Today's other stories in brief

Consumer panel head appointed

Minister for Finance Brian Cowen has appointed lawyer Raymond O'Rourke to chair the Financial Services Consultative Consumer Panel.

He will replace Brendan Burgess who resigned last week. Mr Burgess declined to comment earlier this month on a Sunday newspaper report that he was resigning his post because of tension with the financial regulator.

Mr O'Rourke has been a panel member since 2004.

McCreevy to speak in Dublin

Reckless investment practices and bad liquidity management contributed to the global credit market crisis, but rigid transparency rules are not the right answer, Charlie McCreevy, the EU commissioner for the internal market, will warn today.

In a sharply-worded speech to be delivered in Dublin, Mr McCreevy will denounce the "irresponsible lending, blind investing, bad liquidity management, excessive stretching of rating agency brands and defective value at risk modelling" that prompted the turmoil of recent months. - (Financial Times service)

Trinity's profits fall to $612,000

Trinity Biotech has reported a pretax profit of $612,000 (€427,865 ) on revenues of $33.7 million for the third quarter to September 30th last. Revenues for the quarter were relatively flat compared to a year ago when it had sales of $33.3 million and profits of $2.3 million. The drop in profits was as a result of increased direct costs following Trinity's acquisition of BioMérieux in June 2006. The firm said the performance was "lower than expectations".

Irish exports increase by 5%

Exports from the Republic increased 5 per cent in the first eight months of the year, according to preliminary estimates from the Central Statistics Office, with chemicals driving the growth.

However, the seasonally adjusted surplus for August was €2.3 billion, down from €2.64 billion in July. Exports dropped by 5 per cent in August when compared with July, and imports fell by 1 per cent.

Growth to 'fall to 2.7% in 2008'

Davy economist and head of research Robbie Kelleher predicted yesterday that growth would fall to 2.7 per cent next year.

Speaking at the first joint seminar between accountancy body ACCA, Ireland's financial services network and the Securities and Investment Institute, he said gross national product would dip to 2.7 per cent in 2008.

Genzyme sales boost revenues

Sales of drugs produced by biotech multinational Genzyme at its plant in Waterford contributed to record revenues earned by the group in the three months to September 30th.

Genzyme said yesterday that revenues for the quarter jumped 19 per cent on the same period last year to a record $960.2 million.

Aminex signs Kenya contract

Exploration company Aminex has signed a production sharing contract with Kenya's minister of energy. The seven-year deal covers two near-shore blocks in the city of Mombasa with a combined surface area of just under 5,000sq km (3,100sq miles).

Dublin Port throughput rises

Throughput for Dublin Port in the first nine months of the year is up 9 per cent on 2006, Dublin Port Company said yesterday. The figures show increases in export and import tonnage levels, as well as in ferry passenger numbers.