A round-up of today's other business news in brief ...
Public sector wages rose 3.2% in 2008
The average weekly wage for public sector workers rose 3.2 per cent last year, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Public workers earned an average of €966 in December 2008, compared to €936 in 2007.
The figures exclude health sector workers.
The CSO said 262,300 people were working in the public sector – excluding health – at the end of 2008, an increase of 5,700 over the previous year. The majority of this rise was in education, where there were 4,100 more staff than in 2007.
In December 2008, there were 105,000 education staff; 53,300 staff employed in State agencies; 38,800 civil servants; 38,500 staff in regional bodies; 14,300 members of An Garda Síochána; 11,300 Defence Forces staff; and 1,100 in other public employment.
The best-paid public workers were gardaí. While they earned €150 a week more in their basic salary in 2008 than in 2007, cuts in overtime meant their average weekly wage fell from €1,262 in 2007 to €1,158 last year.
Greencore finishes refinancing
Greencore has completed a refinancing of its bank debt facilities, in a move to assure investors in the food group about potential liquidity issues.
New debt facilities worth €360 million with a maturity date of April 2012 replaced an existing debt arrangement of €336 million, which had been due in May 2010.
Bloxham Stockbrokers said the larger facility had probably been secured at a higher cost, but noted that Greencore “should manage through the current tough environment without material damage”.
Greencore enjoyed a bounce on the Iseq after the announcement yesterday, closing up more than 6 per cent at €0.82.
RBS warns of more job losses
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) warned of more jobs losses in the UK and internationally as it said the 2,700 announced so far this year were “not the end of the story”.
The embattled bank, which is majority owned by the UK government, said it was still unclear how many job cuts would take place but it would do “all it can” to keep compulsory redundancies to a minimum.
RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton also called for an end to the bank’s “public flogging” ahead of its annual general meeting in Edinburgh yesterday.
Anglo American raises $2bn
Anglo American raised $2 billion (€1.48 billion) in the US bond markets yesterday, a sum higher than expected after its bond issue was more than three times oversubscribed.
The fundraising, which will complete Anglo American’s plans to refinance $3 billion in debt due this year, comes soon after BHP Billiton raised $6.3 billion through separate euro and dollar bonds in March. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Regulator pursues Fortescue founder
Andrew Forrest, the mining magnate who briefly topped Australia’s billionaires’ list during the commodities boom, could be disqualified as a company director if the country’s securities regulator succeeds in a court action starting in Perth on Monday.
The Australian securities and investments commission is pursuing Mr Forrest and Fortescue Metals for allegedly misleading the stock market over announcements relating to agreements with China Railway Engineering Corp and China Metallurgical.
The commission alleges that these were no more than agreements to consider agreements, and that Mr Forrest and Fortescue, the company he founded in 2002, should have made that clear. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009)
