In Short

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

Icon's quarterly earnings

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology group Icon said yesterday that earnings in the second quarter of the year hit €11.7 million.

Icon reported revenues of $147 million (€107 million), an increase of 37 per cent on the $107 million in turnover it recorded during the same period last year. It said second-quarter earnings were $16.1 million, an increase of 42 per cent. Earnings per share grew at the same rate, to 45 cent. Dublin-based Icon provides outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries.

Court grants extradition

The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the extradition to the UK of an Irishman wanted there on charges relating to an alleged £3 million (€4.5 million) fraud.

The five-judge Supreme Court yesterday granted an appeal by the Minister for Justice against a High Court decision refusing to extradite Robert Francis Stapleton (63).

It was alleged Mr Stapleton, a former chairman of two companies which manufactured and supplied fold-away squash courts, had masterminded a fraud from which he got stg£3 million to support his companies and fund an extravagant lifestyle.

The High Court had ruled the extradition would breach Mr Stapleton's constitutional right to a fair trial because of a delay of more than 20 years since the commission of the alleged offences.

Delivering the Supreme Court's judgment, Mr Justice Nial Fennelly said it has never been established here that a person is entitled to have their trial stopped on the basis of delay alone, and he found the High Court was wrong in seeking parity of criminal procedure in the member state seeking extradition.

Shell's earnings beat forecasts

Royal Dutch Shell yesterday beat analysts' expectations with an 18 per cent rise in quarterly earnings to $8.67 billion (€6.3 billion).

On a current cost of supplies basis, stripping out the effect of changes in prices on inventories, Shell's earnings were 20 per cent higher, at $7.56 billion, in the second quarter. Shell's downstream businesses, such as refining, marketing and chemicals, accounted for much of the rise in profits, but the results were also boosted by profits on divestments of $660 million in the quarter. - (Financial Times service)

IL&P assigned B rating

Ratings agency Fitch has assigned a B rating to Irish Life & Permanent, noting that the decision reflects the group's "good market share" of retail banking in the Republic and position as "leading domestic provider of retail and corporate life assurance, pensions and asset management".

AIB's chief risk officer to retire

AIB's group chief risk officer, Shom Bhattacharya, will retire at the end of this year having spent five years in the job. Mr Bhattacharya, who was hired in the wake of the $691 million (€502 million) John Rusnak fraud, will return to his native US upon retirement. AIB will begin to seek a replacement for Mr Bhattacharya in September.

Capvest buys UK-based firm

Capvest, the private equity fund that recently took a majority stake in the Mater Private Hospital, has bought the UK-based Seafood Company for an estimated €60 million.

London-based Capvest, headed by Cavan man Séamus Fitzpatrick, has bought the specialist shellfish company through its Young's Seafood business.

The Seafood Company has a turnover of about €100 million and employs 283 people at two locations in West Sussex and North Norfolk.