In short

A roundup of today's other business news in brief

Merck’s $41bn takeover of rival gets EU approval

US pharmaceutical giant Merck’s $41.1 billion takeover of smaller rival Schering-Plough has won approval from EU anti-trust regulators. The takeover followed a long-standing joint venture between Merck and Schering-Plough that sells the cholesterol fighting drugs Vytorin and Zetia.

The deal still needs US anti-trust approval. The companies continue to expect the transaction to close in the fourth quarter.

Merck has said it hopes to cut costs by the merger, and a number of promising products from Schering-Plough will improve its profit outlook.

The merged companies will cut 15 per cent of their workforce. – (Reuters)

BSkyB adds 94,000 subscribers

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB increased its subscriber base by 94,000 in Britain and Ireland in the three months to the end of September 2009. It now has 9.536 million subscribers.

No figure was given for Ireland alone. “In what continues to be a tough economic environment, Sky continues to grow in Ireland and more customers are choosing high definition to watch programmes,” Sky Ireland’s managing director Mark Deering said.

Sky added 287,000 Sky+HD subscriptions during the period. Sky+HD is now carried in 1.6 million households. Sky’s revenues rose by 10 per cent in the quarter to £1.38 million. Its adjusted operating profit was up 9 per cent to £198 million.

Irish Sony unit makes €2.13m profit

Sony Music’s Irish unit made a pretax profit of €2.13 million in the 15 months to the end of March 2009, virtually the same performance as in 12 months of 2007, according to accounts just filed at the Companies Registration Office.

Sony Music Entertainment Ireland, which is home to Westlife and Damien Dempsey, saw its profits stabilise, albeit over a longer accounting period, after profits halved in 2007 compared to the previous year.

The Sony subsidiary, which is headed by Annette Donnelly, recorded revenues of €19.8 million in the period.

The company employed 16 people last year.