In short

Today's other stories in brief

O'Briens enters Canada market

O'Briens Sandwich Bars is expanding into Canada, with a 60-seat store opening in Toronto this week.

The holders of the master franchise for O'Briens Canada, Meryem and Manny Singh, plan to open two more outlets in the Toronto area this year and have plans to expand across Ontario and into British Columbia.

O'Briens, which had turnover of more than €100 million in 2006, will open its largest store yet in Victoria Square in Belfast in the next few months.

Energia wins €1.7m contract

Power producer Energia has won a €1.7 million contract to supply electricity to building materials group Cemex for the next three years.The deal covers the island of Ireland and includes all 48 Cemex sites.

City Bin's €15m expansion

Waste manager City Bin is investing €15 million in an expansion in Dublin that will see it sign up 30,000 new customers.

The company has a presence mainly in south County Dublin, but says it wants to broaden this to cash in on the city-wide market, worth an estimated €100 million a year.

Seafood sales increase by 6%

Sales of Irish seafood increased 6 per cent last year to more than €800 million despite "challenging" conditions for the industry, according to An Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), the Irish Sea Fisheries Board.

BIM chief executive Jason Whooley said the growth in both the domestic retail and food service markets was the result of improved innovation and greater marketing effort in the seafood sector, which overcame challenges such as reduced landings at Irish ports and increased fuel prices.

Growth in exports, valued at about €360 million, was flat, with France the largest market, but Mr Whooley said there were increased sales to non- traditional markets such as Japan, South Korea and China.

Lundin appoints new chief

Lundin Mining has appointed Phil Wright as president and chief executive. Mr Wright has previously held a number of executive positions, including as chief executive of Tenke Mining and Australian cement and lime producer Adelaide Brighton, and managerial positions in MIM Holdings and Email Limited's metals distribution group. He replaces outgoing chief executive Karl-Axel Waplan.

Merger of Cork consultancies

Cork consultancies O'Sullivan PR and H+A Marketing are set to merge to create one of the biggest such agencies outside Dublin, with €5 million in revenues and more than 30 staff. They plan to announce the deal today.

Under its terms, O'Sullivan PR will maintain its brand as a division within the group.

O'Sullivan is focused on public relations, while H+A's speciality is marketing.

O'Sullivan PR principal Anne-Marie O'Sullivan will become a minority shareholder and join the board as an executive director. The PR company's founder, Robin O'Sullivan, will become a non-executive director.

BearingPoint

In a report entitled "Failure of e-Government" in last week's edition of Business This Week, it was stated that BearingPoint was awarded a €22 million contract in 2003 for an online passport project that did not proceed. This was not correct.

The Department of Foreign Affairs awarded BearingPoint a contract for the Automated Passport System, which was successfully implemented in 2004 and 2005. Contrary to last week's article, the scope of this contract did not include an online passport application processing facility.