A roundup of today's other stories in brief...
Kentz confirms plan to float on AIM
Irish-Malaysian engineering and instrumentation specialist Kentz confirmed yesterday that it would float on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on February 5th.
The group has yet to say how many shares it intends to float or how much it plans to raise, but it is thought to have a potential value of €280 million.
Kentz specialises in providing construction and instrumentation services to the oil, gas and exploration industries. Malaysian group Peremba owns 80 per cent of Kentz, while chief executive Hugh O'Donnell and director Noel Kelly hold 10 per cent each.
In 2006 it had a turnover of €260 million and profit before tax of €17 million.
Alimentary Health signs R&D deal
Cork-based biotech firm Alimentary Health has concluded a research and development deal with medical giant ConvaTec, which makes products to treat wounds.
The two firms will work together on a research project over the next 12 months, they said yesterday.
NUIG in research deal with US firm
A research programme between NUI Galway and a Californian medical company could result in a breakthrough on the causes of hospital-acquired infections and some sexually transmitted diseases.
Beckman Coulter, which opened its Galway operation in 1972, is a worldwide provider of biomedical testing systems.
The four-year research programme announced yesterday will result in the creation of a research team of 10 master's and PhD researchers based at NUIG.
Wicklow, Carlow, Laois top eBay users
Statistics from auction website eBay.ie show that residents of counties Wicklow, Carlow and Laois are the most active users of the site. The counties are respectively 33 per cent, 32 per cent and 26 per cent above the national average for activity on the website.
Counties Monaghan, Roscommon and Offaly had the lowest levels of activity.
Free web access to regulator's site
The Financial Regulator and the Library Council have announced the provision of free internet access to the regulator's itsyourmoney.ie website in all local libraries. The move is designed to help consumers make informed personal finance decisions.
UK house prices fall for third month
UK house prices fell for a third month in January and values will continue to drop this year unless the Bank of England cuts interest rates further, Rightmove said yesterday.
The average asking price fell 0.8 per cent to £230,428 (€309,993) from December, compared with a 3.2 per cent drop the previous month, the British website said. The annual price gain slowed to 3.4 per cent, the lowest since 2005. - (Bloomberg)
B of I to expand US real-estate team
Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking is expanding its US real-estate team with the appointment of five new members, it announced yesterday. In addition, its global property finance team has established a base in Frankfurt to handle deals in western and central Europe.
