In Short

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

Irish tax rate is 'competitive weapon'

Ireland should use its tax policy as "a competitive weapon", general manager of Intel Ireland and incoming president of the American Chamber of Commerce, Jim O'Hara, said yesterday.

Mr O'Hara praised the Government's resistance to a harmonised corporation tax base. However, he warned that the competitive advantage provided by Ireland's 12.5 per cent corporation tax rate was diminishing as other countries tried to emulate our success by lowering their tax rates.

Nevertheless the "certainty" of the continuation of Ireland's current corporate tax rate was highly valued by multinationals, he said.

Taoiseach stresses key role of training

Training is essential to meeting the challenges posed by changes in the workplace, the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said yesterday at the "Positive 2 Work" Skillnets seminar. Through training and coaching support, the "Positive 2 Work" project will help 25 companies to develop better workplace environments, Mr Ahern said.

Larry Broderick, general secretary of the Irish Banking Officials Association, emphasised the major role trade unions must play in highlighting the issue of work-related stress.

Providence farms out 15% of licence

London and Dublin-listed Providence Resources has agreed to farm out a further 15 per cent of its drilling licence 2/07 in the Celtic Sea to Canadian exploration group Forest Gate Resources.

Under the terms of the agreement, Providence's equity stake in the licence will fall to 40 per cent, with the remaining equity being held by several companies including Forest Gate. This is the Canadian group's first investment in offshore Ireland.

Providence chief executive Tony O'Reilly jnr said this latest agreement, which is subject to Government approval, would allow the company to focus on finalising its drilling programme for this year.

Profits double to £6.7m at Imprint

Imprint, the London-listed recruitment business chaired by Irishman Pierce Casey, saw its profits more than double last year as the group integrated acquisitions and expanded its operations in Asia.

Net profit was £6.7 million (€10 million), up from £2.6 million in 2005, while sales increased 46 per cent to £80.1 million.

Mr Casey said the group had performed strongly, driven both by organic growth and the integration of the three businesses it acquired in 2005. He said its Asian operations put in a particularly strong showing.

Cowen approves covered bonds Bill

The Minister for Finance Brian Cowen has approved the publication of a Bill that will amend the legislation relating to the covered bonds market.

Covered bonds provide a very competitive source of funding for mortgage lending by financial institutions, Mr Cowen said, and the amendments would help maintain the competitiveness of Irish banks engaged in covered bond issuance.

Delay in major new oilfield

Development of the world's most important new oil field will be delayed by a further three years and require almost double the investment initially anticipated, Eni, the Italian oil group operating the field, said yesterday.

- (Financial Times service)