A round-up of other business stories in brief....

Agreement on Thomas Read's future elusive

The examiner of the Thomas Read Group of pubs and restaurants has told the High Court liquidation will have to be considered if talks to resolve difficulties with one of its major creditors are unsuccessful.

Ulster Bank, which is owed €5.6 million, may no longer be able to support the survival plan proposed by the examiner for the group which operates 18 of Dublin’s best known hostelries, the court was told yesterday.

The bank’s credit committee is to meet to decide whether to support terms which would be to the satisfaction of the examiner, the court heard.

Lyndon MacCann SC, for the examiner, said that, without Ulster Bank’s backing, the alternative was to propose the immediate appointment of a liquidator.

An investor is prepared to invest in nine of the 13 firms that made up the group and is supporting the examiner’s scheme of arrangement to ensure their survival, the court has heard during the two-day hearing aimed at securing approval for the examiner’s survival proposals.

IDA opens first office in India

IDA Ireland’s first Indian office was officially opened in Mumbai on Tuesday by Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews.

A spokesman for the IDA said that the opening of an office in India forms part of the organisation’s strategy to “widen the base of where we search for foreign direct investment in the future”.

A number of Indian companies are already operating in Ireland and the IDA now hopes to attract further Indian investment.

The IDA also opened a new office in Sao Paulo, Brazil, at the start of the year, and is investigating the possibility of opening branches in Russia and the Gulf states.

Harcourt appoint Hunt as director

The Dublin-based property development group Harcourt announced yesterday that it has appointed Jon Hunt as a non-executive director.

Mr Hunt is the former chief executive of UK estate agency chain Foxtons.

AIB cuts one-year fixed rate to 2.4%

Allied Irish Banks (AIB) has reduced its one-year fixed rate for first-time buyers to 2.4 per cent from 2.49 per cent. This is now below Bank of Ireland’s similar one-year first-time buyer rate of 2.45 per cent.

The bank is offering the rate on all owner-occupier mortgages sanctioned between June 30th and September 30th.

AIB said that more than 20 per cent of all new mortgages offered by the bank are to first-time buyers.

Oracle results trigger dividend

Business software maker Oracle reported stronger than expected quarterly results and said it would pay its first dividend to shareholders.

New software sales fell a less than expected 6 per cent from a year earlier to $1.5 billion. Analysts had said they were expecting them to decline about 12 per cent as the weak economy and currency fluctuations hurt sales. Oracle also posted profit, excluding special items, of 35 cents per share for its fiscal third quarter ended February 28th. – (Reuters)