In short

A roundup of today's other business news in brief

Warner Chilcott in $1bn deal

LEO PHARMA has agreed to buy back US rights to three psoriasis treatments from Irish-headquartered Warner Chilcott for $1 billion (€676 million) in cash.

Warner Chilcott, based in Ardee, Co Louth, will have a gain of about $450 million after tax from the sale, which it will use to repay debt and reduce financing needs for its purchase of Procter Gamble’s pharmaceuticals unit. Warner Chilcott last month agreed to buy the business for an upfront cash payment of $3.1 billion.

The Irish company will continue to distribute and market Leo Pharma’s psoriasis medicines until the end of the year.

Warner Chilcott, which makes birth-control pills and acne medicine, has collaborated with Leo Pharma since 2003. – (Bloomberg)

Zamano revenue takes big hit

Mobile data services provider Zamano posted revenue of €13.3 million for the first six months of 2009, down from €23.7 million for the same period a year earlier. The firm improved gross margins and Ebitda margins, maintained adjusted EPS at 2.3 cents and generated €2.1 million of operating cashflow.

The groups earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation fell by 7 per cent to €2.3 million. Ebitda margin increased to 17 per cent, up 7 percentage points on the same period in 2008.

Profits before tax fell marginally from €0.67 million to €0.60 million.

Zamano recorded revenue of €8.8 million in the UK, €1.7 million in Ireland and €0.6 million in Australia. However, losses in these traditional markets were partially offset by gains in the US and Spain.

Cyber-security research centre for Belfast

A new £30 million cyber-security research centre which will create 80 jobs has been established at Queen’s University Belfast, writes Francess McDonnell.

The Centre for Secure Information Technologies is set to become the lead facility in the UK for the development of technology to counter malicious “cyber-attacks”.

Queen’s said the centre will be at the forefront of research to keep crime off the internet and safeguard the integrity of information stored electronically.

It will bring together leading research specialists from the fields of data encryption and both wireless and network enabled security systems. Prof Peter Gregson, Queen’s vice-chancellor said it was a “bold and exciting development”.