In Short

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

Industry panel to review financial  regulator

The Financial Services Consultative Industry Panel yesterday launched a review of the performance of the financial regulator, the first since it was established in 2003.

The panel has appointed IMS Milward Brown to design and conduct the study, which will examine almost 3,500 regulated financial service providers. The findings, which will be published later this year, will be used to create a benchmark against which regular comparisons can be made to track the financial regulator's progress.

James Deeny, chairman of the industry panel which was set up in 2004, said the aim of the survey is to enable the panel to effectively carry out its mandate and represent the interests of the financial sector.

Advanced Medical Optics creates 20 jobs

Some 20 new jobs are to be created at Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) based in Westport, Co Mayo.

AMO is a global leader in the development, manufacture and marketing of optical medical devices.

Already about 40 people are employed at the facility which is a spin-off industry established in the aftermath of substantial job losses in Westport's largest employer, Allergan.

AMO has two shared services centres in Ireland, one in Ballsbridge, Dublin, and the other in Westport.

The Westport facility, which was established in 2002 provides financial services to the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region to support AMO manufacturing plants, commercial business, and regional office functions.

Turnover at Iseq rises 50% to €108bn

Equity turnover on the Irish Stock Exchange grew by 50 per cent, to €108.8 billion, in 2005. The fourth quarter saw a 57 per cent increase on daily turnover when compared to 2004.

Transaction volumes in 2005 grew by 32 per cent, to 792,120 deals. In the fourth quarter of 2005, the Iseq index outperformed the FTSE 100, Eurostoxx 50, NASDAQ, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Shares in France Telecom fall 8%

Shares in France Telecom fell 8 per cent to €€19.94 yesterday, their biggest fall in three years, after it issued its second profit warning in four months as French customers continued to flock to broadband-based telephony.

Last year France Telecom predicted that the proportion of VoIP (voice over internet protocol) telephony would rise to about 15 per cent of residential traffic by the end of 2005. - (Financial Times service)

Disappointment at J&J's Guidant deal

Major shareholders in Guidant yesterday expressed disappointment at the company's decision to be taken over by Johnson & Johnson for $23.2 billion (€19.2 billion), heightening expectations of a full-blown bidding war for the US maker of cardiac stents and defibrillators.

Guidant's board accepted a sweetened bid worth $68.06 a share in cash and stock from J&J in preference to an offer worth $72, or $25 billion, from BostonScientific, a rival medical devices maker. - (Financial Times service)

NCB changes Anglo view

NCB has broken ranks with most of its fellow brokers by downgrading its recommendation on Anglo Irish Bank. In an analysis published yesterday, NCB changed its view on Anglo from "buy" to "accumulate". While continuing to hold a positive view on the stock, NCB's shift is significant. The broker had held a "buy" view on Anglo since August, 2003.

In the study, NCB highlighted Anglo's "entrepreneurial and focused management" and its "relationship-based and flexible niche business model" among positive factors affecting the stock.

On the negative side, the broker raised the risk of greater competition for the SMElending market and Anglo's exposure to any commercial property bubble in the Republic, the UK and the US.

Strong results from Siebel

Siebel Systems marked what is likely to be its last quarter before being acquired by Oracle with its strongest financial performance in nearly four years, though analysts warned that the performance might reflect one-off effects.

The maker of customer relationship management software, whose $5.9 billion (€4.9 billion) purchase by Oracle is expected to be completed within weeks, attributed the rebound to greater customer confidence. - (Financial Times service)

New policy for bereaved pilots

Ryanair said yesterday that it had introduced a policy of standing down pilots for safety reasons following family bereavements after a captain suffered a breakdown in the cockpit days after burying one of his children. - (PA)

Profits drop sharply at HMV

British music and book retailer HMV Group Plc reported falling Christmas sales and a sharp drop in first-half profitson Thursday, slashing 9 per cent off its share price.

Chief executive Alan Giles also announced that he would be leaving HMV in December to pursue non-executive directorships. - (Reuters)