Paddy Power profits prompt a few punters to have a pop

DUBLIN REPORT:THE RELEASE of full-year financial results from betting group Paddy Power and building products plc Kingspan didn't raise much betting interest on the part of Dublin market investors yesterday, with trading volumes thin across the board on a weak day for the Iseq.

Growth of 59 per cent in operating profits at Paddy Power did impress some buyers, however, and a couple of significant share chunks changed hands, pushing the stock's share price up 50 cent to €21.65, a climb of 2.3 per cent on the day.

A warning by Kingspan that 2008 earnings would be "appreciably lower" than 2007 led to a mini sell-off of the stock during early morning trade, but the share price recovered somewhat after a partially reassuring conference call with senior management.

However, the stock still finished down 4.8 per cent at €8.54, shedding 43 cent, on volume of 1.5 million.

Readymix, which published results that were as bad as expected, was virtually ignored by the market, with a trickle of less than 7,000 shares trading.

Bank of Ireland, the only stock that managed to scrape volume of more than three million, fell 2.2 per cent to €9.14, dropping 21 cent.

The financial stocks all performed weakly, in line with the rest of Europe, with Irish Life & Permanent down 2.5 per cent, AIB down almost 1.5 per cent and Anglo Irish Bank closing down more than 1 per cent.

The rising cost of jet fuel dampened the performance of the airlines again, with Ryanair falling 1.3 per cent to €3.11, down 4 cent, and Aer Lingus nosediving 9 cent to close down 4.3 per cent at €2.15.

Building materials group CRH added to the market's woes, losing 85 cent, or 3.4 per cent, to close at €23.70, ahead of its results today.

ISEQ: 6,290.80 (-124.32)

Settlement date: March 6th