In short

A roundup of today's other business news in brief

Profits at UTV up 29% last year

UTV Media plc, Northern Ireland’s biggest broadcaster, says profit rose 24 per cent in 2009 as finance costs fell and the company sold unprofitable units and cut jobs.

Net income increased to £11.1 million (€12.4 million) from £8.98 million (€9.9 million) a year earlier, the Belfast company said yesterday. Sales fell 6 per cent to £112 million (€124.7 million).

Advertisers cut budgets in 2009 amid the recessions in Britain and Ireland, UTV’s two main markets. A cost reduction programme that included job cuts saved £6 million (€6.7 million) last year, UTV said. – (Bloomberg)

Tullow says expansion talks at ‘early stage’

Tullow Oil says any plans it has to boost its existing presence in east Africa are at a “very early stage” as speculation grows that it is pursuing opportunities in Kenya.

The Irish company already controls three blocks in Uganda, with proven reserves of almost 800 million barrels of oil and the potential to produce up to 2.2 billion barrels, which it is proposing to develop in a three-way partnership with French giant Total and Chinese state company CNOOC.

Some reports suggest that Tullow is in active talks with the Kenyan government to secure a stake in an exploration licence block that has been awarded to Canadian player Centric Energy.

REO sells shares in China company

Treasury Holdings-backed Real Estate Opportunities (REO) will exit its sister company, China Real Estate Opportunities (CREO), for £27 million (€30 million) in a deal aimed at boosting the latter’s share price and liquidity.

CREO said the holders of more than 8.45 million of its shares tendered their holdings in the company for £3.30 a share under a buyback and placing scheme announced earlier this month. The bulk of the shares tendered were the 8.38 million held by REO, which had agreed to take part in the buyback scheme when it was announced.

CREO will buy back and cancel 1.5 million of the shares, while broker Matrix Corporate Capital has placed the remaining 6.95 million units with new shareholders.

REO’s exit will boost the stock’s liquidity. The firm will have a free float of close to 60 per cent. Treasury Holdings and its directors, John Ronan and Richard Barrett, who with REO were concert parties in CREO, will continue to hold 40 per cent.

Rise in consumers using online banking

Growing numbers of consumers are migrating from paper to electronic payment methods, with some 2.6 million people registered for online banking.

According to figures provided to The Irish Timesby the Irish Banking Federation and Irish Payment Services Organisation, the number of consumers registered for online personal banking services jumped by more than 400,000, or 16.1 per cent, in 2009. The figures also show a pronounced rise in online banking usage, with customers logging on to check their accounts 136 million times last year, a 17.2 per cent jump on 2008.