A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
IN&M buys 500,000 shares
Independent News & Media said yesterday that it has purchased 500,000 ordinary shares at €3.24 per share.
All of the ordinary shares repurchased will be held in treasury, the company said.
The total number of shares held in treasury following this repurchase is 24,793,899 and the total number of ordinary shares in issue, less the treasury shares, is 752,015,520.
Dragon reports flow at oil well
Dublin and London-listed Dragon Oil has announced that its A/121 development well in the Dzheitun field of Turkmenistan has yielded an initial flow rate of over 2,900 barrels of oil per day.
Further testing and optimisation is scheduled to take place in the next few weeks.
This is the fifth well that Dragon Oil has completed this year, including four development wells and one appraisal well.
Elan executive to join board
Dr Lars Ekman, president of research and development with pharmaceutical company Elan, will move from his current operation role to become an adviser and member of the board of directors at the end of the year.
He will continue to chair Elan's science and technology committee, which provides strategic advice to the company relating to its research and current portfolio. Dr Ekman joined Elan in 2001.
Garden centres bid rejected
Entrepreneur Tom Hunter's West Coast Capital fund will not counter-bid for Dobbies Garden Centres, but it also will not accept Tesco's offer for the company, it said in a statement yesterday.
West Coast Capital, owner of a 26 per cent stake in Dobbies, said that Tesco's £156 million (€230.7 million) bid did not reflect the long-term value potential of Britain's third largest gardening centre chain.
Mr Hunter's move creates discomfort for Tesco, the world's third largest retailer, having already had to extend its offer period twice because of a lack of takers for its 1,500 pence per share offer.- (Reuters)
AstraZeneca drugs reviewed
US and Canadian regulators said yesterday that they were reviewing the safety of AstraZeneca's widely-used stomach drugs, Nexium and Prilosec, after data raised concern about heart problems with long-term use.
But the US Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada said that their preliminary analyses did not show an increased heart risk and that doctors should not change prescribing practices at the moment.
AstraZeneca's shares fell more than 3 per cent in New York and London trading.- (Reuters)
Company plan 'unnecessary'
German business groups dismissed as unnecessary the country's economy minister's idea to force foreign institutions interested in buying big stakes in German firms to report their plans to the government.
Economy minister Michael Glos said on Wednesday that he was considering introducing the rule for foreign companies that want to take stakes of over 25 per cent, or make investments of over €500 million.
Mr Glos said that the idea was only a possibility, but the prospect of such rules still met with stiff opposition from German business leaders.
"I see neither reason nor need to make new laws," said Ludwig Georg Braun, president of the DIHK chambers of commerce.
He added that Germany needed to try to attract more foreign direct investment to develop its economy .- (Reuters)
