In Short

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

Ryanair to record €90m writedown

Ryanair has said it will record a €90 million writedown against its stake in Aer Lingus after a decline in the smaller carrier's share price.

Ryanair bought shares in Aer Lingus at about €2.50 apiece, chief financial officer Howard Millar said yesterday. The stock reached a 12-month low of €1.90 on November 21st and closed at €2.03 yesterday.

Ryanair began building a 29 per cent stake in Aer Lingus in September last year as part of a €1.48 billion hostile bid for the carrier.

The takeover was blocked in June by the European Commission. - (Bloomberg)

Carluccio's to open in Dublin

Carluccio's, whose Italian restaurants contain their own food stores, is planning to expand into the Republic via franchises. The first Irish outlet is scheduled to open next spring in Dublin and may be followed by up to five more if it succeeds, the restaurateur said yesterday. - (Bloomberg)

Xbox to offer video on demand

Xbox is to offer a video on demand service for the first time in the Republic.

Owners of an Xbox 360 who also have a broadband connection will be able to download 28 Warner films from December 11th.

ICCL paid €7.5m to Morrogh clients

The Investor Compensation Company Ltd (ICCL) is still addressing claims from clients of Cork stockbroker W&R Morrogh, which collapsed in 2001 following fraudulent dealing by junior partner Stephen Pearson. According to ICCL's annual report, it has paid €7.5 million in compensation to 2,548 former clients of Morrogh, including €400,000 to 176 clients in the past year.

About 100 Morrogh claims remain outstanding, with certification awaited from the administrator.

There have been no investment firm failures since 2001, the report notes.

T-Mobile wins iPhone case

A Hamburg court said yesterday that T-Mobile was entitled to sell the Apple iPhone with a two-year contract binding customers to its network.

The court ruled against Vodafone, which had secured an injunction against its rival, complaining that the T-Mobile-Apple deal breached competition laws.

The injunction forced T-Mobile to sell an unlocked phone for $999 (€677) instead of the regular price of $399 with a two-year contract. Yesterday T-Mobile returned to its original pricing strategy.

Costs go to Cafolla in Tolka Park case

Dublin accountant Ivano Cafolla was awarded costs yesterday arising from a High Court case in which he claimed he was "frozen out" of a multimillion-euro deal to acquire Tolka Park football stadium.

Mr Cafolla brought the action against former U2 accountant Ossie Kilkenny, developer Jerry O'Reilly and companies Lyttleton Enterprises and Coneforth Trading arising from a series of deals also involving the late Oliver Byrne. The case was settled last September but costs were outstanding.