In short

A roundup of today's other business news in brief

Anglo should be closed, committee told

The Government should close Anglo Irish Bank and take over viable finance institutions instead of using Nama to get out of the current crisis, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

Peter Matthews, one-time property lending specialist with the former State-owned bank ICC, told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service yesterday that the Government’s strategy for getting out of the financial crisis should be reversed. He argued that Nama would create zombie banks that would limp along for a few years and would not lend.

Mr Matthews told the committee that the cost of Anglo’s bad loans would come to 60 per cent of its book. He calculated the remaining 40 per cent that could be collected would come to €30 billion, which would cover customer deposits.

He said the senior bondholders should bear the consequence of the risk of lending the bank money.

Restructuring costs hit Braun profits

Restructuring costs totalling €28.6 million at personal care product manufacturer Braun Oral B Ireland contributed last year to the company sustaining an 83 per cent drop in pretax profits to €2.2 million.

Accounts just filed for the period to the end of June last show that restructuring costs resulted in the company’s pretax profits dropping from €13.4 million to €2.2 million despite a 17 per cent increase in sales to €91.7 million from €78.2 million. The company said “operational results” for the period were satisfactory.

Staff costs last year dropped by 11.8 per cent to €27.3 million.

BMW posts €449m first-quarter profit

BMW yesterday reported a first-quarter operating profit that exceeded its 2009 full-year earnings as the German carmaker’s sales were lifted by soaring demand for luxury cars in China.

The premium carmaker said it swung to a profit before interest and tax of €449 million in the first three months – more than the €289 million achieved in the whole of 2009 and following a €55 million loss in the first quarter of last year.

The higher than expected profit underscored the rapid rebound in global demand for premium cars, led by emerging markets.– (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010)