In Short

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

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

Warning over three investment firms

The Financial Regulator has issued a warning over three investment firms, which it says are offering advice and services to Irish consumers without its authorisation.

The regulator said, in a warning notice, that Belgian MJM Investments, Montgomery Blake and Associates, which has offices in China and Singapore, and Irish firm the Morgan Stern Group are not authorised as investment firms in Ireland.

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MJM Investments and Montgomery Blake had been offering unauthorised investment services and advice. Morgan Stern “may be claiming to be an investment firm based here”.

Oil well with 10% Tullow stake confirms Sierra Leone strike

An oil well in which exploration firm Tullow Oil has a 10 per cent stake has made a discovery, it has been confirmed.

The Venus well, which is operated by Anadarko Petroleum, struck oil offshore in Sierra Leone. Anadarko owns a 40 per cent interest in the well, with other partners Woodside and Repsol each holding a 25 per cent stake in the project.

The discovery was made after the well was drilled to a depth of about 18,500 feet in 5,900 feet of water.

Adobe to pay $1.8bn for Omniture

Adobe Systems plans to pay $1.8 billion for fast-growing business software maker Omniture as the maker of Photoshop and Acrobat looks to turn around declining sales.

Adobe announced the deal as it reported lower quarterly sales and profit. The acquisition would give Adobe a new stream of revenue to offset that decline. Omniture charges customers fees based on monthly website traffic.

Advertising agencies and companies use Omniture’s software to analyse how consumers use websites. It is the biggest provider of such services. – Reuters

Forum urged to brief banks on NI's interests

The North's Executive should encourage the Irish Government to set up a formal mechanism to ensure Northern Ireland's interests are directly represented to Irish banks, according to the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP).

It said financial institutions should be more sympathetic to NI's interests. A way to ensure this would be to encourage the British chancellor and Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan to create a forum where they could be discussed.