In Short

A roundup of today's other business stories in brief:

B of I raises €2bn from roadshow

Bank of Ireland has raised €2 billion in funds from the global bond market after a roadshow to over 20 countries.

The Republic's second-biggest bank has to date raised over €6 billion through bond issues from international investors that will be used to fund its lending and other operations.

Over the next four to five years it intends to have raised €10 billion through this fundraising programme.

The bond was secured on Irish mortgages that had been issued under the Irish Asset Covered Securities Act 2001. It carries a AAA rating.

Commenting on the issues yesterday, Austin Jennings, Bank of Ireland Global Markets chief executive, said the investor feedback was very positive.

Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, ABN AMRO and Davy were joint lead managers of this bond issue.

High earnings for accountants

A chartered accountant with six years' experience is now earning an average of €81,600 a year, according to a survey by the Leinster Society of Chartered Accountants.

The organisation said this kind of salary was earned most commonly in the industrial and commercial sector. Despite this, financial services was the best paid sector. The average head of finance in the financial services sector receives an average package of €171,900

Irishman elected as Cima head

An Irishman, John Coghlan, has been elected worldwide president of Cima, the largest chartered accountancy body in the world.

Mr Coghlan has held several senior positions in Ireland, including with the Jefferson Smurfit Group.

HBOS's lending share unchanged

HBOS yesterday said its share of the UK net mortgage lending market was running at a similar rate to the first half of last year when it hit 17 per cent.

In April, HBOS signalled that its share of new mortgages early this year had returned to within its 15-20 per cent target range.

It came after its share dropped in the final quarter of last year as the company focused on profitable lending rather than chasing growth.

HBOS received a boost yesterday when figures from the British Bankers Association and Council of Mortgage Lenders both showed that May was a bumper month for lending as the housing market showed signs of a renewed recovery.

The bank, the fourth largest in the UK, said bad debts were "in line with market expectations".

And it added that sales of its investment products were strong, while business was "very encouraging" in its international division.

Sainsbury's posts high sales figures

Resurgent UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's posted its best sales figures for four years today as its recovery plan remained on track.

The supermarket giant said like-for-like sales excluding petrol were up 5.7 per cent in the 12 weeks to June 17 as demand for fresh food, snacks and beer were boosted by the recent warm spell and the football World Cup in Germany.

It gave Sainsbury's a sixth successive quarter of sales growth and even saw it outperform market leader Tesco, which last week posted a 4.5 per cent hike in like-for-like sales.

Retail analyst Richard Ratner, of Seymour Pierce, warned that there was "a long way to go for the recovery to be complete".

- (PA)