In Short

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

Wal-Mart reports 26% drop in profits

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, reported its first quarterly fall in profits for 10 years yesterday, hit by a $863 million (€675 million) loss from the planned sale of its 85 stores in Germany.

The retailer's second- quarter net income fell 26 per cent to $2.08 billion, while its overall sales rose 11.3 per cent to $84.52 billion.

Excluding its operations in Germany and South Korea, where it is also selling its 16 stores, Wal-Mart said its profits from continuing operations rose 4.6 per cent to $2.9 billion, or 72 cents per share, in line with expectations.

It reported a decline in profit margins at its Asda unit in Britain, as it lowered prices to win market share. However, it said Asda's total sales were above plan. - (Financial Times service)

Tullow tests find 'reasonable' oil flow

Dublin-based exploration group Tullow Oil announced yesterday that the latest test results from one of its Ugandan discovery wells confirmed a "reasonable rate" of oil flow.

Technical tests carried out on oil-bearing sand at the Mputa-1 well by Tullow Oil's partner Hardman Resources, revealed an average flow rate of 300 barrels of oil per day.

Tom Hickey of Tullow Oil said this flow rate was "pretty much what we expected", given that the tests focused on "quite a small section of the well".

UBS results ahead of expectations

UBS maintained its reputation for positive surprises when its second-quarter results came out ahead of rivals and beat market expectations.

Earnings in investment banking rose in spite of turmoil in equity markets. Private banking, UBS's other mainstay, also performed strongly, with increases in net new money and a second consecutive quarter of profits at fledgling onshore European operations.

Peter Wuffli, chief executive, warned that concerns about economic growth and political events could prompt a slowdown. He said the pace of share buybacks would decline after recent acquisitions.

Net profits jumped by 47 per cent to SFr3.15 billion year-on-year, while earnings from its financial businesses were up 51 per cent to SFr3.03 billion. - (Financial Times service)

Gold firm with NI mine posts loss

AIM-listed Galantas Gold Corporation, which owns a gold mine in Northern Ireland, has posted a net loss of 420,215 Canadian dollars (€292,545) for the three month period to June 30th.

This compares to a loss of C$524,704 in the previous quarter and brought the company's total deficit at the end of the first half of 2006 to C$11.7 million.

It said it expected "the achievement of production and cash flow from the gold deposits in Omagh" to be its key performance driver.

Building firm pays €24.9m for farmland

A Monaghan building and concrete company is understood to have paid €24.9 million for 80 acres of farmland close to Monaghan town. It is believed that Mullen's Brothers Concrete Company was the main purchaser of the land at four separate sites. Over half the land is zoned for outline planning permission.

Lundin to invest in Swedish mine

Lundin Mining, the owner of the Galmoy lead and zinc mine in Co Kilkenny, announced yesterday it was investing $6.4 million (€5 million) in its Zinkgruvan mine in Sweden.

The investment will upgrade plant, reduce noise pollution levels and increase annual mill capacity to 40,000 tonnes.