In Short

Other business news in brief

Elan seeking 29 redundancies

Pharmaceutical firm Elan has announced it is seeking 29 redundancies at its plant in Athlone, Co Westmeath.

The firm said yesterday it hoped to achieve the redundancies “through a voluntary programme over the next month and is committed to working with employees during this period of transition”.

It said the job losses were due to a decision by Eli Lilly to manufacture anti-depressant drug Duloxetine in-house.

Global recession may be 'near end'

The global recession may be coming to an end with the economies of most large western and Asian countries expected to grow in the third quarter, according to a Bank of Ireland report.
Report author Dan McLaughlin said the "global economy had probably bottomed out in June" and forecasts for 2009 and 2010 were being revised up.

The International Monetary Fund now expects the global economy to grow by 2.5 per cent next year, he said.

Union backs call for banking inquiry

A union representing financial-sector employees has said it supports a call from Colm McCarthy, who chaired the group that identified more than €5.3 billion in public-service cuts, for an inquiry into the banking system.

The Irish Bank Officials' Association said while the public deserved "a thorough explanation", thousands of bank employees wanted to know about the failures that jeopardised their jobs.


Sigmar buyers to provide 650,000

The management and workers who are taking over Sigmar Recruitment from troubled parent Newcourt are providing the company with €650,000 in working capital.
Management, led by the MD Adrian McGennis, staff and a number of private investors, have bought Sigmar from Newcourt, which was placed in receivership in June with debts of about €36 million. A spokesman yesterday said the business is set to break even this year.

Clarification

In an article in Tuesday's edition entitled "UCD economist Kelly to back ACC case against Zoe", it was stated incorrectly that Barclays Bank is a creditor of the Zoe Group.

Barclays has no ongoing relationship or exposure to the Zoe Group or any related company.  It had a relationship with the Zoe Group until 2007, when all debts were repaid.