In short

A round-up of today's other business news in brief ...

Aer Lingus passengers up 10.9% in April

Aer Lingus carried 945,000 passengers in April, a 10.9 per cent year-on-year increase.

Its figures for the month were helped by Easter falling in April this year.

Short-haul passenger volumes rose by 13.2 per cent to 847,000 but on flights to the US traffic declined by 5.8 per cent to 98,000.

Its overall load factor - the average number of seats filled on each aircraft - increased by 4.1 points in April to 74.6 per cent.

For the year as a whole, Aer Lingus carried 3.1 million passengers up to end of April, a decline of 2.4 per cent.

Short-haul traffic fell by 1.2 per cent to 2.8 million while long-haul services carried 12.1 per cent fewer passengers at 327,000.

Its average load factor so far this year was 71.8 per cent, up 2.4 points.

More EU states face censure over deficits

The European Commission will take disciplinary steps next Wednesday against Poland, Romania, Lithuania and Malta for letting their budget deficits rise above the bloc's ceiling.

The action, to be launched under the EU's excessive deficit procedure, may in theory lead to fines for euro-zone countries that persistently top the EU's budget deficit ceiling of 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), or a freeze in EU aid funds for non-euro-zone member states.

But the commission has made it clear it will avoid any drastic measures as long as the economic crisis lasts and give budget sinners generous deadlines to correct fiscal shortfalls.

"On Wednesday, the commission will take a first step in the excessive deficit procedure in the case of more countries," a commission official said.

The commission is expected to propose deadlines for them to bring down their deficits to less than 3 per cent of GDP next month, the official added.

The commission has already launched disciplinary steps against Ireland, France, Spain, Greece and Latvia. - (Reuters)

Surge in NI property repossession actions

The number of people in Northern Ireland getting into trouble with their mortgage and faced with repossession action in the courts surged by 35 per cent in the first three months of the year.

The Court Service in the North said yesterday that 1,020 writs and summonses were issued in the High Court in relation to mortgages.

That was a steep rise on the 754 at the same time a year earlier and almost double the 566 actions in the first quarter of 2007.

Not all the actions resulted in the occupier being told to leave the property.

However, possession orders were granted in 455 cases, meaning the property had to be handed back within a specified time.

In a further 240 cases, a suspended possession order was issued. - (PA)

Carphone Warehouse to buy Tiscali assets

British telecoms and retail group Carphone Warehouse has agreed to buy the British assets of Italian internet services provider Tiscali for £236 million (€173 million) in cash, free of debt.

The acquisition of Tiscali UK will make Carphone the UK's biggest residential broadband provider, overtaking Virgin Media, and the second-biggest including business customers after BT.

Carphone will acquire 1.45 million subscribers to add to its 2.8 million.

Carphone said yesterday it would fund the acquisition from existing debt facilities and expected it to close by the end of June, subject to competition authorities and Tiscali obtaining formal approval to restructure its debt. - (Reuters)

Australian economy to shrink by 1.25%

The Reserve Bank of Australia warned yesterday that the economy would shrink by 1.25 per cent for the year to June 30th, a significant downgrade of its February projection of 0.25 per cent growth.

It also cut its forecast for the subsequent year, with the pace of economic growth now seen at 0.5 per cent, down from 1.25 per cent. This indicates that the bank expects a modest recovery to follow a short and mild recession when compared with other developed nations.

The forecasts bring the bank into line with economists and bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, which have predicted that Australia's economy will contract in 2009.