In Short

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

Rothwell spends €16m on ICG shares

Irish Continental Group (ICG) chief executive Eamonn Rothwell yesterday spent more than €16 million buying 736,000 shares in the ferry group that he had controlled since last June through contracts for difference (CFDs). Mr Rothwell closed the CFD position on Tuesday by buying the shares at €22 each from Cantor Fitzgerald Europe. He now owns 16.05 per cent of the company.

Mr Rothwell last year led a bid by management to acquire ICG. His Aella investment vehicle had an offer of €24 a share rejected by shareholders in September.

ICG's share price rose yesterday in Dublin by 2.8 per cent to €22.94.

O'Reilly's INM stake up to 26.99%

Independent News & Media (INM) chief Sir Anthony O'Reilly yesterday spent a total of €4.31 million buying

2 million shares in the company, bringing his stake to 26.99 per cent. This third purchase of shares by Sir Anthony in less than a week brought the combined stake of all INM directors to 28.41 per cent.

Hiestand reports 31% profits rise

Hiestand, the Swiss baker in which IAWS holds a 32 per stake, has reported a 31 per cent increase in profits and sales growth of 44 per cent in 2007. The company benefited from the full-year contribution of German baguette maker Fricopan, which it bought in 2006.

A 32 per cent stake in the bakery was sold by Focus Capital to Lion Capital, the buyout firm that owns Weetabix cereal, in February.

Software firm guilty of VAT fraud

A software company now in liquidation has been found guilty in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of defrauding over €250,000 from the Revenue Commissioners in VAT returns. Big Picture Software Limited, which went into liquidation in 2004, was convicted on day two of the trial. Sentence will be imposed later this year.

Smurfit Kappa board appointment

Paper and packaging group Smurfit Kappa has appointed analyst Thomas Brodin to its board as an independent non-executive director. Mr Brodin is head of equity research with Erik Penser Fondkommission, an independent Swedish securities firm.

Increases for Readymix directors

The three executive directors at cement group Readymix received substantial increases in pay last year, according to its annual report.

Managing director, Roger Gonzalez, was paid €543,000 in pay, bonuses and benefits in kind, compared with €367,000 in 2006.

Development director Brendan Fitzgerald was paid €297,000 in salary, bonuses and benefits in kind, up from €264,000. Finance director Sergio Martinez received €175,000 in total, compared with €73,000 in 2006.

Warning against JS Knight

The Financial Regulator has warned consumers against taking up investment services offered by JS Knight & Co (Grenada), which has been active in the Republic. The regulator says the firm is not authorised to operate here.