In Short

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

Four new Jurys hotels planned for Britain

Budget hotels operator Jurys Inns is planning to open four new properties in Britain that are being developed by an Irish company at a cost of €97 million.

The company said yesterday that it would take over properties in Bradford, Glasgow, Portsmouth and Newcastle in 2010, adding 230 new rooms to its British estate, where it already has 17 hotels. They will employ 300 people.

Irish developer and property investor McAleer and Rushe is building the hotels. Jurys Inns will be a long-term tenant of the properties.

AIG to base holding company in Ireland

Global insurance group AIG plans to base the holding company for its revamped European operations in the Republic.

The group’s potential liabilities for insuring bonds linked to subprime property debt forced the US government in September to throw it a $150 billion lifeline.

However, its more mainstream casualty and property insurance businesses are sound. As part of its reorganisation, it is locating the holding company in Europe for these businesses in Ireland.

Call for crisis national government

Businessman Philip Lynch has called for the formation of a national government to tackle the Republic’s growing financial crisis, which he says is starving viable enterprises of cash.

The chief executive of investment vehicle One51 has warned that party politics cannot be allowed to interfere with a national emergency.

“I believe that the Taoiseach should seek Cabinet approval to start discussions with the leaders of the opposition parties with the objective of setting up an all-party Government immediately,” Mr Lynch said.

Bowel treatment trial completed

Irish pharmaceutical company AGI Therapeutics has completed patient enrolment for a phase three trial of its experimental treatment for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

AGI chief executive Dr John Devane says IBS-D, the form of irritable bowel syndrome targeted by its drug, has no current treatment. AGI estimates the US patient population for IBS-D at 10 million people, two-thirds of them women.

If successful, AGI says, Rezular could earn between $1 and $2 billion worldwide with peak UK annual sales of $800 million.

Dragon Oil builds up $847m to invest

Dublin-listed oil and gas producer Dragon Oil has accumulated $867 million (€670 million) in cash to fund investments and possible acquisitions for this year and reported a 28 per cent increase production in 2008.

In an end-of-year statement, the company said it had achieved average production of 40,992 barrels of oil a day last year and that capital spending for the year was $307 million.

Germany’s economic sentiment improves

German analyst and investor sentiment on the outlook for Europe’s biggest economy improved by more than expected in January.

The Mannheim-based ZEW economic think tank’s monthly poll of economic sentiment rose to -31.0 from -45.2 in December. The index was based on a survey of 312 analysts and investors conducted between January 5th and January 20th, ZEW said.