A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Oil price hits new high
Oil prices extended a record rally to more than $89 a barrel yesterday as weakness in the dollar, tight fuel inventories and geopolitical concerns drew a wave of investor buying.
Oil's climb of about 13 per cent since last week has renewed concerns that soaring energy costs could hinder world economic growth and raised a red flag for Opec, which may call an early formal meeting to discuss output. - (Reuters)
Software firm taken over
Deecal International, a Dublin software company specialising in electronic payments, has been acquired by electronic commerce giant First Data. According to accounts filed at the Companies' Office, Deecal recorded a loss of €313,035 in 2006 and had retained losses of €2.5 million.
ESB wins Vietnam deal
ESB International (ESBI) has won a three-year contract from the Vietnamese Institute of Energy to oversee the second phase of the construction of a 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant for the Hai Phong Joint Stock Company. The overall value of the contract is €6 million.
Galmoy mine dispute settled
Lundin Mining said that production at its Galmoy mine in Co Kilkenny will return to normal levels after management reached an agreement with unions over a pay dispute.
In its third-quarter market update yesterday, Lundin said ore mined from Galmoy during the period was 111,226 tonnes, down from 157,263 in the same three months last year.
Carroll raises stake in ICG
Property developer Liam Carroll has taken his stake in Irish Continental Group (ICG) to 26.23 per cent, spending another €145,178 on the company's shares.
Pharmaplaz in HIV drug deal
Athlone-based pharmaceutical company Pharmaplaz has made a payment of $8.6 million (€6 million) to US-based Samaritan Pharmaceuticals, as part of a $10 million deal which will see Samaritan develop and commercialise a new HIV inhibitor drug.
Rhinebridge debt problem
Rhinebridge Plc, the Dublin-based structured investment vehicle (SIV) run by IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG, said it may not be able to pay back debt related to $23 billion in commercial paper programmes. - (Bloomberg)
Writedown by Pfizer
Pfizer, the world's largest drugmaker, was forced to take a $2.8 billion writedown after scrapping its highly touted inhaled insulin drug, Exubera.
