The Overall ISEQ equity index has been quietly creeping upwards in recent weeks and is now 13 per cent ahead of where it started the year. A substantial portion of this return is accounted for by this year's trebling in the Elan share price.

Nevertheless, the market excluding Elan is up by approximately 4.5 per cent year-to-date, which is better than the performances of US and European equity indices.

In recent weeks, there has been a perceptible improvement in investor sentiment across global equity markets. This is in no small part due to calmer conditions in the oil market and evidence that the global economy is still growing at a steady pace.

This modest improvement in global investor sentiment is undoubtedly a factor in the improved tone apparent in the Irish equity market in recent weeks. However, another important positive influence has been the steady flow of very healthy results from Irish corporates.

Investors have received a deluge of company reports since the beginning of the month from heavyweight companies that include CRH, Irish Life & Permanent, Fyffes, Paddy Power and Glanbia.

In general, the results have been good, with these companies announcing increased profits accompanied by very substantial dividend hikes.

CRH, long a market bellwether, announced a very strong set of interim results that included a 17 per cent hike in the dividend. Furthermore, the company signalled that it would continue to raise its dividend at a high rate in coming years.

A key feature of CRH's first-half results was a return to organic growth from its existing businesses, reflecting favourable market conditions in Europe and the US.

In addition, acquisitions continued to augment sales and profits, highlighting the capacity of CRH to grow through a strategy of regular acquisition.

The only negative element is rising oil-related input costs, although, in time, the company should be able to pass on such costs in higher product prices to its customers.

Investment analysts have upgraded their profit forecasts for CRH and also most now expect the dividend to rise by more than 15 per cent per annum in coming years.

Irish Life & Permanent also reported a solid set of interim results and it too announced a healthy dividend rise of 10 per cent.

The banking business reported a strong rise in profits driven by buoyant loan advances and tight cost control.

The life business also saw strong growth accompanied by a small increase in the new business profit margin from 12.1 to 12.8 per cent.

Another company to raise its dividend payment to shareholders is Fyffes, where the interim dividend increased by 10 per cent.

Earnings per share rose by 20 per cent, driven by an improvement in profit margins and higher interest income from its substantial cash balance.

There had been some concerns that the enlargement of the EU could disrupt the banana market to the detriment of distributors. However, Fyffes stated that, to date, the impact from EU enlargement has been broadly neutral.

The company also commented on its pending legal insider trading case with DCC. December 2nd has been set as the date for the hearing and Fyffes stated that it was confident of a successful outcome.

True to form, Paddy Power announced an excellent set of results last week due in no small part to a string of favourable sporting results. All of its channels - shops, telephone betting and online betting - performed well, contributing to a rise of 22 per cent in turnover.

For investors in Irish stocks, these financial results strongly support the view that Irish corporates are, in general, performing very well.

Furthermore, a clear theme to emerge from these recent results is the increased propensity of boards to reward shareholders through higher dividends.

In an era of low inflation and low interest rates, the capacity of ordinary shares to deliver a rising dividend income stream is a critical investment attraction. Strong dividend increases also send a clear signal to a company's stakeholders that its board and management are confident about future prospects.

The message that is emerging from the current round of Irish corporate results is that Irish share prices are well underpinned by the current and prospective performance of quoted Irish corporates.

As long as global markets do not suffer a negative shock, this solid corporate performance should enable the ISEQ's current upward trend to be extended in coming months.