A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Life sciences group set to double staff
Celtic Catalysts, a UCD- based life sciences group, plans to double its workforce to 20 over the next 12 months after successfully completing its initial technology development phase.
The company said yesterday it has secured a number of research alliance contracts with major pharmaceutical companies and as a result of the need to expand is now seeking to acquire a minimum of 3,000 square feet of laboratory space either in UCD or elsewhere in Ireland.
Airtricity to invest €750m in wind farm
Airtricity plans to invest €750 million in a wind farm off Germany's North Sea coast.
The news follows an announcement last week in which the Irish company confirmed that the Dutch government had given it permission to build a similar-sized farm off the Netherlands.
The German site, known as the Butendiek, will generate up to 300 mega- watts of electricity. It will begin operations in 2009.
Vodafone likely to axe over 100 jobs
Telecoms multi-national, Vodafone, is likely to axe more than 100 jobs here in the new year. The group is carrying out a review of its global operations, and has singled out Ireland as one location where it will trim its workforce.
However, the group dismissed reports yesterday that it would seek as many as 500 job losses from its Irish workforce.
It said the figure was speculative. The company employs 1,800 people in Dublin and Dundalk.
The company is the biggest mobile operator in the State, which has consistently been one of its most lucrative markets in terms of the revenues it earns from its customers. The company announced last month that revenues per user had fallen by 12 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter as a result of increased competition.
Mandelson seeks to revive trade talks
European trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said yesterday he wanted to hold a meeting with leading trade ministers to discuss stalled global trade talks as early as possible in January.
Top negotiators involved in the World Trade Organisation's Doha round of trade talks are scheduled to discuss how to unblock the negotiations on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum starting on January 24th in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos.
The Doha round was suspended in July and risks being delayed by several years if there is no breakthrough in early 2007. - (Reuters)
Tullow Oil names new director
Tullow Oil yesterday announced the appointment of Angus McCoss as exploration director. Mr McCoss, who joined the company in April as general manager for exploration, will take up the position immediately.
NTL abandons ITV takeover bid
NTL, the British cable broadcaster controlled by Sir Richard Branson, yesterday abandoned its £4.7 billion takeover bid for ITV, Britain's leading commercial broadcaster, to concentrate on integrating this year's merger with rival Telewest and acquisition of Virgin Mobile. - (Financial Times service)
Algeria promising, says Petroceltic
Exploration minnow Petroceltic says the initial evaluation of test data from gas flow tests at one of it its Algerian sites was promising.
