A round-up of today's other finance stories in brief.
O'Connor to chair stock exchange
Pádraic O'Connor has been appointed chairman of the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE).
Mr O'Connor, who is a senior figure in the Irish financial services industry, succeeds David Kingston, who has retired from the ISE board after nine years.
Mr O'Connor was managing director of the NCB Group from 1987 to 1999 and non-executive chairman of ACC Bank from 1999 to 2000.
He remains as a director of ACC Bank and is also a director of Bear Stearns Bank and Quintillion.
He is also chairman of two companies - Alltracel and Adwalker - that are listed on London's Alternative Investment Market (Aim), as well as Hewitt Associates (Ireland) and Jones Distribution.
The ISE last month appointed Deirdre Somers as chief executive designate.
Ms Somers replace Tom Healy, who retires in June.
Commercial mortgages offer
Start Mortgages has become the first lender in Ireland to offer a product specifically for those who have difficulty obtaining commercial mortgages from traditional banks and building societies.
Since its creation, Start has offered mortgages to 10,000 residential customers who had struggled to get a mortgage because of issues such as their poor credit history or employment profile.
Its latest product is designed to include both semi- and fully commercial properties such as pubs, shops and guesthouses, and will offer terms of up to 40 years, with a maximum loan facility of €2.5 million.
Union call to Superquinn
Mandate, the trade union representing retail workers, has requested an urgent meeting with the management of Superquinn to discuss the company's decision to sell and lease back six of its properties.
The union said it wants to ascertain whether the €142.5 million deal will have any implications for the retail business and future investment.
Strong Irish gain for Ladbrokes
A "particularly strong" return from its enlarged Irish retail presence failed to offset weakness elsewhere for British bookmaking giant Ladbrokes.
Retail gross win in Ireland and Belgium increased by 23 per cent in the first four months of the year but, overall, group profits suffered a 10 per cent slide as the company faced tough comparisons with a strong run last year.
However, excluding the impact of high rollers - high-staking individual gamblers - who were active last year, pretax profit for the four months ended April 30th was in line with last year, the company said.
Total gross win increased by 2 per cent, or by 5 per cent excluding high rollers. The group, which has recently been the subject of takeover speculation, said it expected results for 2007 to be in line with its expectations. - (Financial Times service)
China changes currency band
China yesterday announced a widening of the renminbi's daily trading band against the dollar, just days before Beijing ministers head for the US for a meeting at which their management of the allegedly undervalued currency will be a focus of discussion.
The central bank also raised both interest rates and bank reserve requirements, the latest in a series of moves intended to tame liquidity growth and cool soaring domestic share prices. - (Financial Times service)
