In Short

A roundup of the rest of today's business news in brief

Spanish consumer price inflation rises by 1.8%

Spanish consumer prices rose by 1.8 per cent year-on-year in August, slightly less than expected as fuel costs fell, data from the National Statistics Institute showed yesterday.

EU-harmonised inflation for Spain eased from 1.9 per cent in July, which was the highest since November 2008. Consumer price rises have accelerated from a year low of 0.9 per cent in February, easing concerns Spain could succumb to deflation. Economists however believe the weak economy could still cause the rate of price rises to slow later in the year, noting that prices were pushed higher in July as a result of a two percentage point increase in VAT to 18 per cent.

Spain exited an 18-month recession in the first quarter, but the economy remains weak and the government expects it to contract by 0.3 per cent this year.

Bourke joins Kernel as partner

Gavin Bourke, formerly an investment director with listed private equity firm TVC Holdings, has joined Kernel Capital as a partner.

Mr Bourke oversaw the sale of TVC's investments in several private technology companies to international players including the sale of Havok to Intel, Mapflow to SOS Ventures and Steeltrace to Compuware.

Maxroam signs Ryanair Sim deal

Cork telecoms firm Maxroam, which sells Sim cards that reduce the cost of mobile phone roaming, has signed an exclusive three- year deal with Ryanair. The airline will sell Maxroam Sim cards and unlocked phones through its website.

Maxroam sales director Kieran Sexton said it was the first deal the firm had done with an airline.