In short

A roundup of today's other stories in brief.

Kerry plans to buy back 1.5% of shares

Kerry Group has announced plans for a share buyback of up to 2.8 million of its own shares, or 1.5 per cent of its share capital.

The buyback was approved by shareholders at the company's recent annual meeting.

Under the terms of the buyback, the maximum price payable for the shares will be limited to 105 per cent of the average daily price at which the shares are dealt in the five working days preceding the date of purchase. The repurchased shares will be held as Treasury shares.

According to NCB Stockbrokers, the share buyback will add one cent to earnings per share in a full year.

Prisons contract for Smart Telecom

The Irish Prison Services (IPS) has awarded Smart Telecom a €900,000 contract to provide a national wide area network that will allow full videoconferencing systems between all 14 national prison sites and outside locations such as the courts or hospitals.

Any of the national licensed telecom operators were allowed to bid and Smart won the contract ahead of Eircom, BT and Complete Network Technology.

Work will get underway immediately. The project is expected to take up to four months to complete.

"The technical solution that best fulfilled the requirements of the IPS was deemed to be that submitted by Smart Telecom, who proposed a transparent solution," said a spokeswoman for the Irish Prison Services.

"The physical infrastructure of the proposed network is a combination of microwave and fiber. The Smart Telecom solution was also the most competitively priced of all four tenders."

The contract was for two years with an option to extend for a further year.

Stock sale details from Waterford

Waterford Wedgwood, the troubled luxury goods maker, yesterday announced a timeline for its proposed €60 million share sale, saying that the offer document would be posted to qualifying stockholders tomorrow.

The closing date for receipt of application forms is July 19th and the new stock units will start dealings on July 24th.

The fundraising, the company's fourth cash call in just three years, is based on three new shares for every 13 held at a price of six cent per share.

The company is hoping to use the funds raised as working capital to help with the ongoing turnaround of the group.

Norkom gains nearly 5% on IEX

Shares in Norkom, the compliance software company, gained nearly 5 per cent when they began trading on the IEX, Dublin's smaller companies market, yesterday. Norkom shares closed at €1.30, a six cent or 4.8 per cent gain on the day, valuing the firm at nearly €105 million.

Norkom, which raised €21 million as part of its flotation, is the ninth company to join IEX since the market was launched in April last year. Its listing brings to 17 the number of companies now trading on the exchange.

Altracel partner given approval

Altracel Pharmaceuticals said yesterday that Yunnan Baiyao Group, its partner in China, had received regulatory approval for the first in a range of products said to stop bleeding.

The group, which was appointed as a partner to Altracel in August last year, is aiming to launch "stops bleeding nasal sponges" at the end of the year.

Central banks warned about global inflation

Inflationary pressures are rising in the global economy and it remains vulnerable to a "bang" of market turbulence and a "whimper" of slow growth for an extended period, the Bank of International Settlements warned yesterday.

Raising the spectre of stagflation - the twin perils of slow economic growth alongside higher inflation - the central bankers' bank highlighted the threats that now existed after global interest rates have been "unusually low for an unusually long time".

Its annual report said that the coming year would not be an easy one for central banks, which would have to act tough to stamp out inflationary pressures, but must not go too far lest they risk a recession. - (Financial Times service)

Eircom head named as IMI chairman

Eircom chief executive Dr Philip Nolan has been appointed chairman of the Irish Management Institute (IMI) for a three-year term.

He succeeds Dr Chris Horn.

Fermanagh-born Dr Nolan brings several years of global experience to the post, having been chief executive of the British Gas offshoot, Lattice Group, and served on the board of British Gas for several years.

Rise in interest for AgCert services

Dublin-based greenhouse gas reduction firm AgCert International has announced a significant rise in interest from projects across the world, and that it has made progress in its trading and regulatory approvals in the first half of its financial year.

AgCert supplies farms with technology to reduce pollution levels so that they can then sell surplus carbon emission credits to companies which need them.

The firm is currently valued at £324 million (€471 million). It will release its first-half results on June 30th.

Chairman of Aminex retires

The chairman and director of Iseq-listed oil and gas exploration company Aminex, Peter Elwes, has retired.

Senior non-executive director Derek Tughan will now serve as chairman.

Last month, Aminex issued a new share placing in an effort to raise €4.27 million, representing 6 per cent of its issued share capital, for its 2007 drilling campaign.

'This Week' column

It was stated in the This Week column yesterday that CRH would release its interim trading statement on Friday. In fact, the trading statement will be published on Wednesday, July 5th.

The Waterford Institute of Technology Foundation lecture on "Branding Fourth Level Ireland" will take place this Thursday, and not tomorrow as stated in This Week.