In short

The other business news stories in brief

Amarin names new chief executive

Amarin chief executive Colin Stewart has left the company “to address personal matters” less than three months after his appointment.

The Irish biotech group has named chairman Joseph Zakrzewski, who joined Amarin last January, as his replacement. Mr Zakrzewski is the fourth person to hold the position at Amarin in the past 13 months. Chief financial officer John Thero will replace Mr Stewart as company president.

Amarin is a clinical-stage company focusing on heart disease treatments.

Announcing third-quarter results yesterday, it said cash balances at the end of September stood at about $31.4 million. Outflows in the quarter amounted to $6.2 million, including $5.5 million on two late stage drug trials.

Google's Android threatens Nokia

Sales of mobile phones operating on Google’s Android system are threatening Nokia’s lead in the highly lucrative smartphone sector, just as the Finnish handset maker is feeling pressure at the other end of the market from low-cost Asian rivals.

More than a quarter of the smartphones sold globally in the third quarter of 2010 ran on the Android platform.

PepsiCo Ireland to shed 28 jobs

PepsiCo Ireland announced yesterday that it was shedding 28 jobs as a result of a restructured distribution operation.

The company, which currently operates a “direct-to-store” delivery system said it was moving to a centralised and wholesale “route-to-market”.

It said the decision was taken “following a review of business operations and in light of the challenging economic conditions in Ireland”.

The company employs 600 people.

Value of TVC's investment fund falls 9% on Norkom's decline

A sharp fall in the share price of one of its key investments helped force a 9 per cent fall in the value of listed investment fund, TVC Holdings, in the six months to the end of September.

TVC said yesterday that shareholders’ equity, the total value of investors’ holdings in the company, was €85.8 million on September 30th from €94.3 million at the end of March.

Executive chairman Shane Reihill and chief executive John Tracey said the decline in value was partly due to a sharp fall in the share price of banking software specialist Norkom, in which it holds a 27 per cent stake.

The company’s net assets were €91.8 million at the end of September, compared with €103 million six months earlier.

Bank of Ireland

An article in yesterday's newspaper said Irish banks had not raised money publicly since April. Bank of Ireland has in fact raised €1.1 billion of term issuance since June, €750 million of which was raised on October 27th.