A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Gates rules out screening of companies

Bill Gates, the world's richest man, delivered a snub to the ethical investment movement yesterday, saying his foundation should concentrate on giving grants, rather than judging the social impact of businesses in which it invests.

In a statement on its website, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest philanthropic body with $35 billion (€27 billion) in assets, ruled out screening companies in which it invested, based on factors such as their environmental record or lending policies.

The comments followed a series of articles in the Los Angeles Times highlighting potential contradictions between the foundation's philanthropic giving and the practices of some of the companies in which it invests, including environmental pollution, usurious lending and the sale of medicines at high prices. - (Financial Times service)

'Rate rises may be coming to an end'

The next 12 months promise to be less painful for borrowers than last year as the cycle of interest rate increases may be coming to an end, IIB Bank's chief economist said yesterday.

Austin Hughes told the Blue Sky Mortgages conference in Dublin yesterday that while the European Central Bank (ECB) was expected to increase rates by a further quarter percentage point in March, there was a real sense that the upward cycle in rates policy was close to an end.

"2007 looks set to begin somewhat as 2006 ended, with some nervousness remaining in the market," he said. But he added that a recent generous budget and maturing Special Savings Incentive Accounts (SSIAs) would help support consumer demand.

AMD shares fall 10% on profit fall

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices fell more than 10 per cent yesterday after the number two maker of processors for PCs warned of substantially lower profits caused by a price war with Intel, its bigger rival.

AMD said its fourth-quarter gross margin and operating income were "impacted by significantly lower microprocessor average selling prices, which largely offset a significant increase in unit sales".

AMD's shares fell 11.4 per cent to $17.87 in midday trading in New York. - (Financial Times service)

SAP misses revenue target

SAP, the German business software maker, missed its full-year licence revenue target because of weak fourth-quarter sales in the US, raising concerns about corporate spending on technology.

Shares in SAP fell by nearly 8 per cent yesterday after its full-year software revenues came in well below investors' expectations as well as its own target.

The sales miss followed disappointing quarterly software licence sales from Oracle, its US rival, last month. - (Financial Times service)

Forecasts for M&T unchanged

Stockbrokers Davy and Goodbody left their full-year forecasts for AIB's US associate M&T unchanged after it reported net income of $213 million (€165 million) and earnings per share (eps) of $1.88 for the fourth quarter on Thursday.

M&T accounts for around 10 per cent of AIB's profits and Davy is currently forecasting M&T's eps to grow by 11 per cent in 2007. Goodbody, which is part of AIB Group, is forecasting 4 per cent income growth in the current period