from €788,000 the previous year, while Kevin Murphy, chief executive of Irish Life, received €923,000, an increase from €582,000 the previous year.

Mr Went, who is chairman of The Irish Times Ltd, retired from IL&P last May. He received €343,000 last year, down from €1.335 million in 2006.

IL&P chairwoman Gillian Bowler received fees of €320,000, up from €300,000. Eight non-executive directors shared fees of €909,000 last year, an increase of €86,000.

AstraZeneca in patent deal

AstraZeneca has settled US patent litigation against India's Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd over its top-selling ulcer drug Nexium, securing future sales and sending its shares soaring.

Under the deal, Ranbaxy will be allowed to start selling a cheap, copycat version of Nexium in 2014, when the earliest patents on the medicine expire, the two companies said.

Ranbaxy, however, will benefit before that date via an agreement that means it can formulate a portion of AstraZeneca's US supply of Nexium from May 2010, with the active ingredient in the drug, esomeprazole magnesium, being made from May 2009.

The deal is a relief for AstraZeneca investors, who had feared revenues from Nexium could collapse in the face of generics. - (Reuters)

Debenhams profits down

Pretax profits at British department store Debenhams, which acquired Roches Stores two years ago, fell by 12.4 per cent to £94.1 million in the six months to March 1st. Although ahead of analysts' forecasts, Debenhams chief executive Rob Templeman said market conditions were "tough".

The company did not give details for its Irish operations. However, it said it was very pleased with the performance of its Irish stores.

"Conversion of the nine stores acquired from Roches in September 2006 was completed by December 2007 and all are now trading well as Debenhams," it said.

Like-for-like sales fell by 0.7 per cent during the half, reflecting the challenging trading conditions across the retail sector, it said.

Salaries up at Tullow Oil

Tullow Oil chief executive, Aidan Heavey, was paid of €1.28 million in salary, bonuses, pension and other benefits last year, compared with just over €1 million in 2006, according to the company's annual report.

The figures show that financial officer Tom Hickey received €781,245 in 2007, compared with €660,330 the previous year. Tullow paid chairman Patrick Plunkett €150,000 in fees last year, compared with €125,000 in 2006.

Company secretary Graham Martin received €710,841 and Angus McCross, Tullow's exploration director, was paid €674,025.

J&J outstrips forecasts

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings yesterday as the weak dollar and cost-cutting offset plunging sales of anaemia drugs hit by safety concerns and medicines facing generic competition.

Demand for the company's consumer products boosted results. Its two other major businesses, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, would have fared poorly if they had not been propped up by the beaten-down dollar.

The healthcare company earned $3.6 billion, or $1.26 a share, up from $2.57 billion a year earlier, when it took several merger-related charges. - (Reuters)