Today's other stories in brief

Somers steps down from board of AIB

Insolvency consultant Bernard Somers is stepping down from the board of AIB to "avoid conflicts of interest" arising from his work for his corporate restructuring consultancy, Somers Associates, the bank has said in a statement.

Mr Somers, a brother of Michael Somers, chief executive of the National Treasury Management Agency, will resign from the board at the end of the year.

AIB chairman Dermot Gleeson said: "We fully understand that, because of the current economic climate, the demands on his own corporate restructuring consultancy business are high."

Mr Gleeson said that if Mr Somers had remained on the board, it would have "precluded him" from developing his business, "having regard to the potential for conflicts of interest to arise".

The term of another AIB director, Mike Sullivan, has been extended from the end of the year until April 29th, when he will be replaced by David Pritchard.

Hoyer dispute for Labour Court

A strike threat has forced management at an oil transport company to agree to a Labour Court pay hearing next Monday.

Drivers at the Irish operation of German specialist logistics group, Hoyer, which provides transport services for Esso in this country, voted yesterday to strike in January in an effort to get the company to meet its national pay deal commitments.

The company has not paid any increase under the national agreement since 2006, with the consequence that its staff are seeking pay rises of up to 14 per cent.

It is understood that, as a result of the move, the company has agreed to go to the Labour Court on Monday.

Kentz engineering wins Saudi contract

Engineering and instrumentation consultancy Kentz has won a $26 million (19.47 million) contract for work on the planned Jubail industrial city in Saudi Arabia.

The company said yesterday that Saudi's royal commission for Jubail and Yanbu awarded Kentz and its partner, Radicon-Gulf Consult, a three-year engineering and consultancy services.

CRH having a look at Andhra Cement

Building materials giant CRH was named yesterday as a possible suitor for Indian cement player Andhra Cement.

Reports said that the Irish company, along with global rivals such as Lafarge and Intacementi, are eyeing up the Indian manufacturer, which made an operating loss of about €110,000 last year.

Cemex fails to refinance debt

Cemex, the Mexican cement multinational that owns Irish cement group Readymix, saw its shares tumble yesterday when it failed to refinance a significant slice of its debt.

Shares in the world's third- biggest cement maker tumbled 23 per cent as a proposed deal to swap short-term debt for longer- term notes fell through because of the liquidity squeeze and forecasts of poor fourth-quarter results, which are due next week. - (Financial Times service)

Engineering groups on cartel charges

Some of the world's largest engineering groups - including Siemens, ABB and Toshiba - have been charged with running a cartel in Europe's multi-billion euro power transformer market.

Antitrust regulators at the European Commission said yesterday they had sent so-called "statements of objections" about an alleged price-fixing agreement to an unspecified number of manufacturers of power transformers.

These are major electrical components that are used to reduce or increase the voltage in a power grid. - (Financial Times service)