In Short

A roundup of today's other business news in brief

Directors' restrictions overturned

The Supreme Court has overturned orders restricting two men from acting as directors of any company for five years unless certain capital funding conditions are met.

The three-judge court yesterday granted the appeal by David Long and Gerry Wright, directors of Dublin Sports Cafe Ltd (DSC), against restriction orders made by the High Court in December 2005 under Section 150 of the Companies Act after it found they had not acted responsibly.

KBC's strength rating downgraded

KBC Bank Ireland (formerly IIB Bank) has had its financial strength rating downgraded to 'C-' from 'C' by credit ratings agency Moody's; its A1 long-term bank deposit rating was affirmed. The outlook on the bank's long-term deposit rating is negative, similar to its parent, KBC Bank in Belgium.

Euro car sales fell 25% last month

European governments have come under even more pressure to rescue their motor industries after figures out yesterday showed a 25.8 per cent slump in new car sales in November.

ACEA, the European manufacturers' trade body, said sales had declined for seven months in a row.

- (Guardian service)

Postbank nears 1,000 branches

Savings bank Postbank, the joint venture between An Post and French bank BNP Paribas, has completed its expansion into almost 1,000 post offices. The bank offers savings and insurance products across An Post's network and has opened "financial zones" within 46 large town post offices.

The expansion has increased Postbank's workforce by 50 people to 310. Postbank, which has more than 130,000 customers, has contacted EBS building society in recent days to discuss the possibility of forming an alliance. The society has been in advanced talks with Irish Life Permanent.

Tullow to develop Lake Albert find

Tullow Oil is preparing a commercial development plan for its interests in the Lake Albert Basin in Uganda after striking its biggest find in the region during exploratory drilling.

The company said yesterday that drilling in its Buffalo-1 well encountered oil and gas.

Chief executive Aidan Heavey pointed out that the company's drilling activities in the area had a 100 per cent record.

Tullow's partners in the project are Heritage Oil and the Ugandan government.

Circle strikes oil in Egyptian well

Circle Oil, an Irish explorer operating in Africa, discovered oil in a sidetrack well at Al Amir-1X in the northwest Gemsa concession in Egypt and plans to apply for early commercial production.

"The confirmation of the original Al-Amir-1 discovery together with its new lower pay zone further enhances the potential and commerciality," chief executive David Hough said.

- (Bloomberg)

African Diamonds in Atlas buyout

African Diamonds, the Irish AIM-listed diamond company is to take full ownership of Atlas, its exploration venture with De Beers in Botswana. The full data set on the extensive work undertaken, including over 50km of drilling, is being acquired by African Diamonds.