In short

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

Former IDA chief is new CRH head

Former IDA Ireland chief executive Kieran McGowan has taken over as chairman of building materials group CRH, the biggest company on the Irish Stock Exchange.

He succeeds Pat Molloy, who retired following this week's annual general meeting and who was chairman since 2000.

Mr McGowan has been a CRH director since 1998. He is also on the boards of Elan, Irish Life & Permanent, United Drug and Enterprise Ireland. He chairs the governing body of University College Dublin.

€500 fine in pension case

A Co Laois businessman has been fined €500 for failing to provide the Pensions Board with information about any PRSA pensions contracts established for his staff.

Judge Early at Portlaoise District Court imposed the fine on Liam McArdle of Main Street, Stradbally, after he failed to comply with a request for information from the Pensions Board in relation to his PRSA obligations as an employer.

Pensions Board chief executive Brendan Kennedy said the body had a responsibility to enforce the requirement for mandatory access to the PRSA scheme and "regards non-compliance as a serious matter".

In a statement, the board said: "Mr McArdle failed to comply with the Pensions Board's request, made by notice in writing, to furnish the Pensions Board with the names of all occupational pensions schemes established for the benefit of the employees of Mr Liam McArdle, if any, and the criteria for membership of each such scheme, and/or a copy of the contract entered into by him with a PRSA provider."

Lundin invests in Canadian firm

Lundin Mining is investing 6.75 million Canadian dollars (€4.5 million) in Sunridge Gold, a publicly traded Canadian mining company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange.

Lundin Mining, the Swedish company that owns the Galmoy mine in Co Kilkenny, will own 19.6 per cent of the common shares of Sunridge once the private placement of three million units in Sunridge is complete.

Kerry buys back more shares

Food group Kerry has bought back a further 200,000 of its own shares, bringing to 1.6 million the number the group has purchased over the past fortnight. Yesterday's shares, which will now be cancelled, were bought for €22.10 each, costing a total of €4.42 million.

Ormonde posts drilling results

Kerr Anderson, managing director of exploration group Ormonde Mining, yesterday welcomed the results of drilling at the group's Salamanca Province in western Spain, saying that while further holes are clearly required, the initial results are very encouraging.

Firm invests $1.54bn in Magna

Canadian car-parts supplier Magna International said yesterday it had secured a $1.54 billion (€1.14 billion) investment from a firm controlled by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska in a move aimed first at expansion in the fast-growing Russian car market. The cash infusion could also help Magna fund a bid to buy US carmaker Chrysler Group from its German parent Daimler.

- (Reuters)

US to up wind power by 25%

The United States will boost its wind power capacity this year by about 25 per cent, an industry group said yesterday.

More than 3,000 megawatts of wind power turbines will be added in the US - enough to power about 825,000 households, the American Wind Power Association said.

- (Reuters)