In Short

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

EADS signs $9.7bn deal with China

EADS, the European defence group, is considering building passenger airliners in China after signing its biggest Airbus deal yesterday. China agreed to buy 150 aircraft from the A320 family, with a list value of $9.7 billion (€8.2 billion) before discounts, from Airbus, the EADS subsidiary.

The order, which sent EADS shares to a record high of €32.85, is the latest development in a high-stakes battle with American rival Boeing for the fast-growing Chinese market. Boeing last month won a $4 billion order from China for 70 aircraft.

Airbus says it expects the Chinese market to grow by 8-10 per cent over the coming 10 years.

As part of the deal Airbus is to study the feasibility of setting up an assembly plant in China to build single-aisle aircraft.

Airtricity secures €40m in funding

Wind energy group Airtricity announced yesterday that it has arranged loans totalling €40 million through Barclay's Capital to fund the further development of its business.

The company said that the deal will allow it to draw down €30 million immediately, with a further €10 million available to pay for its next wind farm.

The company's corporate finance manager, Fintan Whelan, said it was a first for Airtricity in that the debt was based on the cashflow rather than on the 85 per cent of individual project costs to which it was previously limited.

Airtricity began expanding into Scotland and the US when the Government decided to re-assess the role of wind generation in its renewable energy policy.

Barrett agrees to await outcome

Property developer Richard Barrett has undertaken before the High Court not to take any steps to hold an extraordinary general meeting (egm) of a company in which he is involved pending the outcome of full legal proceedings.

On that basis Mr Justice Frank Clarke yesterday discharged an interim order restraining Mr Barrett from taking any steps to hold an egm of Camberely Investments Ltd.

That meeting was due to be held on November 23rd last but did not proceed after the order was granted.

Cullen thanks EU for open skies help

The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, yesterday thanked other EU states for supporting Ireland during the recent open skies talks with US negotiators.

He made the comments at a transport council meeting in Brussels where open skies was discussed in relation the proposed EU-US agreement.

At the meeting, Mr Cullen thanked the EU Commission and the other member states for their support in agreeing a transitional arrangement for Shannon Airport.

The Minister also welcomed the significant improvements in other areas including regulatory convergence and security provisions.

Construction jobs growth positive

Employment growth in the construction sector remains positive, but is slowing, according to data released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office. The index of construction employment in October was 2.4 per cent higher than a year previously.

The recently published Quarterly National Household Survey shows that growth in construction employment contributed thirty thousand extra jobs in the twelve months to August, one-third of total employment growth in that period.