Today's other stories in brief

Swiftcall managers buy out company

A management buyout of Dublin-based telecoms company Swiftcall Ireland was completed yesterday for an undisclosed sum.

The company, which employs 30 staff at its headquarters, was purchased by chief executive Tommy Tuite and chief technical officer Fergus Kernan.

While the purchase price was not revealed, industry sources placed it in excess of €6 million. Swiftcall Ireland, a no-frills provider of international calls specialising in the prepaid sector, was founded in 1994 by Tom McCabe. It was subsequently bought over by Japanese telecoms company KDD, now known as KDDI, in 1998.

"The company is now Irish owned and operated again and will continue to offer the same keen level of personal service that it has offered for 11 years," Mr Tuite said yesterday.

Swiftcall Ireland, which has 60,000 residential customers, and controls one-third of the Irish call card market, intends to enter the broadband market before the end of the year.

Davy sells IBM building for £115m

Davy Stockbrokers has sold the IBM building on the south bank of the Thames in London for £115 million (€172 million) on behalf of a group of private investors.

The building was bought three years ago for £78 million. Davy said that the deal realised a 38 per cent a year return over the three year period for its private equity investors.

The firm announced it has bought another property for £35.73 million.

Hamilton merges with Lycetts

A merger of bloodstock insurer Hamilton & Partners with leading UK broker Lycetts, will not affect Hamilton's Irish operations, the two companies said yesterday.

Hydra House, the holding company for Hamilton's Irish operations will become part of a new business, Lycetts Holdings. In a statement, the company said that there will be change in the day to day running of Hamilton & Partners.

Drug firm agrees $1.5m licensing deal

Gastrointestinal drug products company AGI Therapeutics, which is listed on Dublin's IEX and the AIM in London, has granted Axcan Pharma the right to market one of its drugs in North America.

Under the terms of the licence agreement, Axcan can sell AGI-010, a formulation that delays or controls the release of omeprazole, exclusively in the US and Canada in return for an initial licence fee of $1.5 million (€1.18 million), further payments of $17.5 million on reaching certain milestones, and royalties on product sales.

Axcan, one of the largest marketers of drugs to treat gastrointestinal diseases in North America and Europe, generated revenue of more than $250 million last year.

Printing group cuts losses

Irish printing and card services group Oakhill said its first-half net loss narrowed to €110,000 from €7.2 million a year earlier, when the company incurred a goodwill impairment provision of €7.4 million.

Oakhill's sales climbed 7 per cent to €16.8 million as revenue rose at both its managed services and book printing divisions.

The first half of 2006 includes a provision of €102,000 for losses and costs relating to problems Oakhill encountered with one of its products in June, when production was temporarily suspended following security concerns.

In addition, falling prices and lower margins would continue to be an issue for both its businesses in the second half, Oakhill said.