In short

A round-up of today's news in brief

Pfizer profits are lower than expected

Pfizer has reported lower than expected quarterly earnings, citing competition with generics and a surprisingly big 13 per cent decline in sales of its best- selling Lipitor cholesterol fighter.

The world's biggest drug maker, whose shares fell almost 4 per cent, said it earned $1.27 billion, or 18 cents per share in the second quarter. That compares with $2.42 billion, or 33 cents per share, a year earlier. - (Reuters)

Kingspan buys Canadian firm

Kingspan has bought a raised-access flooring business in Canada for an undisclosed sum. The purchased company, ASPmaxcess, will be integrated with Kingspan's existing US flooring business, Tate. The deal is thought to be small in the overall context of the group. Davy said yesterday that it was expecting "a bumper year" for Kingspan's raised access flooring business.

New Donegal paper launched

River Media has launched a new newspaper in Donegal. The Finn Valley Post is the ninth newspaper launched or acquired by the firm in the past two years.

Its launch brings to four the number of titles owned by River Media in Donegal, where the company also publishes the Inish Times, the Donegal Post and the Letterkenny Post. The other regional titles published by the group include the Sligo Post, the Monaghan Post, the Kildare Post, the Leitrim Post and the Derry News.

Intel has $1.3bn profit to July

Chip giant Intel has announced profits of $1.3 billion (€0.94 billion) for its second quarter to the end of June, an improvement of 44 per cent year on year.

It suggests that the restructuring plan announced by chief executive Paul Otellini last September, which seeks to make savings of $2 billion this year, is taking effect.

NI jobless rate falls slightly

Northern Ireland's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.2 per cent for March-May 2007, marking a slight fall from the rates of 4.6 per cent and 4.5 per cent in the previous quarter and previous year respectively.

The latest Northern Ireland rate remains below the UK average of 5.4 per cent and is also considerably lower than the EU average rate of 7.1 per cent for April 2007.

EBS has book for Lithuanians

The Educational Building Society (EBS) has launched a book for Lithuanian first-time buyers in the Republic. The book provides guidance and advice on the home-buying process in Lithuanian. The building society has previously published home buying guides in English and Polish. According to the CSO, there are almost 25,000 Lithuanians now living in the Republic and about one third are planning to settle here.

BCI awards radio funding

The BCI has awarded funding for radio of €143,540 through its New Adventures in Broadcasting Scheme. The scheme, which was relaunched in May of this year, aims to promote the development of innovative and diverse radio programmes.

Ryanair censured over Brown ads

Ryanair was yesterday censured in the UK for advertisements which criticised Gordon Brown over air passenger duty.

The airline used pictures of the then UK chancellor in press adverts which complained about the increased tax rate. The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld objections to the three advertisements, saying the airline had breached advertising rules relating to truthfulness. - (PA)