In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Ormonde set to invest in Spanish mines

Ormonde Mining, the IEX-listed exploration group, is to fast-track the development of its Barruecopardo tungsten project in Spain, from which it expects to begin production in late 2009. The company is also starting a staged capital investment strategy on its copper and gold mine in La Zarza, also in Spain, after a feasibility study showed an increase in capital costs.

Ormonde, which is also quoted on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), said it had positive drilling results at its Salamanca mine. The group is still in its development phase and yesterday it reported an after-tax full-year loss of €580,071 for 2007, following a €4.25 million investment programme.

QUB's spin-out firms growing

Spin-out companies from Queen's University could potentially deliver a combined record turnover of £90 million this year.

Businesses, created by the university's spin-out company QUBIS Ltd, are among some of the fastest growing new technology companies in the North.

New league tables published this week suggest Queen's is the UK's leading higher education institution in terms of the annual turnover of its spin-out firms.

The tables are published jointly by the UK's Department of Trade Industry (DTI) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

Anglo Irish not to renew sponsorship

Anglo Irish Bank has decided not to renew its sponsorship of the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, the traditional curtain-raiser of the Cheltenham Festival, after a three-year deal ran its course.

"We have had three good years and this sponsorship was very good in relation to entertaining our clients and getting coverage in the media," said Simon Bird, head of marketing and communications for Anglo Irish Bank in the UK.

The bank has been reducing costs in recent months as new lending has slowed. It cut costs by €26 million, or 13 per cent, in the six months to March 31st, reducing its cost-to-income ratio to 19 per cent from 22 per cent.

Tullow finds oil and natural gas

Tullow Oil, the UK explorer with the most drilling licenses in Africa, said the Taitai-1 well in the Butiaba region of Uganda has found oil and natural gas.

Pressure testing and sampling has confirmed the presence of moveable 30 degrees API oil and a potential oil column of up to 80 meters, the London-based company said yesterday in a statement. (Bloomberg)

UK inflation rises 3% from 2007

The UK's inflation rate jumped the most since 2002 to the highest in more than a year, making it harder for the Bank of England to cut interest rates to support economic growth.

Consumer prices climbed 3 per cent from a year earlier, compared with 2.5 per cent in March, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday in London.

The result was the highest in 13 months and exceeded expectations. Prices rose 0.8 per cent on the month, the most in almost seven years. -(Bloomberg)

Avoca Capital in bond deal

Avoca Capital Holdings, a Dublin-based asset manager, has sold € 300 million of bonds backed by leveraged buyout loans.

The collateralized loan obligation, called Avoca CLO IX, was arranged by Credit Suisse Group and packages loans bought from other banks and investors in the secondary market.